Audrey Hepburn

T About

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, Brussels, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945 and with Marie Rambert in London starting in 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by the French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based. Later in life, she devoted much of her time to UNICEF, to which she had contributed since 1954. Then, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia between 1988 and 1992. In December 1992, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

T Biography

Family and early childhood (1929–1938)
Experiences during World War II (1939–1945)
Ballet studies and early acting roles (1945–1952)
Roman Holiday, and stardom (1953–1960)
Breakfast at Tiffany's and continued success (1961–1967)
Semi-retirement and final projects (1968–1993)

T photo album

black-child-photo

black-youth-photo

black-middle-photo

color-youth-photo

color-middle-photo

T Sound recording

♪ Attending the Kennedy Center Honors Awards ceremony in 1981
♪ Speech at the United Nations in 1989: For the Children
♪ What is friendship

T Witness

USER1. She solely held British nationality, since at the time of her birth Dutch women were not permitted to pass on their nationality to their children; the Dutch law did not change in this regard until 1985. A further reference is her birth certificate which clearly states British nationality. When asked about her background, Hepburn identified as half-Dutch, as her mother was after all a Dutch noblewoman. Furthermore, she spent a significant number of her formative years in the Netherlands, and was able to speak Dutch fluently. Her ancestry is covered in the "Early life" and "Ancestors" sections.

USER2. On Hepburn's birth certificate her father was stated to have been born in London. This was corrected in 1952 by her mother to "born in Onzic, Bohemia". Onzic is a misreading of Ouzic (German Auschiz), now Úžice in Czech Republic. Walker writes that it is unclear for what kind of company he worked; he was listed as a "financial adviser" in a Dutch business directory, and the family often travelled among the three countries. She had been offered the scholarship already in 1945, but had had to decline it due to "some uncertainty regarding her national status".

USER3. Overall, about 90% of her singing was dubbed, despite being promised that most of her vocals would be used. Hepburn's voice remains in one line in "I Could Have Danced All Night", in the first verse of "Just You Wait", and in the entirety of its reprise in addition to sing-talking in parts of "The Rain in Spain" in the finished film. When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted ... next time —" She bit her lip to prevent her saying more. She later admitted that she would have never accepted the role knowing that Warner intended to have nearly all of her singing dubbed.

USER4. This was the highest price paid for a dress from a film,[148] until it was surpassed by the $4.6 million paid in June 2011 for Marilyn Monroe's "subway dress" from The Seven Year Itch.[149] Of the two dresses that Hepburn wore on screen, one is held in the Givenchy archives while the other is displayed in the Museum of Costume in Madrid. A subsequent London auction of Hepburn's film wardrobe in December 2009 raised £270,200, including £60,000 for the black Chantilly lace cocktail gown from How to Steal a Million.

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