Audrey Hepburn

Biography

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston) was an actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an aristocratic family, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945, and with Marie Rambert in London from 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That year, she also won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine. She went on to star in a number of successful films such as Sabrina (1954), in which Humphrey Bogart and William Holden compete for her affection; Funny Face (1957), a musical where she sang her own parts; the drama The Nun's Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963), opposite Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967 she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, receiving Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. After that, she only occasionally appeared in films, one being Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her last recorded performances were in the 1990 documentary television series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. Hepburn won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she received BAFTA's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of only seventeen people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Later in life, Hepburn devoted much of her time to UNICEF, to which she had contributed since 1954. Between 1988 and 1992, she worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia. In December 1992, she received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, at the age of 63.

Known For

Holly Golightly

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Self

Gregory Peck: His Own Man

Elizabeth Roffe

Bloodline

Princess Ann

Roman Holiday

Lady Marian

Robin and Marian

Nicole Bonnet

How to Steal a Million

Karen Wright

The Children's Hour

Regina Lampert

Charade

Susy Hendrix

Wait Until Dark

Hap

Always

Eliza Doolittle

My Fair Lady

Gabrielle Simpson

Paris When It Sizzles

Joanna Wallace

Two for the Road

Sabrina Fairchild

Sabrina

Natasha Rostova

War and Peace

Rachel Zachary

The Unforgiven

Angela Niotes

They All Laughed

Sister Luke

The Nun's Story

Chiquita

The Lavender Hill Mob

Jo Stockton

Funny Face

Self (archive footage)

Becoming Cary Grant

Rima

Green Mansions

Melissa Walter

Nous irons à Monte Carlo

Hotel Receptionist

One Wild Oat

Baroness Caroline DuLac

Love Among Thieves

Ariane Chavasse / Thin Girl

Love in the Afternoon

Self / Various characters (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn: The Magic of Audrey

Cigarette Girl

Laughter in Paradise

Self (archive footage)

Legenden: Audrey Hepburn

Nora Brentano

Secret People

Self (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn - Ein Star auf der Suche nach sich selbst

Self (archive footage)

Nikotin - Droge mit Zukunft

Countess Marie Vetsera

Mayerling

Stewardess / Girl with lute

Nederlands in Zeven Lessen

Eve Lester

Young Wives' Tale

Self (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years

Self (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn: The Fairest Lady

Self (archive footage)

Breakfast at Tiffany's: The Making of a Classic

Self (archive footage)

It's So Audrey! A Style Icon

Self (screen tests) (archive footage)

Edith Head: The Paramount Years

Self / Various (archive footage)

Darcey Bussell: Looking for Audrey

Princess Ann (archive footage)

Restoring Roman Holiday

Self (archive footage)

Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man

Self (archive footage)

Roger Moore: A Matter of Class

Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood

Self (archive footage)

The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

Self (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn, le choix de l'élégance

Self (archive footage)

Bert Stern - Original Madman

Self

Directed by William Wyler

Self (archive footage)

Very Ralph

Narrator / Host

Audrey Hepburn: In Her Own Words

Self / Eliza Doolittle (archive footage)

More Loverly Than Ever: The Making of 'My Fair Lady'

Self (archive footage)

Audrey Hepburn: Remembered

Self - Actress (archive footage)

Audrey

Self - Host

The Fred Astaire Songbook

Natasha Rostova (archive footage)

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

Self (archive footage)

Cher: In Her Own Words

(archive footage)

Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1960's

Lead Vocals

Femme De La Lune