Audrey Hepburn

Biography
Actress Audrey Hepburn, star of
Breakfast at Tiffany's, remains one of
Hollywood's greatest style icons and one
of the world's most successful actresses.
 Synopsis

• Actress, fashion icon, and philanthropist Audrey

Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels,
Belgium.
• At age 22, she starred in the Broadway production
of Gigi.
• Two years later, she starred in the film Roman
Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck.
• In 1961, she set new fashion standards as Holly
Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
• Hepburn is one of the few actresses to win an
Emmy, Tony, Grammy, and Academy Award. In her
later years, acting took a back seat to her work on
behalf of children.

Audrey Hepburn posing with her Oscar after having won

Best Actress for the film Roman Holiday
 Background
Hepburn spent part of her youth in England at a
boarding school there.
During much of World War II, she studied at the
Arnhem Conservatory in The Netherlands.

After the war, Hepburn continued to pursue an interest

in dance.
She studied ballet in Amsterdam and later in London.
In 1948, Hepburn made her stage debut as a chorus
girl in the musical High Button Shoes in London.
 On Broadway
At the age of 22, Audrey Hepburn went to New York to
star in the Broadway production of Gigi, based on the
book by the French writer Colette. 
Only two years later, she took the world by storm in the
film Roman Holiday (1953) with Gregory Peck.
Audiences and critics alike were wowed by her
portrayal of Princess Ann, the royal who escapes the
constrictions of her title for a short time. She won the
Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance.

Roman Holiday (1953)
 On Broadway
The next year Hepburn returned to the Broadway stage
to star in Ondine with Mel Ferrer.

A fantasy, the play told the story of a water nymph

who falls in love with a human played by Ferrer. She
won the 1954 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for
her performance. While the leading characters in the
play grew apart, the actors found themselves becoming
closer.

The two also made a dynamic pair off stage and

Hepburn and Ferrer got married on September 25,
1954, in Switzerland.

Ondine 
 Film Star
Back on the big screen, Hepburn made another award
worthy performance in Sabrina (1954) as the title
character, the daughter of a wealthy family's driver.
Sabrina returned home after spending time in Paris as
a beautiful and sophisticated woman. The family's two
sons, Linus and David, played by Humphrey Bogart and
William Holden, never paid her much mind until her
transformation. Pursuing her onetime crush David,
Sabrina unexpectedly found happiness with his older
brother Linus.
Hepburn earned her an Academy Award nomination
for her work on this bittersweet romantic comedy.
Returning to her glamorous roots, Hepburn set new
fashion standards as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at
Tiffany's (1961), which was based on a novella by
Truman Capote. She played a seemingly lighthearted,
but ultimately troubled New York City party girl who
gets involved with a struggling writer played by George
Peppard. Hepburn received her fourth Academy Award
nomination for her work on the film.
 Legacy
In her later years, acting took a back seat to her work
on behalf of children. She became a goodwill
ambassador for UNICEF in the late 1980s. Traveling the
world, Hepburn tried to raise awareness about children
in need.
Making more than 50 trips, Hepburn visited UNICEF
projects in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
She won a special Academy Award for her
humanitarian work in 1993, but she did not live long
enough to receive it.
Hepburn died on January 20, 1993, at her home in
Tolochenaz, Switzerland after a battle with colon
cancer.

Her work to help children around the world continues.

Her sons, Sean Ferrer and Luca Dotti, along with her
companion Robert Wolders, established the Audrey
Hepburn Memorial Fund at UNICEF to continue
Hepburn's humanitarian work in 1994. It is now known
as the Audrey Hepburn Society at the US Fund for
UNICEF.