Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn dri h p b rn 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 1 2 3 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 Gaskellbefore 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 4 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 Early life edit Hepburn was born on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles a municipality in Brussels Belgium 5 Her father Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston 1889 1980 was a British subject born in ice Bohemia 6 a to Anna Ruston n e Wels of Austrian descent 7 and Victor John George Ruston of British and Austrian descent 8 A one time honorary British consul in the Dutch East Indies Hepburn s father had earlier been married to Cornelia Bisschop a Dutch heiress 6 9 Although born Ruston he later double barrelled the surname to the more aristocratic Hepburn Ruston mistakenly 8 believing himself descended from James Hepburn third husband of Mary Queen of Scots 9 Her mother Baroness Ella van Heemstra 1900 1984 was a Dutch aristocrat and the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928 Ella s mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette Baroness van Asbeck 1873 1939 who was a granddaughter of jurist Count Dirk van Hogendorp 10 At age nineteen Ella had married Jonkheer Esquire Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford but they divorced in 1925 Hepburn had two half brothers from this marriage who were both born in the Dutch East Indies Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford 1920 1979 and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford 1924 2010 9 11 Hepburn s mother and father married in the Dutch Colonial Batavia now Jakarta Dutch East Indies in September 1926 They moved back to Europe to Ixelles in Belgium where Hepburn was born in 1929 before moving to Linkebeek a nearby Brussels municipality in January 1932 12 Although born in Belgium Hepburn heldBritish citizenship through her father 5 As a result of her multinational background and travelling with her family because of her father s job 13 b she learned to speak five languages Dutch and English from her parents and later French Spanish and Italian Hepburn began studying ballet when she was five years old Career beginnings and early roles edit After the war ended in 1945 Ella and Audrey moved to Amsterdam where Hepburn took ballet lessons for three years with Sonia Gaskell a leading figure in Dutch ballet 30 In 1948 she appeared on film for the first time as an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven Lessons an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson 31 Later the same year she moved to London to take up a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert which was then based in Notting Hill 32 She supported herself with part time work as a model and dropped Ruston from her surname On requesting Rambert s assessment of her prospects Hepburn was told she had talent but her height and weak constitution the after effect of wartime undernutrition would make the status of prima ballerinaunattainable She decided to concentrate on acting 33 34 35 Hepburn s mother worked menial jobs in order to support them and Hepburn began working as a chorus girl 36 in the musical theatre revues High Button Shoes 1948 at the London Hippodrome and Cecil Landeau s Sauce Tartare 1949 and Sauce Piquante 1950 at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End During her theatrical work she took elocution lessons with actor Felix Aylmer to develop her voice 37 After being spotted by a casting director while performing inSauce Piquante Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the Associated British Picture Corporation The unknown Hepburn appeared in minor roles in the 1951 films One Wild Oat Laughter in Paradise Young Wives Tale and The Lavender Hill Mob before playing her first major supporting role in Thorold Dickinson s The Secret People 1952 in which she played a prodigious ballerina and performed all of her own dancing sequences 38 Hepburn was then offered a small role in the film being shot in both English and French Monte Carlo Baby Nous Irons Monte Carlo 1951 While Hepburn was filming on location French novelist Colette happened to be on the set on the search for an actress to play the title character in her Broadway play Gigi Collette cast her on the spot supposedly stating Voil indicating Hepburn there s your Gigi 35 39 Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage and required private coaching 40 When Gigi opened at the Fulton Theatre on 24 November 1951 critics noted her lack of experience but seduced by her charm 41 Gigi earned Hepburn a Theatre World Award for her debut on Broadway 42 her name was hoisted above the title of the play on the theatre marquee The play ran for 219 performances closing on 31 May 1952 42 before going on tour which began 13 October 1952 in Pittsburgh and visited Cleveland Chicago Detroit Washington and Los Angeles before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco 43 Legacy edit How shall I sum up my life I think I ve been particularly lucky Audrey Hepburn 113 Audrey Hepburn s legacy as an actress and a personality has endured long after her death The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time She stands as one of few entertainers who have won Academy Emmy Grammy and Tony Awards She won a record three Bafta Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role In her last years she remained a visible presence in the film world She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards She received the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992 She was the recipient of numerous posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards She has been the subject of many biographies since her death and the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt