Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Audrey Hepburn is a Actor British born on 4 may 1929 at Ixelles / Elsene (Belgique)

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn
If you like this person, let us know!
Birth name Audrey Kathleen Ruston
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 4 may 1929 at Ixelles / Elsene (Belgique)
Death 20 january 1993 (at 63 years) at Tolochenaz (Suisse)
Awards Emmy Award, Academy Award for Best Actress, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Audrey Hepburn (/ˈɔːdri ˈhɛpˌbɜrn/; born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood's Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. She is also regarded by some to be the most naturally beautiful woman of all time.

Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England, and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War where she worked as a courier for the Dutch resistance and assisted with fundraising. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948 to continue her ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions. She spoke several languages, including English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and German.

Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by French novelist Colette. Hepburn shot to stardom for playing the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. The same year, she won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine. Hepburn went on to star in a number of successful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Hepburn won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA, Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. Hepburn remains one of the few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. Although contributing to the organisation since 1954, she worked in some of the most profoundly impoverished communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

Biography

Marriages, relationships and children

In 1952, Hepburn was engaged to the young James Hanson, Baron Hanson, whom she had known since her London dancing days. She called it "love at first sight"; however, after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time. She issued a statement about her decision, saying, "When I get married, I want to be really married." In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.

Hepburn and Gregory Peck bonded during the filming of Roman Holiday (1953) and there were rumours that they were romantically involved; both denied it. Hepburn, however, added, "Actually, you have to be a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa. If you're going to portray love, you have to feel it. You can't do it any other way. But you don't carry it beyond the set." They did however become lifelong friends. During the filming of Sabrina (1954), Hepburn and the already-married William Holden became romantically involved. She hoped to marry him and have children, but she broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy. Although a common perception that Bogart and Hepburn (both starred in Sabrina together) did not get along, Hepburn commented that, "Sometimes it's the so-called 'tough guys' that are the most tender hearted, as Bogey was with me."



At a cocktail party hosted by Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer. Ferrer recalled that, "We began talking about theatre; she knew all about the La Jolla Playhouse Summer Theatre, where Greg Peck and I had been co-producing plays. She also said she'd seen me three times in the movie Lili. Finally, she said she'd like to do a play with me, and she asked me to send her a likely play if I found one."
Ferrer, vying for Hepburn to take the title role, sent her the script for the play Ondine. She agreed and rehearsals started in January 1954. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, after meeting, working together, and falling in love, the pair were married in Bürgenstock while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1955).

Before having their only son, Hepburn had two miscarriages – one in March 1955 and another in 1959. The latter occurred when filming The Unforgiven (1960) where breaking her back after falling off a horse and onto a rock resulted in hospital stay and miscarriage induced by physical and mental stress. Hepburn took a year off work in order to carry a child to term. Sean Hepburn Ferrer, their son, was born on 17 July 1960.

Despite the insistence from gossip columns that their marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and Ferrer were inseparable and happy together, though she admitted that he had a bad temper. Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling of Hepburn and had been referred to by others as being her "Svengali" – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." Hepburn had another two miscarriages later, in 1965 and 1967. After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced on 5 December 1968. Their son believed that Hepburn had stayed in the marriage too long.



In June 1968 she was invited on a cruise by Princess Olimpia Emmanuela Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi and her industrialist husband Paul-Annik Weiller (1933–1998). On the cruise she met the Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti and fell in love with him on a trip to the Greek ruins. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. She married him on 18 January 1969 at age 39 and gave birth to their son, Luca Dotti, on 8 February 1970. While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months and passing the time by painting before delivering him by caesarean section. Hepburn tried for another child but in 1974 had another miscarriage.

Although Dotti loved Hepburn and was well-liked by Sean, who called him "fun", he began having affairs with younger women. Hepburn had a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the 1979 movie Bloodline. The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted thirteen years and ended in 1982 when Hepburn felt Luca and Sean were old enough to handle life with a single mother. Although Hepburn broke off contact with Ferrer, and only spoke to him two more times during the remainder of her life, she remained in touch with Dotti for the benefit of Luca. On 30 September 2007, Andrea Dotti died after complications from a colonoscopy.

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn lived with and was romantically involved with Dutch actor Robert Wolders, the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She met Wolders through a friend in the later stage of her marriage to Dotti. The divorce from Dotti finalised, Wolders and Hepburn started their lives together, although they never married. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life. "Took me long enough", she said in an interview with American journalist Barbara Walters. Walters then asked why they never married; Hepburn replied that they were married, just not formally.


Hepburn's children
Hepburn had two surviving children, Sean, with Mel Ferrer, born on 17 July 1960 and Luca, with Andrea Dotti, born on 8 February 1970.

Audrey's son Sean founded the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. shortly after his mother's passing. After 20 years as its chairman he handed the reins to his brother Luca to become the Honorary Chair of the Audrey Hepburn Society at the US Fund for UNICEF. The Society celebrates UNICEF's biggest donors and has raised almost US$100,000,000 to date. He also became patron of the Pseudomyxoma Survivor charity, dedicated to providing support to patients of the rare cancer she suffered from, pseudomyxoma peritonei, and is also the rare disease ambassador since 2014 and for 2015 on behalf of European Organisation for Rare Diseases.


Illness
Upon return from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn began suffering from abdominal pains. She went to specialists and received inconclusive results, so she decided to have herself examined while on a trip to Los Angeles in October. On 1 November, Hepburn checked in at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with her family. Doctors performed a laparoscopy and discovered abdominal cancer that had spread from her appendix, a rare form of cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised, not as a tumour, but as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, the doctors put Hepburn through 5-fluorouracil Leucovorin chemotherapy. A few days later, she had an obstruction and medication was not enough to dull the pain. She underwent further surgery on 1 December. After one hour, the surgeon decided that the cancer had spread too far to be removed fully and was inoperable.

After coming to terms with the gravity of Hepburn's illness, her family decided to return home to Switzerland in order to celebrate her last Christmas. Because Hepburn was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Hubert de Givenchy offered to help and arranged for Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva. She spent her last days in hospice care at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland and occasionally was well enough to take walks in her garden, but gradually became more confined to bed rest as she grew weaker.


Death

On the evening of 20 January 1993, Hepburn died at home in her sleep of appendiceal cancer. After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.

Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz, Switzerland, on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, of UNICEF, delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore. Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Dutch royal family.
The same day as her funeral, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery, a small cemetery that sits atop a hill overlooking the village.

Best films

My Fair Lady (1964)
(Actress)
The Nun's Story (1959)
(Actress)
War and Peace (1956)
(Actress)
Roman Holiday (1953)
(Actress)
Sabrina (1954)
(Actress)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
(Actress)

Usually with

William Wyler
William Wyler
(3 films)
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
(5 films)
Franz Planer
Franz Planer
(5 films)
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
(2 films)
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen
(3 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Audrey Hepburn (33 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Trumbo
Trumbo (2015)
, 2h4
Directed by Jay Roach
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Films about writers, Political films
Actors Elle Fanning, Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, John Goodman, Helen Mirren, Alan Tudyk
Roles Princess Ann (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rating73% 3.6977753.6977753.6977753.6977753.697775
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood’s top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. Trumbo (directed by Jay Roach) recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice under the blacklist, which entangled everyone from gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) to John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger. The film also stars Diane Lane, John Goodman, Louis CK, Elle Fanning, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff, 1h26
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the visual arts, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Marlene Dietrich, Jack Cardiff, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles, Leslie Caron, Kirk Douglas
Roles Natasha Rostova (archive footage)
Rating76% 3.8324853.8324853.8324853.8324853.832485
En 2001, Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) est devenu le premier directeur de la photographie de l'histoire des Oscars à recevoir un Oscar d'honneur. Mais la première fois qu'il a serré la célèbre statuette dans sa main, c'était un demi-siècle plus tôt, lorsque son travail de caméra en Technicolor avait été récompensé pour le Narcisse noir de Powell et Pressburger. Au-delà de The African Queen de John Huston et de War and Peace de King Vidor, les films du duo créatif britannico-hongrois (The Red Shoes et A Matter of Life and Death également) garantissent l'immortalité au célèbre caméraman dont la carrière s'étend sur soixante-dix ans.
The Audrey Hepburn Story, 2h55
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about television
Actors Jennifer Love Hewitt, Frances Fisher, Eric McCormack, Gabriel Macht, Emmy Rossum, Keir Dullea
Roles elle-même
Rating59% 2.9505952.9505952.9505952.9505952.950595
The film spans from Hepburn's early childhood to the 1950s which details her life as a Dutch ballerina, coming to grips with her parents' divorce, and enduring life in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II. She then settles in the U.S. where she succeeds in making it big as a movie actress, in such movies as Breakfast at Tiffany's.
If These Walls Could Talk 2, 1h32
Directed by Anne Heche, Martha Coolidge, Jane Anderson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama, Action, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films
Actors Vanessa Redgrave, Marian Seldes, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Perkins, Michelle Williams, Chloë Sevigny
Roles Self (archive footage)
Rating68% 3.4478953.4478953.4478953.4478953.447895
Ce film raconte l’histoire de trois couples de femmes de 1961 à 2000. Chaque duo vit son homosexualité à sa manière et aussi en fonction des mœurs de son époque.
Always
Always (1989)
, 2h2
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Romance
Themes Films about religion, Transport films, Films about the labor movement, Aviation films, Films about angels, Ghost films, Disaster films
Actors Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Brad Johnson, Audrey Hepburn, Roberts Blossom
Roles Hap
Rating63% 3.1990153.1990153.1990153.1990153.199015
Pete Sandich (Dreyfuss) is an aerial firefighter, flying a war-surplus A-26 bomber dropping fire retardant slurry to put out forest wildfires. His excessive risk taking in the air deeply troubles his girlfriend, Dorinda Durston (Hunter), a pilot who doubles as a dispatcher, and is also of concern to his best friend, Al Yackey (Goodman), a fellow fighter. On one flight, Pete makes one extra drop, runs out of fuel, and barely manages to glide onto the runway.
They All Laughed, 1h55
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Actors Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, John Ritter, Colleen Camp, Patti Hansen, Peter Bogdanovich
Roles Angela Niotes
Rating62% 3.1468453.1468453.1468453.1468453.146845
Detective John Russo (Ben Gazzara) attempts to cheat on his girlfriend, country singer Christy Miller (Colleen Camp), with a blonde taxi driver he calls Sam (Patti Hansen), with the connivance of his colleague Arthur Brodsky (Blaine Novak). Russo has met the taxi driver en route from a meeting at which he's been assigned to follow Angela Niotes (Audrey Hepburn), wife of a European tycoon.
Bloodline
Bloodline (1979)
, 1h52
Directed by Terence Young
Origin German
Genres Thriller, Crime
Actors Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Irène Papas, Claudia Mori, Michelle Phillips
Roles Elizabeth Roffe
Rating46% 2.3074952.3074952.3074952.3074952.307495
Sam Roffe, President of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals, dies in what appears to be a climbing accident, leaving his daughter Elizabeth (Audrey Hepburn) a billion-dollar empire. Roffe's board members see an opportunity to settle old scores, jockey for higher position, and reap lucrative profits. However, an investigation into Sam's death discloses that it was a murder and that a power struggle is going on within the company.
Robin and Marian, 1h46
Directed by Richard Lester
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Swashbuckler, Action, Adventure, Romance
Actors Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson, Ronnie Barker
Roles Lady Marian
Rating64% 3.2482253.2482253.2482253.2482253.248225
An aging Robin Hood (Connery) is a trusted captain fighting for King Richard the Lionheart (Harris) in France, the Crusades long over. Richard orders him to take a castle that is rumored to hold a gold statue. Discovering that it is defended by a solitary, one-eyed old man (Esmond Knight) who is sheltering harmless women and children, and convinced that there is no statue, Robin and his right-hand man, Little John (Williamson), refuse to attack. King Richard, angry at their insubordination, orders the pair's execution, but before his orders can be carried out, he is mortally wounded by an arrow thrown by the old man. Richard has the helpless residents massacred, with the exception of the old man, because Richard likes his eye. The King asks Robin to pray for mercy for him. When Robin refuses, Richard draws his sword, but lacks the strength to strike him and falls to the floor. Robin helps him, and moved by his loyalty, with his last words, Richard frees Robin and Little John.
Wait Until Dark, 1h48
Directed by Terence Young
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror, Crime
Themes Medical-themed films, Théâtre, Films about disabilities, Films based on plays, La cécité
Actors Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist II, Jack Weston, Robby Benson
Roles Susy Hendrix
Rating76% 3.8473953.8473953.8473953.8473953.847395
In a Montreal apartment, a woman named Lisa (Samantha Jones) waits for an old man to sew bags of heroin into the cloth body of an old-fashioned doll. As she leaves the apartment with the doll, we see the man watching her leave, then dialing someone on the phone. Lisa takes the doll with her on an airline flight to New York City, but when, on disembarking, she sees a man watching her, she becomes worried and gives the doll for safekeeping to a man she'd spoken with on the plane, professional photographer Sam Hendrix (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.). The man who'd been watching Lisa then roughly escorts her away. Later, when Lisa calls Sam about the doll, Sam and his wife, Susy (Audrey Hepburn), who is blind from an auto accident, are unable to find it.
Two for the Road, 1h52
Directed by Stanley Donen
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Transport films, Road movies, Children's films
Actors Albert Finney, Audrey Hepburn, William Daniels, Eleanor Bron, Claude Dauphin, Nadia Gray
Roles Joanna Wallace
Rating73% 3.6960853.6960853.6960853.6960853.696085
Now a successful and wealthy architect, Mark Wallace (Albert Finney) and his wife Joanna (Jo) Wallace (Audrey Hepburn) fly their white 1965 Mercedes 230SL roadster to Northern France in order to drive to Saint-Tropez to celebrate the completion of a building project for a client, Maurice. Tensions between the couple are evident, and as they journey south they both remember and discuss several past journeys along the same road.
How to Steal a Million, 2h3
Directed by William Wyler
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Action, Crime, Romance
Themes Heist films, Children's films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Charles Boyer, Marcel Dalio
Roles Nicole Bonnet
Rating74% 3.7495353.7495353.7495353.7495353.749535
Charles Bonnet (Hugh Griffith) is a highly skilled art forger who pretends to be an art collector. His daughter Nicole (Audrey Hepburn) disapproves of his forgeries and is afraid that he may get caught. At the beginning of the film, he loans a renowned statue of Cellini's Venus to the Kléber-Lafayette Museum as the centerpiece of an important upcoming exhibition. However, the statue had been made by Nicole's grandfather and would fail even a basic materials analysis.
Paris When It Sizzles, 1h50
Directed by Richard Quiney
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about films, Films about writers, Mise en scène d'un scénariste
Actors William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, Grégoire Aslan, Raymond Bussières, Tony Curtis, Mel Ferrer
Roles Gabrielle Simpson / Baby
Rating62% 3.149523.149523.149523.149523.14952
The story concerns a veteran playboy screenwriter named Richard Benson (William Holden) who has been paid to write a screenplay for his boss, Mr. Alexander Myerheim (Noël Coward). Overly set in his playboy and carousing ways, he procrastinates the writing of the screenplay until just two days before it is due. Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn), a temp secretary hired by Benson to type the script, comes to Richard's hotel room where they are to work on the script, only then finding out about their tight deadline and that not one page or line of script had yet been written. The desperate and self-loathing writer, Richard, begins to be awakened and inspired by the beautiful Gabrielle, and starts to come up with various scenarios for his screenplay, called The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower, which is based on their unfolding romance. The screenplay, with small but inspired and comedic roles for Noël Coward, Tony Curtis, and other famous stars of the day, makes fun of the movie business, actors, studio heads and itself, and is rife with allusions to the iconic earlier roles of the two main stars.
My Fair Lady, 2h46
Directed by George Cukor, David S. Hall
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Musical theatre, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films based on mythology, Théâtre, Musical films, Films based on Greco-Roman mythology, Films based on plays, Films based on musicals, Children's films, Films based on Greco-Roman mythology
Actors Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Marni Nixon, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper
Roles Eliza Doolittle
Rating76% 3.84883.84883.84883.84883.8488
In Edwardian London, Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), a scholar of phonetics, believes that the accent and tone of one's voice determines a person's prospects in society. In Covent Garden one evening he boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), himself an expert in phonetics, that he could teach any person to speak in a way that he could pass them off as a duke or duchess at an embassy ball. Higgins selects as an example a young flower seller, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), who has a strong Cockney accent. Eliza's ambition is to work in a flower shop, but her thick accent makes her unsuitable. Having come from India to meet Higgins, Pickering is invited to stay with the professor. The following morning, Eliza shows up at Higgins' home, seeking lessons. Pickering is intrigued and offers to cover all expenses if the experiment should be successful.
Charade
Charade (1963)
, 1h53
Directed by Marc Maurette, Stanley Donen
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy thriller, Romantic comedy, Crime, Romance
Themes Spy films, Transport films, Transport en Île-de-France, Métro parisien dans la culture populaire
Actors Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot
Roles Regina Lampert
Rating78% 3.9482853.9482853.9482853.9482853.948285
Regina "Reggie" Lampert (Audrey Hepburn), on a skiing holiday in Megève, tells her friend Sylvie Gaudel (Dominique Minot) that she has decided to divorce her husband Charles. She then meets a charming stranger, Peter Joshua (Cary Grant). When she returns to Paris, her apartment is completely empty, and police inspector Edouard Grandpierre (Jacques Marin) notifies her that Charles has been murdered while leaving Paris. Reggie is given her husband's travel bag, containing a letter addressed to her, a ticket to Venezuela, passports in multiple names, and other items. At the funeral, three odd characters show up to view the body. One sticks the corpse with a pin and another places a mirror in front of the body's mouth and nose, both to verify that Charles is really dead.