It seems to us that if any Hollywood actresses have a claim on eternal public life, they would have to include (in no special order) Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.
Of the three luminaries mentioned above, Hepburn is now the closest to Hollywood sainthood. Her fashion model chic — termed her “iconic style” — has a posthumous appeal of its own, so it’s no surprise that her image adorns magazines and posters to this day.
Although she’s been dead for more than 25 years now, her visual appeal remains refreshingly contemporary. Publication not too long ago of a coffee-table book, Audrey In Rome coauthored by her son Luca Dotti, makes the case.
The book is loaded with rarely seen period photos taken during the actress’ 17-year residence in Rome dating from 1969, after the bulk of her movie career was over.
Hepburn looks great and is — even while walking the dog — dressed in high-fashion impeccability. Yet, we ask, just how much do we know about her early life, especially during her war-torn years when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940. (That’s an early shot of Audrey below.)
For obvious reasons the early to mid-Forties were tough years for the young Hepburn and her family. Her mother, designated a “Baroness,” came from impoverished Dutch nobility. Her father, the Baroness’ second husband, a self-regarding Englishman who claimed family ties to Mary Queen of Scots, walked out on his family when his daughter was just six years old.
Audrey was born in 1929 in Belgium, spent part of her childhood in England and moved to Holland in 1939, just in time for the Nazi invasion.
For the next five years, Audrey pretty much lived hand to mouth and fought to achieve basic survival. It was a time of trauma for her, to say the least. And she never relished a full recounting of what transpired during those years, and how difficult they were.
A interesting new biography, Dutch Girl by Robert Matzen (GoodKnight, 373 pages), fills the information gap. As Mr. Matzen demonstrates in his fascinating book, according to The Wall Street Journal review, Audrey Hepburn, for all her future fame, was defined and haunted by World War II.
It was a period that the actress seldom discussed in detail and which has been glossed over or sensationalized by frustrated biographers. But Hepburn’s reticence was not simply an unwillingness to recall the war’s hardships and horrors.
It also reflected the uncomfortable fact that her parents were openly pro-Nazi.
Her pushy stage-mom mother wrote pro-German newspaper articles, and even obtained a personal audience with the Fuhrer. Audrey’s father worked so avidly for Nazi interests that he set off alarm bells in British intelligence. As a pre-teenager, Audrey took up ballet and dance, which she loved. Her first public performance, on July 18, 1941, was before an audience of German soldiers.
But, she did all she could as a budding 13-year-old to counter the hated occupiers, reports Matzen. Audrey danced in secret shows that helped raise funds and boost morale, and assisted a doctor who coordinated local resistance activities.
Besides tending to the sick and injured, Audrey brought food to downed Allied air crews and distributed a banned underground newspaper. She celebrated the freedom that came in April 1945 with her first cigarette, then gorged on chocolate bars until she was sick.
In the actress’ final years, she became a prominent goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, visiting Africa, South America and Asia on behalf of young victims of conflict. Her work in this regard won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom months before her death of abdominal cancer in 1993, at the age of 63.
Thank you. Very interesting.
I’ll never forget the audience reaction, including that of my date in the next seat, to the “big scare moment” in Wait Until Dark. A wonderful uproar.
Ms Hepburn seemed a class act through her entire career.
AUDREY HEPBURN’s appreciation for the little things in life and her endless passion to give to the less fortunate undoubtedly stemmed from her experience surviving Nazi occupation during the war. During World War II, 16-year-old Audrey was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital during the Battle of Arnhem. In that capacity she tended many of the British wounded and one of the injured soldiers Audrey helped was a young British paratrooper – and future James Bond director – named Terence Young. More than 20 years later, Young directed Hepburn in WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967). This only shows how Hepburn’s compassion and willingness to help from a young age paid off for her in the future.
After suffering malnutrition and depression during the war, Hepburn was rendered incapable of following her dream of becoming a prima ballerina. After modelling for a while to make a living, Hepburn was cast for several small parts in movies and she was soon discovered by the makers of ROMAN HOLIDAY and her role as Princess Anne earned her an Oscar and a spotlight in HOLLYWOOD.
Directors and producers of her time would say that she was such a popular actress due to her “elf like” features and graceful air. She was certainly deemed as unconventionally beautiful throughout her career in Hollywood in the 50’s and 60’s. Her tall, slim figure with her charming Parisienne facial features made her an alternative image of beauty to the curvy, blond movie stars of her time such as Marilyn Monroe.
It’s no wonder she was listed as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in People magazine. However, like everyone she had insecurities despite people seeing her as one of the most beautiful and elegant movie stars of her time. For example she was very self-conscious of things like her size 10 feet. Little did she know, what she deemed as unattractive about herself would soon become an iconic image of beauty even after her death.
Hepburn was fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy‘s muse, who dressed her for her most popular movie roles such as SABRINA and LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON. Givenchy also designed the famous little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Hepburn later said, “His are the only clothes in which I am myself. He is far more than a couturier; he is a creator of personality.”
Her beauty and class are so prominent in her presence on screen that it is usually overlooked that her leading role as Holly Golightly in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S was an escort. It’s ironic that young girls going to their school dances ask the makeup artist to make them look like Miss Golightly who was basically a classy hooker.
Joe & Frank are fully in accord about Audrey Hepburn — big fans, they are — but part ways on which of her some 25 to 30 movies is her best. Joe leans towards director Blake Edwards’ Breakfast At Tiffany’s, calling the 1961 comedy “everything a Hollywood film of that era should be — Glossy, Romantic, Magical, and Uplifting.” Frank, on the other hand, maintains that “this piece of fluff,” based on a Truman Capote story about a girl from the sticks conquering New York City, is spared only by excellent musical contributions composed by Henry Mancini, including the song “Moon River.” The music is unforgettable, as is Hepburn. The picture less so.
And Frank is right, Hepburn’s most iconic movie is all style and no substance…
And Audrey Hepburn’s iconic fashion style throughout her life can be described as lady like and polished yet charming and somehow unique to her personality. She wore dresses that were tight around the waist, with high and squared neck lines and modest fabrics unlike Monroe’s famously sparkly dresses which often showed off a lot of cleavage. Both were beautiful woman who influenced the fashion for woman despite being so different.
At the end of the sixties she retired from Hollywood but appeared from time to time on the set for a few films. From 1988 on she worked for UNICEF as a special ambassador, helping children in Latin America and Africa, a position she retained until 1993.
Through being a devoted humanitarian and a kind person throughout her life, Hepburn has not only changed the image of beauty through her physical appearance but has also shown that beauty is not that superficial. To be truly beautiful one should be compassionate and help others.
In a famous quote she says: “For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives and the passion that she shows.”