Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn grew up in Holland during World War II and began life with great uncertainty—not knowing when she would see her estranged father, where her next meal would come from, or even whether she would survive the war. Dance was her refuge and it brought her to the movies, where she quickly rose to stardom. After small roles in a few British features, she found herself cast opposite Gregory Peck in Roman-Holiday (1953) and helped to make the film a critical and commercial triumph. At just twenty-four, Audrey won an Academy Award, followed later that year by a Tony for her Broadway role in Ondine. A string of romantic comedies followed—Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1960—and the fans’ romance with Audrey continued as well. Both men and women were drawn to this slender, doe-eyed beauty, so different from the blonde bombshells of the day. Yet she was also attracted to films that explored life’s hidden dramas. The Nun’s Story (1959), The Children’s Hour (1962), and Wait Until Dark (1967) expanded on her ingénue image. In pictures like Love in the Afternoon (1957) and Two for the Road (1967), she took a fresh approach to contemporary female characters, which may have been closer to her own life. She struggled to balance career and family, while also dealing with men who resisted becoming “Mr. Audrey Hepburn.” Audrey tried twice to retire from the screen, but each time she attempted to focus on her private life, she found herself wooed back by an admiring director. One such director, Richard Lester, brought her back after nine years to costar with Sean Connery in Robin and Marian (1976), while Steven Spielberg coaxed her back for her last film, Always (1989). Yet her true passions seemed to lie outside conventional marriage and Hollywood. Domestic contentment came with her last partner, fellow Dutch actor Robert Wolders, and true fulfillment arrived when she signed on as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Her own war-torn childhood was never far from her mind, prompting a serious commitment to the starving children of the world. Audrey Hepburn truly knew what mattered most, and when this very private woman bravely used her fame to mother the world, she stole our hearts all over again.

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn

It was the perfect fairy tale: A princess escapes from her keepers and finds love with a commoner during a twenty-four-hour tour of Rome. And even if they couldn’t share a final clinch, they had changed each other deeply, each coming out of the relationship more mature, better able to face the adult challenges of their social roles. And the timing couldn’t have been better. In the early 1950s, the world was gaga for royalty. Princess Elizabeth’s marriage had already inspired an MGM musical: Royal Wedding (1951). Her sister Margaret’s doomed love affair with an army officer had ruled the headlines for months. But with all that going for it, what finally made Roman Holiday (1953) a hit was the pairing of lanky, robust Gregory Peck, making his comedy debut as the cynical journalist who originally sees his royal playmate as just another story, and newcomer Audrey Hepburn, shooting to stardom as the impressionable Princess Anne, a tabula rasa waiting for the world to write its lessons on her.

The Dalton Trumbo story had initially been planned for Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor, with Frank Capra directing. When Paramount balked at the estimated $1.5 million budget, Capra walked. William Wyler came on board and managed to convince the studio to pony up the money for a location shoot. By that point, Grant had left, too, concerned about romancing the much-younger female lead. Fortunately, Gregory Peck was looking to expand into comedy after a decade of dramatic hits. Elizabeth Taylor was tied up with other projects, as was second choice Jean Simmons. So Wyler went on a talent search to find a new girl and unearthed one of the screen’s greatest treasures, Audrey Hepburn. During a hot summer of filming in Rome, the two made onscreen magic, so much so that Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress for her first leading role. Their perfect teamwork has continued to delight audiences in the United States and overseas. The film became a hit in Moscow as part of a U.S. cultural exchange program in 1960. In Japan, it is consistently voted the most popular American film ever made, thanks to the adoration of female fans enthralled with the Peck-Hepburn romance.