Draft for
Audrey Hepburn
.
Audrey Hepburn
(
; born
Audrey Kathleen Ruston
; 4 May 1929 ? 20 January 1993) was a British actress. 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.
Born in
Ixelles
, a district of
Brussels
, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands. While living in Amsterdam she studied ballet with
Sonia Gaskell
. She moved to London in 1948 to continue her ballet training with
Marie Rambert
and perform as a chorus girl in
West End musical theatre
productions.
Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn starred in the 1951
Broadway
play
Gigi
after being spotted by French novelist
Colette
, on whose work the play was based. She shot to stardom for playing the lead role opposite
Gregory Peck
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 Hepburn 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),
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
, and also won 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 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 poorest 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 Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in
Ixelles
, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium.
Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889?1980), was a British subject born in
Auschitz
, Bohemia.
[2]
[a]
His parents were Anna Ruston (nee Wels), of Austrian descent,
[3]
and Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian descent.
Biographer
Alexander Walker
describes Joseph as "a tall man with a square jaw and a well-defined moustache", with a "very confident" demeanor.
After
World War I
, Joseph was appointed British consul in the
Dutch East Indies
, and prior to his marriage to Hepburn's mother he had been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress whom he had married in the East Indies.
[2]
Although born Ruston, he later
double-barrelled
the surname to the more "aristocratic" Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly
believing himself descended from
James Hepburn
, third husband of
Mary, Queen of Scots
.
Walker suggests that Hepburn may have had an ancestor of East Asian descent on her father's side, pointing out that her delicate features and high cheekbones looked Javanese.
Hepburn's mother, Baroness
Ella van Heemstra
(1900?1984), described by biographer
Barry Paris
as "a strong-willed energetic woman who loved the good life",
was a Dutch
aristocrat
of Dutch, French and Hungarian descent.
She was the daughter of Baron
Aarnoud van Heemstra
, who served as mayor of
Arnhem
from 1910 to 1920, and as Governor of
Dutch Suriname
from 1921 to 1928 and Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873?1939), who was a granddaughter of jurist Count
Dirk van Hogendorp
.
[9]
In 1920, at the age of nineteen, Ella married
Jonkheer
(Esquire) Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in
Batavia
,
Dutch East Indies
, where they subsequently lived.
They had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920?1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924?2010), before divorcing in 1925 in Arnhem.
[12]
Hepburn's parents were married in Batavia in September 1926.
After three years spent travelling between Brussels, Arnhem,
The Hague
and London, the family settled to the suburban Brussels municipality of
Linkebeek
in 1932.
[13]
Hepburn's early childhood was sheltered and privileged.
Her parents shared a love of music and would frequently play music over the gramophone,
and they began paying for piano lessons for their daughter at a young age.
Due to the often volatile relationship between her parents, with her mother being overbearing and deeply critical of people, Hpeburn would often hide under the dining room table when she heard their voices.
As a result of her multinational background and travelling with her family due of her father's job,
[b]
she learned to speak
five languages
: Dutch and English from her parents, and later French, Spanish, and Italian. To strengthen her English, Hepburn was sent to a
boarding school
in
Elham
,
Kent
when she was five years old,
though this is disputed by Pauline Everts who claims that she received her initial education at Tamboers Basse School in Arnhem.
Though energetic and inquisitive as a child,
Hepburn found the experience being away from home a "terrifying" one, and was teased for being shy, plump and not speaking English as fluently as her peers.
In the mid-1930s, Hepburn's parents recruited and collected donations for the
British Union of Fascists
.
Her mother contributed several articles to their publication,
Blackshirt
.
Joseph left the family abruptly in 1935 and divorced Ella in 1938, which Hepburn later professed was "the most traumatic event of my life".
Hepburn said of his sudden disappearance: "I was destroyed at the time... I worshipped my father and missed him terribly from the day he disappeared. Having my father cut himself off from me when I was only six was desperately awful".
[c]
Following the divorce, Ella began making more frequent visits to Kent, enjoying the shopping in London.
Shy and introverted, Hepburn suffered from anxiety as a child, and exhibited symptoms of mild
bulimia
.
A bookworm, she particularly enjoyed the works of
Rudyard Kipling
such as
Just So Stories
and
The Jungle Book
.
After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn's mother relocated her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that, as during World War I, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945,
beginning ballet classes there just prior to her tenth birthday.
Dame
Margot Fonteyn
would become an early role model for her. Though she was considered too tall for ballet, reaching her full adult height of just under 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m),
she performed well and found it to be an ideal way to express herself. She began performing in solo dances roles in Arnhem amid her school studies.
After the Germans
invaded the Netherlands
in 1940, Hepburn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra, because an "English-sounding" name was considered dangerous during the
German occupation
. Her family was profoundly affected by the occupation, with Hepburn later stating that "had we known that we were going to be occupied for five years, we might have all shot ourselves. We thought it might be over next week ... six months ... next year ... that's how we got through".
She left Arnhem with her mother to live with her grandfather, Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby
Velp
.
During this time, Hepburn participated in the
Dutch resistance
, delivering messages and packages, and performing ballet in clandestine fundraising events.
After the Allied landing on
D-Day
, living conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently destroyed during
Operation Market Garden
. During the
Dutch famine
that followed in the winter of 1944, the Germans blocked the resupply routes of the Dutch people's already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupation. Hepburn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits;
[28]
[29]
she developed acute
anæmia
, respiratory problems and
edema
as a result of
malnutrition
.
The van Heemstra family was also seriously financially affected by the occupation, during which many of their properties, including their principal estate in Arnhem, were badly damaged or destroyed.
The Allies liberated the Netherlands in May 1945, with the
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
beginning the distribution of food and other essentials.
Early career (1948-52)
[
edit
]
After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to
Amsterdam
, where she began training ballet under
Sonia Gaskell
, a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian Olga Tarassova.
As the family's fortunes had been lost during the war, Ella supported them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.
Hepburn made her film debut in 1948, playing an air stewardess in
Dutch in Seven Lessons
, an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.
Though several accounts state that Hepburn and her mother arrived in England together that year with just £35 between them, Walker states that they did not arrive together, though they were soon living together at 65 South Audley Street in
Mayfair
. She took up a ballet scholarship with
Ballet Rambert
, which was then based in
Notting Hill
.
[d]
Her intention was to become a professional performer, but it became evident that she lacked natural talent.
As she became a young woman, Hepburn modelled hats for a trade catalogue and used her language skills as a filing clerk for a travel firm, before being hired as a dancer at
Ciro's
nightclub on Orange Street. Audiences began to notice her special charm, with magazine publisher Peter King saying: "It was her personality. Her smile had a particular radiance. Enjoyment was all over her face".
Hepburn successfully auditioned for a part on the chorus line in the
Jack Hylton
production of
High Button Shoes
, making it into the last ten out of 3000 applicants. She used part of her earnings to take elocution lessons from
Felix Aylmer
. After the show ended, she appeared with five other girls and six boys in
Cecil Landeau
's music revue,
Sauce Tartare
, which commenced in May 1949. During the production, Landau agreed for Hepburn to feature in an advertisement for the moisturizer Lacto-Calamine.
Sauce Tartare
was followed by
Sauce Piquante
in 1950, which co-starred
Bob Monkhouse
.
Director
Mario Zampi
spotted Hepburn, and was quoted as saying in a January 1951 publication of
Cinema
magazine that "she will be a big star some day".
He cast her in her first professional role as an actress in
Laughter in Paradise
(1951), in which she played a vendor wearing a hair bow who utters the line: "Want a ciggy?".
This was followed by a very brief role opposite
Alec Guinness
in the Ealing Comedy
The Lavender Hill Mob
, the same year.
In 1951, Hepburn was signed by
Robert Lennard
, the casting director for the
Associated British Picture Corporation
. Lennard talked Hepburn into signing a three-year contract, in which she would agree to make one film a alongside her studio work.
She subsequently appeared in her first lead role in
Thorold Dickinson
's
The Secret People
(1952), playing Nora, a prodigious ballerina, and the sister of
Valentina Cortese
's character.
Though the film was not a success, with significant flaws, Walker remarked of her appearance: "The naturalness and simplicity she radiated in later films are already visible the minute she appears on screen in
The Secret People
: in the check suit and flat hat with a floating ribbon that Nora wears with such vivacity; in the guileless pleasure she demonstrates at exchanging her refugee status for British nationality".
After filming was completed, Hepburn travelled to southern France with her mother in late May 1951 to begin shooting
Monte Carlo Baby
.
Walker states that during the production she met playwright
Colette
, who selected her for the lead role in the play
Gigi
.
After filming for
Monte Carlo Baby
was wrapped, Hepburn arrived in New York to play Gigi on Broadway in a
Gilbert Miller
production. Hepburn initially found rehearsals very demanding, conflicting with director
Raymond Rouleau
, who criticized her phrasing of lines and over-animation of tempo.
[e]
Rouleau became particularly stern with the young actress, and promptly the problems were eradicated.
Though she still appeared to be nervous on stage,
when
Gigi
opened at the
Fulton Theatre
on 24 November 1951, Hepburn captured the hearts of the critics and won the
Theatre World Award
, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French filmatisation.
[50]
[51]
Richard Watts, Jr.
of the
New York Post
remarked that her "quality is so winning", while
Walter Kerr
of
The New York Times
stated that she "brings a candid innocence and a tomboy intelligence to a part that might have gone sticky".
The play ran for 217 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,
before going on a US tour between October 1952 and May 1953, appearing in
Pittsburgh
,
Cleveland
,
Chicago
,
Detroit
,
Washington D.C.
and
Los Angeles
before closing in
San Francisco
.
Hollywood breakthrough
[
edit
]
Richard Mealing
, the chief of Paramount Studios in London, had been "much struck" with seeing Hepburn in
Laughter in Paradise
,
and arranged for her to be given a screen test for a leading role opposite
Gregory Peck
in
William Wyler
's romantic comedy
Roman Holiday
(1953).
The script for the film had been penned by
Dalton Trumbo
and
Ian McLellan Hunter
in the mid-1940s, but
Frank Capra
, who was originally hired to direct, couldn't find the right actress to play the part. When Wyler took over, he explicitly stated that the lead actress should be a girl without an American accent. He initially wanted
Elizabeth Taylor
to star but MGM were unwilling to loan her to Paramount for the picture.
The decision to cast Hepburn proved to be a successful one, and she won the
Academy Award for Best Actress
for her performance.
Filmography and stage roles
[
edit
]
Awards
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
On Hepburn's birth certificate her father was stated to have been born in London. This was corrected in 1952 by her mother to "born in Onzic, Bohemia". Onzic is a misreading of Ouzic (German
Auschiz
), now U?ice in Czech Republic.
- ^
Walker writes that it is unclear for what kind of company he worked; he was listed as a "financial adviser" in a Dutch business directory, and the family often travelled between the Netherlands, Belgium and England.
- ^
Hepburn only renewed contact with her father in the 1960s, after locating him in
Dublin
, Ireland, through the
Red Cross
.
He had been imprisoned during World War II and was released only in April 1945.
He later took sanctuary for a period in a Trappist monastery in
County Waterford
, before its abbot helped him find a job as an insurance broker in Dublin.
- ^
She had been offered the scholarship already in 1945, but had declined it due to "some uncertainty regarding her national status".
- ^
Rouleau's widow recalled: "The first eight days of work with Audrey were truly terrible. She was acting extremely badly, totally failing to understand the meaning of the text, going out late at night and arriving very tired at the theatre in the mornings."
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Hepburn, Audrey"
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
,
Oxford University Press
. Retrieved
June 26,
2016
.
(subscription required)
- ^
"Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels, born in Slovakia"
. Pitt.edu
. Retrieved
May 4,
2013
.
- ^
Segers, Yop.
"
'Heemstra, Aarnoud Jan Anne Aleid baron van (1871-1957)'
"
. Historici.nl
. Retrieved
October 23,
2013
.
- ^
"Ian van Ufford Quarles Obituary"
.
The Times
. May 29, 2010.
Archived
from the original on June 21, 2016
. Retrieved
May 31,
2010
.
- ^
"De vijf hoeken van de wereld: Amerika in Elsene"
(in Dutch). brusselnieuws.be
. Retrieved
June 26,
2016
.
- ^
Tichner, Martha (26 November 2006). "Audrey Hepburn". CBS Sunday Morning.
- ^
James, Caryn (1993).
"Audrey Hepburn, Actress, Is Dead at 63"
.
New York Times
. Archived from
the original
on 18 January 2007
. Retrieved
26 November
2006
.
- ^
Cite error:
The named reference
gigi
was invoked but never defined (see the
help page
).
- ^
"Audrey Is a Hit"
.
Life
. December 10, 1951
. Retrieved
April 22,
2016
.
Sources
[
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]