Audrey Hepburn
British actress (1929–1993) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (née Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress admired for her charm and elegance.
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Early life
Born in Brussels, Belgium, to an English father and a Dutch mother who were divorced in 1935. She grew up in Arnhem, The Netherlands during the war, with her mother and two maternal half-brothers.[1] When the war ended, she and her mother moved to England. There, she studied ballet, and began working as a model and appearing in bit parts in the theatre and in movies.[2]
Career
Hepburn played her first major role in 1951, when she was chosen by French writer Colette to play the lead role in the English version of her play Gigi on Broadway.[3]
This led to her being cast in the lead female part in the movie Roman Holiday (1953), opposite Gregory Peck.[4] The movie made her an instant international star. Her performance won her the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA for best actress, becoming the first actress to win all three for the same role.[5]
She then appeared in a string of successful romantic comedies, such as Sabrina (1954), Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), How to Steal a Million (1967), etc. She also appeared in two musicals; Funny Face (1957) and My Fair Lady (1964) and tackled more dramatic roles in movies such as War and Peace (1956), The Nun's Story (1959), The Children's Hour (1961), Two for the Road (1967) and the thriller Wait Until Dark (1967).[6][7]
After not having taken an acting role in eight years to take care of her family, she returned with Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery.[8] She also appeared in Bloodline (1979) and They All Laughed (1981) but retired for good shortly after.
In later life, she worked as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and hosted a television series The Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn.[9]
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Personal life
She was married twice; first in 1954 to actor and director Mel Ferrer with whom she had a son Sean (b. 1960), and second to Italian psychiatrist Doctor Andrea Dotti in 1969, with whom she had a second son Luca (b. 1970). Both marriages ended in divorce.[10]
Hepburn became an EGOT winner in 1994, becoming the first person to do so posthumously.[5]
Death and legacy
Hepburn died of appendix cancer on 20 January 1993.[11] Her elder son, Sean Ferrer, later wrote a book about his mother, called Audrey Hepburn: an elegant spirit.[12][13]
References
Other websites
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