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Nostalgia
AUDREY
HEPBURN
FAIR LADY WITH A CAUSE
With
her waifish looks, elfin charm, slim figure and not to forget, the trendsetting
hairstyle with fringes on the forehead, Audrey Hepburn endeared herself
to film buffs in no time. But it was not just the looks that worked. Her
spontaneous performances in films Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady, Wait Until
Dark to name just a few, and the fact that she was a good human being
made her an icon, among the selected few who will always be remembered...
Audrey Hepburn gave us a most enchanting and paradoxical mode of feminity
— young yet sophisticated, sexy yet somehow, chaste. It was her piquant
charm and off-beat panache that had such a wide appeal. She was the epitome
of elegance, grace and dignity, bringing incredible honesty to all her
performances. She did not attend any acting school, but had an innate
acting ability that was brought out instinctively in the many roles she
essayed in the 50’s and 60’s.
An excellent reed-thin model, who would have appealed even to current
standards, (in fact she is a creative touchstone for today’s model-actresses),
she was not a conventional beauty, but had a rare, inner something that
percolated through her eyes, contributing to the psychic sway she had
over her audience, and becoming a haute-couture’s delight with her
costumes in films designed by the famed French designer, Givenchy. Directors’
endorsements of her performances were always glowing, and her many co-stars
swore they fell in love with her utter lack of pretension and humility.
Audrey was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels. She was in a boarding school
in England, when World War II broke out. Her mother, baroness Ella van
Heemstra, took her back to Holland which was then occupied by the Germans.
It was during this time that she fully understood the urgency of hunger
and deprivation in a personal, immediate way. Also, it was at this time
that an organisation, which later became UNICEF, came in with the Red
Cross and brought relief to people in the form of food, medication and
clothing. Audrey was one of the beneficiaries and knew about UNICEF all
her life.
Her parents divorced when she was six. She began studying ballet and music
at a young age, and this helped support herself and her mother as she
taught dance and piano to the younger conservatory students. Her mother’s
failing health brought her back to England in 1948, where she found work
as a dancer.
She was discovered for films while working as a ballerina, and played
bit parts in British productions (1951-52) that included: Laughter In
Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob, Young Wives Tales, The Secret People
and Monte Carlo Baby.
Her big break in the US came with Roman Holiday (1953), when she was chosen
for the coveted part by Billy Wilder, for which she won the Oscar for
Best Actress, in addition to the Tony Award. Gregory Peck, who co-starred
with Audrey in the film, had nothing but raves for the actress. He said,
“In my experience, the most perfect piece of casting was Audrey.
Give credit to William Wyler for seeing the princess in a girl inexperienced
on the screen. Give credit to Audrey for being naturally more regal than
any royal personage I have ever met, and for being so totally enchanting
in the part. She was funny, extremely romantic and unique.”
Her finest film work was done in the 50s and 60s, and includes:
The Nun’s Story (1959): She wowed critics with her Oscar-nominated
performance as a nun, whose humanitarian passion chafes against the restrictions
of her holy order. With drab convents and hospitals, Fred Zinneman crafted
the screen’s most compelling religious drama.
Breakfast At Tiffanys (1961): Truman Capote’s celebrated novel about
Holly Golightly and her self-confrontation in glittering Manhattan is
given a refreshing, sumptuous treatment by Blake Edwards, especially with
Henry Mancini’s Moon River on the soundtrack.
My Fair Lady (1964): Landmark musicalisation of Shaw’s Pygmalion
came to the screen with everything intact. This was a lavish film, wildly
successful and Audrey was never better.
Wait Until Dark (1967): A cleverly crafted thriller with Hepburn outstanding
as a blind housewife defending herself against drug traffickers in New
York City. The final showdown between Audrey and Alan Arkin is a classic
spine-tingler.
In 1954, Audrey appeared with Mel Ferrer (who later became her husband)
in a play by Jean Giradoux called Ondine. For this she won the Antoinette
Perry Award as the Best Actress of the Year, on Broadway. Her other films
during the 50s and 60s include War & Peace; Sabrina (for which she
won an Oscar nomination); Funny Face (she couldn’t believe that she
danced with Fred Astaire); Love In The Afternoon, Green Mansions, The
Unforgiven, The Children’s Hour, Charade, Paris When It Sizzles and
How To Steal A Million And Two For The Road.
Audrey had two broken marriages — the first to actor Mel Ferrer,
the father of Sean, and the second to Dr. Andrea Dotti, an Italian psychiatrist
and the father of Luca. She quit films in the early 70s to bring up her
two sons. She said, “I had to make a choice at one point of my life,
of missing films or missing my children. It was a very easy decision to
make, because I missed my children very much. I couldn’t take the
stress of being away from them. I can deal with many conflicting jobs,
but I can’t deal with my conflicting emotions.”
In 1981, she went into virtual seclusion at her Swiss Villa, La Paisible,
and lived with actor-producer Robert Wolders, the handsome widower of
30s and 40s actress, Merle Oberon. Although they did not marry, he brought
her the serenity and happiness that her two husbands apparently could
not.
In 1989, with both her children grown up, Audrey had a lot of time to
herself, and was looking out for something to keep herself involved. She
then became the UNICEF goodwill ambassador to the children of the world.
She now had a maturity that had taken on an even more lustrous meaning
than her youth. On behalf of the United Nations, she travelled ceaselessly
around the world on many fatiguing and dangerous joureneys. She visited
Ethiopia and was a part of the innumerable UNICEF-supported projects there;
she undertook an exhausting schedule of activities on behalf of Ethiopian
children, which included as many as 15 print & broadcast interviews
a day in the United States, Canada and Europe.
About these visits Audrey said, “If the people are still interested
in me, if my name makes them listen to what I say, then that is wonderful.
But I am not interested in promoting Audrey Hepburn. I am interested in
telling the world how they can help Ethiopia, and why I came away from
there feeling optimistic. There is just no question that there is a moral
obligation that those who have, should give to those who have nothing.
I am very grateful to be able to express my need to help the young, to
care for them, by contributing to the chain of events that is UNICEF.”
From 1979-89, Audrey did television and movies intermittently, and these
included Love Among Thieves, Always, Robin & Marian, They All Laughed
and Bloodline.
Commenting on her career, the actress said, “I was born with something
that appealed to audiences at that particular time. It never ceases to
dazzle me what happened to me. I was very lucky, by chance, to fall into
a period when these directors (Wyler, Wilder, Vidor, Zinnemann) were around
and wanted me, and that has been a sort of miracle of my career.”
Blake Edwards, however, had a different view.
Said he, “The camera loved her. She had never heard the word Strasberg.
She was born with those qualities and made acting look so easy and unforced.
God kissed her on the cheek.”
The rigours of touring took its toll on the ever-frail Audrey and left
her emaciated. She was diagnosed as having cancer in 1992. Refusing chemotherapy,
she died peacefully in 1993, with that inner glow shining as brightly
and beautifully as ever.
Remarkably, Audrey still profoundly affects fashion. Her style is as timely
as it is timeless, and she is ingrained in our consciousness. She popularised
the gamine haircut, flat ballet shoes, the high-necked skinny sweater,
slim capri-pants, extravagant dark glasses, cinched waists, three-quarter
sleeves, and fitted shirts wrapped at the waist.
Compiled By Ian Edwards