Audrey Hepburn on screen and stage

A photograph of Hepburn as Princess Ann in the film Roman Holiday.
Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953)

Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993) was a British actress who had an extensive career in film, television, and on the stage. Considered by some to be one of the most beautiful women of all time,[1][2] she was ranked as the third greatest screen legend in American cinema by the American Film Institute.[3] Hepburn is also remembered as both a film and style icon.[4][5][6] Her debut was as a flight stewardess in the 1948 Dutch film Dutch in Seven Lessons.[7] Hepburn then performed on the British stage as a chorus girl in the musicals High Button Shoes (1948), and Sauce Tartare (1949). Two years later, she made her Broadway debut as the title character in the play Gigi. Hepburn's Hollywood debut as a runaway princess in William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), opposite Gregory Peck, made her a star.[4][8][9][10] For her performance, she received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.[11][12][13] In 1954, she played a chauffeur's daughter caught in a love triangle in Billy Wilder's romantic comedy Sabrina, opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.[14][15] In the same year, Hepburn garnered the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for portraying the titular water nymph in the play Ondine.[16][17]

Her next role was as Natasha Rostova in the 1956 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. In 1957, Hepburn starred with Fred Astaire in the musical film Funny Face, and with Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier in Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon. Two years later, she appeared in the romantic adventure film Green Mansions, and played a nun in The Nun's Story. In 1961, Hepburn played café society girl Holly Golightly in the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's, and as a teacher accused of lesbianism in Wyler's drama The Children's Hour, opposite Shirley MacLaine.[17][18] Two years later, she appeared opposite Cary Grant in the romantic mystery film Charade. Hepburn followed this by starring in the romantic comedy Paris When It Sizzles, opposite William Holden, and as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the musical film My Fair Lady (both in 1964).[17] In 1967, she played a blind woman menaced by drug dealers in her own home in the suspense thriller Wait Until Dark, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.[17][19] Nine years later, Hepburn played Maid Marian opposite Sean Connery as Robin Hood in Robin and Marian.

Her final film appearance was a cameo as an angel in Steven Spielberg's Always (1989).[19] Hepburn's final screen role was as the host of the television documentary series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn (1993), for which she post-humously received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming.[10][20][21] In recognition of her career, Hepburn earned the Special Award from BAFTA, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award.[22][23][24][25]

  1. ^ Corliss, Richard (20 January 2007). "Audrey Hepburn: Still the Fairest Lady". Time. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Audrey Hepburn tops beauty poll". BBC. 31 May 2004. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  3. ^ "AFI's 50 Greatest American Screen Legends". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b Billson, Anne (29 December 2014). "Audrey Hepburn: a new kind of movie star". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  5. ^ Cocozza, Paula (1 July 2015). "Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon review – beautiful, but unrevealing". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  6. ^ Wilson, Bee (19 June 2015). "The cult of Audrey Hepburn: how can anyone live up to that level of chic?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  7. ^ Woodward 2012, p. 54.
  8. ^ Woodward 2012, p. 139.
  9. ^ "Audrey Hepburn's Fashionable Life in Rome". Vanity Fair. May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  10. ^ a b Buchanan, Rose Troup (4 May 2014). "Audrey Hepburn 85th birthday celebrated with Google Doodle". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  11. ^ "The 26th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Film in 1954". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  13. ^ "Audrey Hepburn". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
  14. ^ Gitlin 2008, p. 115.
  15. ^ Crowther, Bosley (23 September 1954). "Sabrina (1954) Screen: 'Sabrina' Bows at Criterion; Billy Wilder Produces and Directs Comedy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  16. ^ Woodward 2012, p. 393.
  17. ^ a b c d Gitlin 2008, p. 116.
  18. ^ Ryan, Pat (14 March 2013). "Forever a Gamine at Tiffany's". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  19. ^ a b James, Caryn (21 January 1993). "Audrey Hepburn, Actress, Is Dead at 63". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Awards Search". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  21. ^ "Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  22. ^ "100 BAFTA Moments — Audrey Hepburn Receives the Special Award". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). 30 January 2015. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  23. ^ "Cecil B. DeMille Timeline". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  24. ^ "29th Life Achievement Recipient, 1992". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  25. ^ "Audrey Hepburn". Playbill Vault. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.