Audrey Hepburn
Born: 4 May 1929, Ixelles, Belgium
Died: 20 January 1993, Tolochenaz, Switz
Audrey Hepburn was only 63 years old when she died of cancer in 1993, but she packed more living into her time on earth than most people could do in a century. She made a total of 31 high quality movies. Her elegance and style will always be remembered in film history as evidenced by her being named in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time."
Everyone knows that she was the designer Givenchy’s muse, that she retired from acting to do relief work for UNICEF and that women still show up at Tiffany’s with bags of pastries thanks to Hepburn’s iconic performance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. However, though seemingly every moment of her adult life was documented, there’s still a lot that most people don’t know about the glamorous movie star.
Audrey Hepburn's activism during World War II was always a part of her official biography. Hepburn's Hollywood handlers would publicize her bravery during the war, but they did their best to hide the fact that her parents were rooting for the Nazis. Hepburn's father, Joseph, who abandoned her when she was a little girl, and her mother, Ella, were members of the British Union of Fascists. During the 1950s, it would have been disastrous for Hepburn's squeaky clean image if it were known that her parents were Nazi sympathizers. By today’s standards, her rejection of her parents’ racist ideology makes her even more admirable.
Hepburn had cemented her position as America's Sweetheart by the time she began filming Sabrina. Little did the public know that her relationship with her costar William Holden was anything but innocent. There was only one problem: Hepburn desperately wanted to have children. When she told Holden she dreamed of starting a family with him, he informed her that he had gotten a vasectomy years ago. She dumped him on the spot, then quickly rebounded with actor Mel Ferrer, who was as eager to procreate as she was.
Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe's images were diametrically opposed to each other. If the two actresses ever went out for cocktails together, they might have discovered that they had a common ex: President John F. Kennedy. When JFK was still an unmarried senator, he dated Hepburn. Monroe became Kennedy's mistress during his presidency and famously sang a sultry version of "Happy Birthday" to him at his birthday party.
The term EGOT is used to describe those rare individuals who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. Hepburn is one of the 14 people who have managed this feat.
She won an Emmy for hosting PBS’s 1993 documentary series Audrey Hepburn’s Gardens of the World, which, as the title implies, featured avid gardener Hepburn visiting some of the world’s most spectacular gardens. The series premiered on January 21, 1993, the day after her death.
Hepburn’s Grammy was also posthumous. She won for Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales, which featured her reading classic fairy tales.
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