AUDREY HEPBURN
~ Ain�t she loverly ~
In a cruel and imperfect world,
she was living proof
that God could still create perfection.
~ Rex Reed ~
I probably hold the distinction
of being one movie star who,
by all laws of logic,
should never have made it.
At each stage of my career,
I lacked the experience.
~ Audrey Hepburn ~
I fell in love with Audrey Hepburn
the moment I watched her play
the runaway Princess Anne
in Roman Holiday.
She made an instant impression
of elegance, of class, of grace ~
the manifestation of true beauty
from within and without.
I can think of no other actress
who can project as much radiance and charm,
with the exception of the young superstar,
Natalie Portman.
Audrey is the enchanting
doe-eyed young woman
with impeccable breeding
and crisp intelligence,
who provided a much needed
breath of fresh air to theater audiences ~
a delightful alternative
to the lush full-breasted prototype of the day.
Audrey was slender, exceptionally fragile
with just the right bit of tomboyishness.
"After so many drive-in waitresses,�
director Billy Wilder commented,
�here is class, somebody who went to school,
who can spell, and possibly play the piano.
She's a wispy, thin little thing,
but you're really in the presence
of somebody when you see that girl.�
Audrey was born
Little Edda, a plump baby girl,
Within six years,
�I was destroyed at the time,� Audrey said,
Ella took her children to Arnhem
Young Hepburn took ballet
�The second memory I have
The German occupation
Audrey performed underground concerts
�I had very little real youth,
The slender Audrey
Adding to the physical pain
Years later, Audrey was asked
Refusing, Audrey said,
After an Allied assault on Arnhem
Audrey and other young children
Later to escape the Germans
After liberation her health was restored
Audrey and her mother
Arriving in London
�The truth is,� explained Audrey,
It was at this point in time
Audrey got work as a chorine
While romping on beach there
�Voil� ma Gigi!
Audrey�s was on her way to America
Following her favorable
She won the Best Actress Oscar
Audrey recieved four more
Can anyone ever forget her unique portrayal
Audrey displayed
Her singing talent was minimal
Audrey's appearances in films
Audrey just had to be there!
A spirited, incredibly sleek tomboy type,
Perhaps the most photographed of actresses
Audrey fell in love with a man
She gave birth to a son, Sean Ferrer in 1960.
Audrey had five miscarriages
Audrey and Mel divorced in 1968
She married again in 1969
She gave birth to another son Luca in 1970.
The handsome doctor
Audrey and the not so good doctor
The last man in Audrey�s life
In 1980 she met Robert Wolders,
Audrey called Robert her spiritual twin
They never married but lived happily
Audrey deserved a noble man like Robert
Their love was unconditional
Audrey dedicated most of her time in the 1970s
Audrey�s son, Sean Ferrer,
In the late 1980s,
Her unceasing, tireless crusading
Audrey's final film performance
It wasn�t a big part, but she made
She gave most of it to UNICEF,
Audrey and Robert began spending
The photos that began
Audrey fell ill after returning home
Doctors performed exploratory surgery
During her most painful last days,
�It�s not that bad,� she quietly maintained
Audrey�s passiveness
Audrey died on 20 January 1993
In keeping with the simplicity
A pinewood cross marks her grave.
Audrey was posthumously awarded
Audrey Hepburn was the consummate actress
Edda Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston
on 4 May 1929 in Brussels, Belgium
to Baroness Ella van Heemstra
Joseph Victor Anthony Hepburn-Ruston.
joined Jan and Alexander,
Ella�s two sons from a previous marriage.
Joseph Hepburn-Ruston
deserted his family
and divorced her mother.
�and cried for days and days.
My parent�s divorce was the first
big blow I had as a child.
I worshipped my father
and missed him terribly
from the day he disappeared.
My mother had a great love for me,
but she was not able to show it.
I had no one to cuddle me.�
in the Netherlands,
then to England in 1937
so Audrey could get a British education
and back to Arnhem
when World War Two seemed imminent.
at the Arnhem Conservatory
and replaced her baby fat
with her characteristic straight posture
and long strong legs.
after my father�s disappearance,� Audrey said,
�was my mother coming
into my bedroom one morning,
pulling back the curtains and saying
�Wake up ~ the war is on.��
was difficult and dangerous
so Audrey and her mother
never spoke English
or mentioned their British connections.
to raise funds for the Dutch Resistance
and served in the capacity of
secret courier
hiding messages in her shoes.
few friends in the usual teenage way
and no security.� Audrey explains.
�Is it any wonder I became
an interior sort of person?
I think I was older in those days
than I am now.�
became malnourished
as food became scarce
developing anemia
and swelling of the legs.
was the emotional trauma
of seeing her uncle taken away
and later shot by the Germans,
seeing one of her brothers
sent to a labor camp
and many Dutch Jews forcibly deported
to Nazi concentration camps.
to play Anne Frank
in the film version of the Broadway play
based on the young Jewish girl�s famous diary.
�I don�t want to profit from a saint.�
in September of 1944,
the Germans forced the remaining civilians
to leave and Audrey and her family joined
a forced march of 100,000 townspeople
into the countryside where there was no food.
dug up frozen tulip bulbs to eat.
Audrey hid in the cellar of a burned house
without food or water,
where she developed jaundice.
in part by food and medicine supplied
by the United Nations Relief Administration,
the forerunner of UNICEF,
a gift of humanity she never forgot.
moved to Amsterdam
and then to England
when Audrey was accepted
at the London Ballet.
with less than 100 dollars between them,
Audrey went to work immediately
modeling hats and dancing in a posh nightclub
while she studied ballet.
�I had no idea of what I was getting into
when I decided Mother and I
should go to London. But I did think
that changing my name would give me a boost.
Edda had been through too much already.�
that Edda became Audrey.
in High Button Shoes
and several small parts in the films
The Lavender Hill Mob, Secret People
and Monte Carlo Baby for which
she went to Southern France
for the filming.
she was spotted by Colette,
who was looking to cast the lead
in her new stage play.
(There�s my Gigi!)�
Colette exclaimed.
and her career was about to take off.
American stage debut in Gigi,
Audrey's slender elegance was seen
in her leading role of a runaway princess
in Roman Holiday in 1953.
for her performance in the film
and instant international fame.
Oscar nominations
in her film career
~ Sabrina in 1954 ~
~ The Nun's Story in 1959 ~
~ Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961 ~
~ and Wait Until Dark in 1967.
of the unrefined guttersnipe, Eliza Doolittle,
in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison in 1964?
a definitive aptitude for cockney,
the particular dialect of English
spoken by the poorer inhabitants of London.
and her musical parts
were dubbed by Marni Nixon.
were enchanting ~ pure magic ~
because, to put it quite simply,
Audrey didn't have to act per s�.
famous for her ragamuffin manner,
luscious thick eyebrows and bouncy bangs,
Audrey emerged a beautiful, elegant actress.
she defined a unique type
of feminine beauty in her era
that helped set the style
for the slender fashion model
whose derivative is still popular today.
12 years her senior ~
Mel Ferrer, an actor and film producer,
and they were married in 1954.
trying to have other children.
due to irreconcilable differences
partly because of her soaring film success,
his fading success and his need to control her.
to Dr. Andrea Dotti,
an Italian psychoanalyst
who was 10 years her junior.
proved completely untrustworthy
believing he was entitled
to his share of mistresses on the side.
were divorced in 1982.
was the one destined to stay.
a handsome actor,
who was recovering
from the death of his wife,
screen actress Merle Oberon.
~ and slowly ~
they fell in love.
with its garden of lovely white flowers.
who adored her
and was genuinely interested
in her happiness an well-being.
and they were devoted to one another.
to raising her children, Sean and Luca,
and film and stage appearances
came few and far between.
is an actor and film producer
and her younger son,
Luca Dotti, is an artist.
she succeeded Danny Kaye
as the official spokesperson of UNICEF.
on behalf of the world's children,
much of it in the field,
earned her worldwide admiration.
was in Steven Spielberg�s Always in 1989,
in which she played,
most appropriately,
an angel named Hap,
dressed in a white sweater and slacks.
over a million dollars for her appearance.
determined to spare other lives
as her life had been spared
so many years ago.
six months out of each year
touring the world for UNICEF.
appearing in newspapers
no longer pictured
a glamorous movie star,
but a very thin, fragile,
thoroughly exhausted woman
sitting in dusty huts,
cradling dying children,
a former child refugee
who had cheated death
and who desperately wanted
these youngsters to survive.
from a UNICEF trip to Somalia
in September of 1992.
and found inoperable cancer
throughout her abdominal area.
she never once complained.
in her manner of pure class to the very end.
along with her grace and grit
was no doubt actualized
in the early years of her life
in a childhood that was anything
but tranquil.
with Robert, Sean and Luca at her bedside,
each inconsolably devastated
by the enormous loss they shared.
that always characterized her life,
she was buried in a plain oak coffin
in the cemetery of her remote Swiss village.
the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993
shortly after she succumbed to colon cancer.
a grand, elegantly cultivated lady
and a genuinely unselfish,
truly benevolent humanitarian.
