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Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston (aka Audrey Hepburn)
Ms. Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium on May 4,1929. Her mother was a Dutch Baroness and her father was a wealthy British
banker. After her parents divorced, Audrey went to London with her mother where she went to a private girls school. Later,
when her mother moved back to the Netherlands, she attended private schools as well. While vacationing with her mother in
Arnhem, Holland, Hitler's army took over the town. It was here that she fell on hard times during the Nazi occupation. Audrey
suffered from depression, malnutrition, anemia, respiratory problems, and edimia. After the liberation, Audrey went to a ballet
school in London on a scholarship and later began a modeling career. As a model, she was graceful and, it seemed, she had
found her niche in life, until the film producers came calling. After being spotted modeling by a producer, she was signed
to a bit part in the European film Nederlands in 7 lessen in 1948. Later, she had a speaking role in the 1951 film, Young
Wives' Tale as Eve Lester. The part still wasn't much, so she headed to America to try her luck there. Audrey gained immediate
prominence in the United States with her role in Roman Holiday (1953) in 1953. This film turned out to be a smashing success
as she won an Oscar as Best Actress. This gained her enormous popularity and more roles. One of the reasons for her popularity
was the fact that she was so elf like and had class, unlike the sex-goddesses of the time. Roman Holiday was followed by another
similarly wonderful performance in the 1957 classic Funny Face (1957)and Sabrina in 1954, for which she received another Academy
nomination, and Love in the Afternoon (1957), in 1957, also garnered rave reviews. In 1959, she received yet another nomination
for her role in _Nun's Story (1959). Audrey reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the delightful
film, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) in 1961. For this she received another nomination. One of Audrey's most radiant roles
was in the fine production of My Fair Lady (1964), in 1964. Her co-star Rex Harrison once was asked to identify his favorite
leading lady. Without hesitation, he replied, "Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY". In 1987, Audrey was officially
appointed to succeed Danny Kaye (who died that year) as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. Accompanied by her companion until
her death, Robert Wolders, she visited such places as Ethiopia, the Sudan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. After returning from Somalia
in 1991, Audrey was diagnosed with colon cancer. On January 20, 1993, Audrey Hepburn died at the age of 63 in Tolchenaz, Switzerland.
Filmography:
Dutch in 7 Easy Lessons (Netherlands, 1948)
One Wild Oat (Great Britain, 1951)
Laughter in Paradise
(Great Britain, 1951)
The Lavender Hill Mob (Great Britain, 1951)
Young Wives' Tale (Great Britain, 1951)
Gigi
(Stage, 1951)
The Secret People (Great Britain, 1952)
Monte Carlo Baby (Great Britain, 1952)
Roman Holiday
(Paramount, 1953) *
Sabrina (Paramount, 1954) *
Ondine (Stage, 1954)
War and Peace (Paramount, 1956) #
Funny
Face (Paramount, 1957) *
Love in the Afternoon (Allied Artists, 1957) *
Mayerling (TV, NBC, 1957)
The Nun's
Story (Warner Brothers, 1959) #
Green Mansions (MGM, 1959) #
The Unforgiven (United Artists, 1960) #
Breakfast
at Tiffany's (Paramount, 1961) *
The Children's Hour (United Artists, 1961) #
Charade (Universal, 1964) *
Paris
When it Sizzles (Paramount, 1964) *
My Fair Lady (Warner Brothers, 1964) *
How to Steal a Million (20th Century
Fox, 1966) #
Two for the Road (20th Century Fox, 1967) #
Wait Until Dark (Warner Brothers, 1967) #
Robin and
Marian (Columbia, 1976) #
Bloodline (Paramount, 1979) #
They All Laughed (Time-Life Films, 1981) #
Love Among
Thieves (TV, ABC, 1987)
Always (Universal, 1989) #
*The ones that I own so far whether on DVD or VHS
#The
ones that I am going to own by December 26,2002
Intering Trivia:
-Was fluent in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, and Flemish.
-Is descended from a
long line of royals, her mother was a baroness and Audrey is related to, among others, Queen Wilhemina of Holland and Mary
Queen of Scots
-Had a breed of tulip named after her in 1990.
-Everyone remembers when Marilyn Monroe
serenaded President John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962. What is often forgotten is that Audrey Hepburn sang "Happy
Birthday Mr. President" to JFK for his final birthday in 1963.
-Audrey Hepburn won the 1953 Best Actress Academy
Award for Roman Holiday (1953). On March 25th, 1954, she accepted the award from the much revered Academy president Jean Hersholt.
After accepting the award, Audrey kissed him smack on the mouth, instead of the cheek, in childish excitement. Minutes after
accepting her 1953 Oscar, Audrey realized that she'd misplaced it. Turning quickly on the steps of the Center Theater in New
York, she raced back to the ladies' room, retrieved the award, and was ready to pose for photographs.
-One of Audrey's
most frequent co-stars was her wardrobe designer, Hubert de Givenchy, who created many of her costumes for films like FUNNY
FACE, CHARADE, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, SABRINA and HOW TO STEAL A MILLION.
Achievements:
-1953 ROMAN HOLIDAY Best Actress Oscar
-1954 SABRINA Best Actress Nomination
-1959 THE
NUN'S STORY Best Actress Nomination
-1961 BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S Best Actress Nomination
- 1967 WAIT UNTIL
DARK Best Actress Nomination
-1992 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award --
given to "an individual in the motion
picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." For her work as Unicef's ambassador
to the world's children.
-(October 1997) Ranked #50 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All
Time" list.
-(1990) Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
-(1995)
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#8).
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