AUDREY HEPBURN: BIOGRAPHY, FILMOGRAPHY, AWARDS, RECOGNITIONS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2024

Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) was a renowned actress who was part of the so-called golden age of Hollywood. She also served as a model, dancer, and human rights fighter from her position as UNICEF ambassador.

This British actress is one of the legends of American cinema thanks to her participation in films such as Roman Holiday (1953), which guaranteed her an Oscar for Best Actress, as well as a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award. That same year she won a Tony for Best Leading Actress.

Audrey Hepburn, by skeeze, via Pixabay

Other of Hepburn's iconic roles were those in Breakfast at Tiffany's and My Fair Lady. The first steps of her career were theatrical, especially in minor roles in West End plays. From there she made a leap to Broadway with Gigi (1951), which propelled her to stardom.

He was one of the main faces of fashion. Audrey Hepburn stood out for her style and sense of aesthetics, as she was natural as well as elegant. It set trends for many women of its generation and even today it remains a reference in the history of fashion.

Since 1967 he partially retired from show business, although he did not stop working completely, but reduced his participation in films and theater.

Hepburn was married twice and those unions left her with two children. Her last years were spent with fellow actor Robert Wolters, with whom she did not marry, but maintained a coexistence until she died.

Biography

Early years

Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. She was the daughter of the Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra's second marriage to Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, a British citizen born in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary.

Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra was Hepburn's maternal grandfather. The future actress had two older brothers named Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford and Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford, both of whom were the result of Ella's first marriage.

For his part, Joseph Ruston had been honorary consul of the British crown in Semarang, which belonged to the Dutch East Indies. He eventually changed his last name to Hepburn-Ruston because he thought he was descended from James Hepburn, the third husband of Mary of Scotland.

After the marriage, the Hepburn-Rustonns moved to Europe. There, Joseph dedicated himself to working for the private sector in Brussels, the city where Audrey was born.

The Hepburns were sympathizers of the British Union of Fascists. When Audrey was about six years old, her father left the family to become more fully committed to fascism.

The actress would later affirm that this event was one of the most traumatic that she experienced and that it left a deep mark throughout her life.

Departure for England

After Joseph Hepburn left his wife and little Audrey, they both returned to Ella's family home. They spent about two years in the van Heemstra property, but in 1937 Ella decided to move the girl to England so that she could be educated there.

They settled in Kent and there Audrey entered a local boarding school where she learned English customs. By then Audrey could already speak five languages ​​fluently. A year later the Hepburns' divorce was formally done.

Second World War

In September 1939, England and Germany had started hostilities, which led van Heemstra and his daughter Audrey Hepburn to take refuge in Holland, a nation that had been neutral during the Great War.

The girl began to attend the Arnhem Conservatory that same year, where she continued her education.

The family hoped that in the new armed conflict the same steps would be followed as in the previous opportunity. However, that was not the case and in 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland.

Audrey Hepburn-Ruston's mother decided that her daughter should use the name Edda van Heemstra in order not to reveal her British roots, which were considered dangerous to the young woman's physical integrity.

Years later Hepburn confessed that if they had known that the German occupation would last so long they would probably have committed suicide and that what led them to resist was the hope that everything would end in months or weeks.

In 1942, an uncle of Hepburn's was executed for maintaining ties with the resistance and his brother Ian was taken to a labor camp in Berlin, while his other brother had to remain in hiding to avoid the same fate.

That year they decided to move in together with their grandfather, Baron van Heemstra.

End of the war

Some rumors suggested that Hepburn was directly linked to resistance to Nazism, although recent research has shown that this was simply a myth.

It is known that after the Normandy landing, the van Heemstra's situation worsened. She began to suffer from respiratory problems, anemia, and other conditions related to malnutrition.

Many of the family's properties were destroyed by the German occupation and this left them practically in ruin. From that moment on, Ella van Heemstra had to work as a cook and housekeeper in order to support her children.

Ballet and artistic beginnings

Audrey Hepburn began practicing dance as a child during her early years in England. When she returned to the Netherlands, she continued to practice under Winja Marova, even during the Nazi occupation.

When the war ended and her family moved to Amsterdam, Hepburn received lessons from Sonia Gaskell and Olga Tarasova, both experts in Russian ballet.

It was around the same time, around 1948, that Audery made his film debut with a small role as a flight attendant in a film titled Dutch in Seven Lessons. That same year Audrey received a scholarship to attend the Rambert Ballet in London.

To support herself in the English capital, Hepburn did small jobs as a model and dancer, but her income was meager.

When her Rambert teachers told her that her height and build would make it nearly impossible for her to become a principal dancer, Hepburn decided to turn to acting where she would have the best chance of succeeding.

Her first roles in the theater were as a showgirl. In 1948 she had a role as in High Button Shoes, a year later she participated in Sauce Tartare and in 1950 she did the same with a relatively larger role in Sauce Piquante.

Also at the beginning of the fifties he joined the Associated British Picture Corporation and thus began to find small roles in films. He also appeared on some television shows like The Silent Village.

Broadway and fame

After filming T. Dickinson's The Secret People in 1951, she landed a small role in a movie called Monte Carlo Baby, and during that shoot Audrey Hepburn met the French novelist Colette.

It was thanks to his new connection that he was able to find his way to stardom, since Hepburn was offered a role in the play Gigi, which was to be presented on Broadway that same year.

Although Hepburn had no prior experience as a leading actress, she managed to receive private acting lessons to prepare for the role. Gigi premiered in November 1951 and gained immediate public and critical approval.

That same year Hepburn won the Theater World Award. The season ended in May 1952 and the cast went on tour in October of the same year, visited various cities and closed the tour in May 1953.

By this time Audrey Hepburn's career was one of the most promising of her time, but it really took off when she got an offer to appear on the big screen as a lead actress.

Cinema ticket

Those in charge of selecting the actress who should play Princess Anne in the Roman Holiday project were interested in getting a familiar face: Elizabeth Taylor. However, when they saw Hepburn's audition, they were amazed and chose the rookie as the protagonist.

The film was a total success, both at the box office and with the critics, thus cementing the career of the young actress on the rise. For her role in the William Wyler film, Audrey Hepburn received the Academy Award, BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

He was then offered a contract by Paramount to shoot seven films, with a year off between each shoot to allow him to continue in parallel with his career in the theater, which had been his birthplace.

His next job, Sabrina, led Hepburn to share the screen with actors such as Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.

In 1954 Hepburn was also on stage with her portrayal of Ondine, which earned her a Tony Award. The actor who starred in the play with her, Mel Ferrer, became her first husband a few months after the premiere.

Two years later Hepburn and Ferrer returned to work on a project together, but this time it was a film adaptation of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

The fashion favorite

Hepburn greeted the 1960s with the birth of her first child. The process was complicated because she had had several miscarriages. Furthermore, it was rumored that their marital relationship was not very stable.

On the other hand, 1961 was one of the peak years in Hepburn's career, since that year he did one of his most emblematic works: Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Not only did it help her to establish herself as one of the legends of Hollywood, but it also helped her to leave an indelible mark in the world of fashion, where she became one of the timeless references of elegance and feminine style.

Since the mid-1950s, Audrey Hepburn and Hubert Givenchy had established a relationship of friendship and collaboration that made her one of the best-dressed artists of her time.

During that decade, Hepburn's position as one of the most successful actresses with both critics and audiences was indisputable. Other titles he worked on during the 1960s were Charade (1963), Paris When it Sizzles (1964), and My Fair Lady (1964).

Outside of studies

Starting in 1968, after her divorce from Mel Ferrer and her subsequent marriage to Andrea Dotti, Hepburn decided to move away significantly from her artistic career and devote herself more to her private life. The son of the new couple, the second child of the actress, was born in 1970.

That did not mean that he completely renounced show business and in 1976 he returned to theaters with the film Robin and Marian, which he starred in alongside Sean Connery.

Audrey Hepburn was also in other films such as They all Laughed (1981), which was her last leading role. Hepburn's last participation in a film was the cameo that she made in Steven Spilberg's work: Always (1989).

Since 1980 Hepburn maintained a relationship with actor Robert Wolders and in that same decade began her humanitarian work with UNICEF. The following video shows the presentation of the Oscars in 1986 by Hepburn.

In 1990 the actress toured seven countries to film a documentary called Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, which aired the day after her death in 1993 and earned her a posthumous Emmy during that year.

Humanitarian career

Hepburn's first contact with UNICEF came in the 1950s, when the actress did radio storytelling of children in war for this organization. Despite that, it was in 1988 that she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador.

At that time Audrey Hepburn recalled the help that she herself had received from international entities after Nazi Germany's occupation of Holland during her childhood and said that she would be happy to return some of that support that was given to her in the past.

Her first mission took her to Ethiopia in 1988, where she was in charge of accompanying the organization to bring food to a camp where 500 children resided, in Mekele.

After this visit, she expressed having been very moved by the difficulties these children were going through and called for unity as a way to overcome adversity, because the world is one and problems must be solved by all.

Other missions

He was also in Turkey on an immunization day in which in just 10 days it was possible to vaccinate the entire population of the country thanks to the collaboration of the locals, which he celebrated and congratulated.

Likewise, he visited Venezuela and Ecuador where UNICEF brought drinking water to some communities that did not have this service.

In 1989 he continued touring Latin America, also visiting Sudan and Bangladesh. One of the photographers admired the way in which the actress developed in the camps they visited since she was empathetic and affectionate with children regardless of their appearance.

The following year Hepburn visited Vietnam where they also brought drinking water to the inhabitants of the region.

The last journey of the actress took place in 1992, months before her death. On that occasion, she visited Somalia for the first time and was shocked by the catastrophic scene she witnessed, even saying that she had never witnessed anything similar before.

Death

Audrey Hepburn died on January 20, 1993 at her Tolochenaz home in Vaud, Switzerland. Upon returning from her journey in Asia, she noticed severe abdominal pain that forced her to go to the doctor for a laparoscopy.

On examination it was revealed that Hepburn suffered from abdominal cancer and that it had metastasized to her small intestine. She moved to Los Angeles, California, to have an operation and undergo chemotherapy treatment.

She wanted to spend her last Christmas in Switzerland, but could not travel on a regular flight due to her delicate condition, so Givenchy arranged a private trip for her on a plane loaded with flowers so that she could be as comfortable as possible.

After his death, funeral services were held at the local church. Family members and friends attended, including her brother, her two children, her ex-husbands and her partner Robert Wolders.

Hepburn's children were designated his heirs in equal parts and Wolders received two silver candlesticks as a legacy from his partner.

Marriages and children

In 1952 Audrey Hepburn was engaged to James Hanson, but the marriage did not take place because she felt that their jobs would keep them apart for too long and that was not what she expected from a family.

Around the same time, she dated Michael Butler for a time, who later became a major theater producer.

First marriage

At a party organized in 1954 by Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn met Mel Ferrer, also dedicated to acting. Peck suggested that they both do a play together and they did that same year.

- 1955: Nominated for the Best Actress award for Sabrina.

- 1960: Nominated for a Best Actress award for The Nun's Story.

- 1962: Nominated for Best Actress Award for Breakfast at Tiffany's.

- 1968: Nominated for a Best Actress Award for Wait Until Dark.

- 1993: Recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his work on behalf of humanitarian causes.

Bafta awards

- 1954: Winner of the Best British Actress award for Roman Holiday.

- 1955: Nominated for the Best British Actress award for Sabrina.

- 1957: Nominated for the Best British Actress Award War and Peace.

- 1960: Winner of the Best British Actress award for The Nun's Story.

- 1965: Winner of the Best British Actress award for Charade.

- 1992: Recipient of the BAFTA Special Award.

Golden Globes Awards

- 1954: Winner of the Best Actress Award in a Drama Movie for Roman Holiday.

- 1955: Recipient of the Henrietta Award for Favorite Actress in World Cinema.

- 1957: Nominated for the Best Actress in a Drama Film Award for War and Peace.

- 1958: Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Love in the Afternoon.

- 1960: Nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Movie for The Nun's Story.

- 1962: Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Breakfast at Tiffany's.

- 1964: Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Charade.

- 1965: Nominated for the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Film Award for My Fair Lady.

- 1968: Nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Film for Two for the Road.

- 1968: Nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Film for Wait Until Dark.

- 1990: Recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his cinematographic career.

New York Critics Circle Award

- 1953: Winner of the Best Actress award for Roman Holiday.

- 1955: Nominated for the Best Actress award for Sabrina.

- 1957: Nominated for a Best Actress Award for Love in the Afternoon.

- 1959: Winner of the Best Actress award for The Nun's Story.

- 1964: Nominated for the Best Actress award for My Fair Lady.

- 1968: Nominated for a Best Actress Award for Wait Until Dark.

Emmy Awards

- 1993: Winner of Outstanding Individual Achievement Award - Information Program by Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn.

Grammy awards

- 1994: Winner of the Best Spoken Album for Children Award for Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales.

Tony Awards

- 1954: Winner of the Best Actress Award in a Play for Ondine.

- 1968: Recipient of a Special Tony Award for career achievement.

Others awards

-1959: Winner of the Silver Shell Award for Best Actress at the San Sebastián Film Festival for The Nun's Story.

- 1987: She was selected as Commander of the Order of French Arts and Letters.

- 1991: Received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

- 1991: He received a BAMBI Award for his career.

- 1992: Won the George Eastman Award for his contribution to film.

- 1993: Winner of a SAG award for her artistic career.

Acknowledgments for his humanitarian work

- 1976: Recipient of the humanitarian award given by the Variety Club of New York.

- 1988: Recipient of the UNICEF Danny Kanye Award.

- 1989: Recipient of the humanitarian award granted by the Institute of the Institute for Human Understanding.

- 1991: Certified for her merits as a UNICEF ambassador.

- 1991: Recipient of the humanitarian award given by the Variety Club of New York.

- 1991: Recipient of the Children's Defender award from the International Children's Institute.

- 1991: First recipient of the Sigma Theta Tau Audrey Hepburn International Award for her work on behalf of children.

- 1992: Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by the President of the United States.

- 1993: Obtained the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Women's Award.

Other honors

Among the distinctions Audrey Hepburn has received is her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Even after her death, she has continued to garner recognition, not only for her work in the world of cinema, but for her help to humanitarian causes.

The actress received the keys to five different cities, including Chicago and Indianapolis, both in 1990. The following year, she was awarded the same honor in Fort Worth, Texas, and in 1992 San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island, did the same.

In 2003, ten years after his death, the United States Postal Service made a stamp with his face to honor his memory. Five years later the Canadian Postal Service also honored Hepburn but this time on a postcard.

The city of Arnhem in the Netherlands has a square that was named Audrey Hepburn in honor of the actress.

A bronze statue was unveiled at UNICEF headquarters in New York in 2002 in honor of the British actress of Belgian origin for her work as a Goodwill Ambassador for the humanitarian organization.

In the city where he lived at the end of his life there is a statue of the actress. However, in 2017 word spread that Tolochenaz would donate her to Ixelles, Audrey Hepburn's birth town.

References

1. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Audrey Hepburn. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Woodward, I. (1984). Audrey Hepburn. London: Allen.
3. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Audrey Hepburn - Biography, Movies, & Facts. Available at: britannica.com.
4. Ferrer, S. (2005). Audrey Hepburn. London: Pan Books.
5. Biography. (2019). Audrey Hepburn - A&E Television Networks. Available at: biography.com.