Audrey Hepburn Lifestyle, Biography, Age, Height, Marriage, Contact & Information

Audrey Hepburn Lifestyle, Biography, Age, Height, Marriage, Contact & Information

Actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn , star of ‘ Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, remains one of Hollywood’s greatest style icons and one of the world’s most successful actresses.

Who was Audrey Hepburn?

Audrey Hepburn was a Belgian-born actress, fashion icon and philanthropist. At 22, she starred in the Broadway production of Gigi. Two years later she starred in the film Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck. In 1961, she set new fashion standards as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Hepburn is one of the few actresses to win an Emmy, Tony, Grammy and Academy Award. In his later years, acting took precedence over his work on behalf of children.

Youth by Audrey Hepburn

Born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium, Hepburn was a talented artist known for her beauty, elegance and grace. Often imitated, she remains one of Hollywood’s greatest style icons. Originally from Brussels, Hepburn spent part of his youth in England at a boarding school. For much of World War II, she studied at the Arnhem Conservatory in the Netherlands. After the Nazis invaded the country, Hepburn and her mother struggled to survive. She allegedly aided the resistance movement by delivering messages, according to a New York Times article.

After the war, Hepburn continued to be interested in dancing. She studied ballet in Amsterdam and later in London. In 1948, Hepburn made his stage debut as a backing vocalist in the musical High Button Shoes in London. Other small parts on the UK stage followed. She was a backup singer in Sauce Tartare (1949), but was moved to a star player in Sauce Piquante (1950).

The same year, Hepburn made his feature film debut in One Wild Oat in 1951, in an uncredited role. She went on to star in films such as Young Wives’ Tales (1951) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), starring Alec Guinness.

Private Life, Career & Timeline of Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn À Broadway

At the age of 22, Hepburn traveled to New York to star in the Broadway production of Gigi, based on French writer Colette’s book. Set in Paris around 1900, the comedy focuses on the main character, a young teenager on the verge of adulthood. Her relatives try to teach her to be a courtesan, to enjoy the benefits of being with a rich man without having to get married. They try to get a family friend, Gaston, to become their boss, but the young couple have other ideas.

Just weeks after the play’s premiere, reports indicated that Hepburn was being courted by Hollywood. Only two years later, she took the world by storm in the film Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck. Audiences and critics alike were impressed with her portrayal of Princess Ann, the royal who escapes the restrictions of her title for a short time. She won a Best Actress Oscar for this performance.

The following year, Hepburn returned to the Broadway stage to star in Ondine with Mel Ferrer. Fantastic, the play tells the story of a water nymph who falls in love with a human played by Ferrer. With his supple, lean figure, Hepburn made a compelling sprite in this sad tale of love found and lost. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1954 for her performance. As the play’s main characters grew apart, the cast grew closer. The two also made a dynamic pair offstage, and Hepburn and Ferrer were married on September 25, 1954, in Switzerland.

Movie theater

Back on the big screen, Hepburn made another worthy performance in Sabrina (1954) as the title character, the pilot’s daughter from a wealthy family. Sabrina returned home after spending time in Paris as a beautiful and sophisticated woman. The family’s two sons, Linus and David, played by Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, never paid much attention to him until his transformation. Pursuing her former crush David, Sabrina unexpectedly found happiness with her older brother Linus. Hepburn earned an Oscar nomination for his work on this bittersweet romantic comedy.

Showcasing her dancing abilities, Hepburn starred alongside Fred Astaire in the musical Funny Face (1957). This film featured Hepburn undergoing another transformation. This time, she plays a beatnik bookstore clerk discovered by a fashion photographer played by Astaire. Attracted by a free trip to Paris, the clerk becomes a beautiful model. Hepburn’s clothes for the film were designed by Hubert de Givenchy, one of his close friends.

Moving away from light fare, Hepburn starred in the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace with her husband, Ferrer and Henry Fonda in 1956. Three years later, she played Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story (1959) , which earned her an Oscar nomination. The film focused on her character’s struggle to succeed as a nun. A review in Variety said, “Audrey Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her best performance. After this stellar performance, she went on to star in the John Huston-directed Western The Unforgiven (1960) starring Burt Lancaster. That same year, her first child, a son named Sean, was born.

Returning to her glamorous roots, Hepburn set new fashion standards as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), which was based on a short story by Truman Capote. She played a seemingly light-hearted, but ultimately troubled New York party girl who gets involved with a struggling writer played by George Peppard. Hepburn received his fourth Oscar nomination for his work on the film.

Career of Audrey Hepburn

For the rest of the 1960s, Hepburn took on a variety of roles. She starred with Cary Grant in the romantic thriller Charade (1963). Playing the lead role in the film version of the popular musical My Fair Lady (1964), she went through one of the most famous metamorphoses of all time. As Eliza Doolittle, she played an English flower girl who becomes an upper class lady. Taking more dramatic fare, she played a blind woman in the suspenseful tale Wait Until Dark (1967) opposite Alan Arkin. Her character used her wits to defeat the criminals harassing her. This film earned him a fifth Oscar nomination. That same year, Hepburn and her husband separated and later divorced.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hepburn worked sporadically. She starred alongside Sean Connery in Robin and Marian (1976), a look at the central characters of the Robin Hood saga in their later years. In 1979, Hepburn co-starred with Ben Gazzara in the crime thriller Bloodline. Hepburn and Gazzara teamed up again for the 1981 comedy They All Laughed, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Her last screen role was in Always (1989) directed by Steven Spielberg.

Audrey Hepburn pictured with an Ethiopian girl during her first field mission for UNICEF in Ethiopia, 1988

Audrey Hepburn Death and Legacy

In his later years, acting took precedence over his work on behalf of children. She became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in the late 1980s. Traveling the world, Hepburn tried to raise awareness for children in need. She understood all too well what it was like to go hungry from her days in the Netherlands during the German occupation. Making more than 50 trips, Hepburn visited UNICEF projects in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. She won a special Oscar for her humanitarian work in 1993, but she didn’t live long enough to receive it. Hepburn died on January 20, 1993, at her home in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, after a battle with colon cancer.

His work to help children around the world continues. His sons, Sean and Luca, along with companion Robert Wolders, established the Audrey Hepburn Memorial Fund at UNICEF to continue Hepburn’s humanitarian work in 1994. It is now known as the Audrey Hepburn Society at the US Fund for UNICEF.