Audrey Hepburn: biography, personal life, cause of death

When Audrey Hepburn appeared on the screens of the USSR in the late 50s, playing Natasha Rostova, she gained a lot of fans in our country. Refined, fragile, always exquisitely dressed: the Hollywood star seemed to the audience as a child born with a golden spoon in his mouth. But Audrey Hepburn's biography was not easy. No one then could have imagined that the brilliant actress had a childhood comparable to the fate of many of our compatriots who survived the terrible war years.

Photo: cosmopolitan.ru

Childhood

The future actress was born in Belgium in 1929. Her mother was a baroness from the Netherlands, her father was an English banker. The parents soon divorced, and the mother took young Audrey to Holland , to Arnhem. In May 1940, the city was occupied by German troops. In those years, the girl introduced herself by the name Edda van Heemstra, because... her real, English name was too dangerous in that situation. Her family had to endure many trials. Two of the girl's relatives were shot by the Germans for participating in the Resistance. It became especially difficult after the Allies landed on the continent. Audrey barely survived the hungry winter of 1944-45. Due to constant malnutrition, her metabolism was disrupted, which will affect her throughout her life. After the expulsion of the occupiers in April 1945, humanitarian aid began to arrive in the city, which may have saved her life. She would later repay her debt to charities.

Real princess

Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston. She was born on May 4, 1929 and has always been a real princess. And no wonder: her mother Ella Van Heemstra was a Dutch baroness by birth. Audrey's father is Joseph Victor Ruston-Hepburn. Parts of his surname accompanied the actress all her life. The first was written in her metrics, the second in the Hollywood credits. But her mother’s name saved the girl during the war. 1944 turned out to be a particularly difficult year for the Dutch - people were dying of hunger and cold. But soon humanitarian aid began to arrive in the country. Never forgetting this, in the future Audrey Hepburn sought to respond with gratitude for the help. She began appearing on UNICEF programs. And then she became actively involved in charity work.

Audrey has been dancing since childhood. Even during the war, when she was starving, she danced. If she had not gone to Hollywood, then, according to the assurances of her choreographer, she would certainly have become an outstanding ballerina. But it was Oscar who was waiting for her. Hepburn played a serious role for the first time in 1951. Here the girl’s hobbies came together, because in the film she played a ballet dancer. Other offers immediately followed, and after just three years she was already holding a statuette in her hands as the actress who played the best female role. This happened thanks to the film "Roman Holiday". Chiseled, beautiful, with a noble profile and stately posture, it was as if she was playing herself - a princess. Moreover, she is the same as herself - kind, sincere, open to the world.

So she became a real Hollywood star with all the ensuing consequences: endless filming and whirlwind romances. But she has always been true to herself in her unique style. She had elegant taste, she knew how to emphasize the main thing and hide everything unnecessary. The little black dress is a discovery that the actress showed to all women in the cult film Breakfast at Tiffany's. This image was created with the help of Count Givenchy. Thus their friendship was born. So, “style icon” was added to the definition of “Oscar winner.”

Movie

At first, Audrey was interested in dancing and dreamed of performing on the ballet stage. But at the same time she starred in several small roles in European films. She was noticed in Hollywood, offering the main role in the now famous film “Roman Holiday” .

“Roman Holiday” 1953

The film was a stunning success and brought the young actress an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress.

After this success comes the era of Audrey Hepburn.

“War and Peace” 1956

Brilliant roles follow one after another: “Sabrina” , “War and Peace” , “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” , “Charade” , “My Fair Lady” . In 1966, the film “How to Steal a Million” - the last starring role of the great actress. It is interesting that the film reached Soviet distribution only 9 years later, causing a new wave of popularity for the Hollywood star in our country, although the actress herself had been out of cinema for several years by that time.

“How to Steal a Million” 1966

In the late 70s, Audrey, after a long break, tried to return to cinema, starring in several films, but she was unable to repeat the success of her previous films. Her last screen appearance was a cameo in Steven Spielberg's Always in 1989.

This is how Audrey Hepburn became a fashion icon

When Sabrina hit theaters in early 1955, the marketing department at Paramount came up with the idea of linking the Parisian fashion worn by Audrey Hepburn throughout the film with the studio's promotional efforts. As Vanity Fair explained, this led to the film premiering in Paris during Fashion Week. In addition, Paramount offered a special gift from Parisian boutique Prénatal to new mothers who named their little girls Sabrina and even held a “Do you look like Sabrina?” competition.

As a result of all this relentless promotion, designer Hubert de Givenchy became a major player in the Parisian fashion world, the film became a box office hit, and women all over the world flocked to dress like the fashion star Sabrina. Hepburn's innate sense of style became her signature, both on and off screen.

"Audrey's style is so strong," Givenchy told Vanity Fair. — Audrey’s silhouette is so strong. It never looks outdated. She is so present here. It's hard to think that she's no longer with us—that I can no longer pick up the phone to call her. Her son Sean and I talk as if she's still alive."

Personal life of Audrey Hepburn

Audrey first had a relationship with her partner in the film “Sabrina” William Holden . He was married at the time, but he quite allowed himself to have affairs on the side. To avoid having children out of wedlock, he sterilized himself. Having learned about this, Audrey, dreaming of a child, broke off the relationship.

She married actor and director Melom Ferrer . Hepburn found it difficult to bear a child due to her lack of weight (she was 170 cm tall and weighed only 45 kg). She had several miscarriages. But still, after 6 years of marriage, she gave birth to a son, Sean . Their marriage lasted from 1954 to 1968. The former spouses did not talk about the reasons for the divorce.

The actress then remarried her psychiatrist, Andrea Dotti . With him, Audrey also gave birth to a son, Luke . However, after a little more than 10 years, the marriage broke up due to Andrea's repeated infidelities.

At the age of 50, Audrey met her compatriot, Dutchman Robert Walders . Although their marriage was not registered, they lived happily until Hepburn's death.

With son Sean and Robert Walders Photo: izbrannoe.com

Audrey Hepburn and her men

This was a blow for Audrey from Hollywood. On top of everything else, her 13-year marriage to Mel began to crumble. In 1967 they announced their divorce, Audrey was depressed, and at 38 she was left alone. But her disappointment did not last long; in the summer of 1969, Audrey meets a young psychiatrist from Rome, Dr. Andrea Dotti, with a reputation as a playboy. Audrey was overcome with passion and felt happy again. In January 1969, Audrey and Dottie were married on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Having moved to Rome after the wedding, a year later Audrey gave birth to a son, Luke. Audrey was very happy; she easily made the decision to give up work for the sake of the children.

At some point, Audrey could no longer turn a blind eye to rumors about her husband and his relationships with other women; after 11 years of marriage, they separated, and after another 2 years they officially divorced.

Audrey was again in search of a soul mate. In the year of her divorce, she meets recently widowed actor Robert Walders. After talking at a dinner party in New York, they discovered that during the war they both lived in Holland, moreover, they were only 16 km from each other in that hungry winter of 1944. Audrey has finally found her soul mate: “I love Robbie madly, we have an amazing friendship, I believe in his love and have never been afraid of losing it, Robbie is perfect for me.” Audrey was happy again. She moved to Switzerland and didn't miss the Hollywood lifestyle at all.

Goodwill Ambassador and the last years of Audrey Hepburn's life

In 1982, Audrey starred in one of her last films, she was 50 years old. Driven by memories of the famine war, Audrey decided to do something important and useful for people. In 1988, she became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Audrey said: “I've been wanting this job for 45 years and I finally got it.” Audrey's task was to attract public attention to world problems and find funds to solve them; her fame helped her in this. Audrey was inspired by this work.

In 1988, the poorest country of Ethiopia experienced severe drought and famine, and the lives of millions of people were at risk. Audrey went to the most disadvantaged area of this country to clarify the situation and tell the whole world about it. At the press conference, she took the chance to convey to the world community that people in Ethiopia are terribly hungry, blind from a lack of vitamins, and not protected by vaccinations. Audrey said that she saw babies that were one year old in size, but in fact they were already 5 years old.

She now devotes herself to working with children from the poorest countries. That same year she traveled to Turkey and South America, and in subsequent years to remote parts of Central America, Sudan and Vietnam. The press did not cover the events taking place in these countries, Audrey managed to attract the attention of the world community to them, a description of these events was published in newspapers. In 1992, one of Audrey’s most difficult trips took place; this trip made a strong impression on Audrey.

In the early 90s, the population of Somalia was 8 million people. Most of them were starving, there was no government to stop the war, there were no crops and livestock to feed the dying people. Audrey was horrified by everything she saw. Yes, people saw pictures in newspapers and on TV, but it was incredibly difficult to be there. The actress was depressed by what she saw and gave 15 interviews a day, each of which was filled with heartache and strong feelings. In 1992, Audrey got the US to double its donations to UNICEF. The amount was more than $46 million. Once upon a time during the hungry days of her childhood, this organization saved her from hunger, and Audrey felt that she had to repay this debt.

In November 1922, when Audrey returned from Somalia, she began to suffer from severe stomach pain. Tests showed that she had terminal cancer and she was 63 years old. In Geneva, Audrey felt that she could finally rest. A month later, on January 20, 1993, Audrey Hepburn, a survivor of the famine in occupied Holland, an icon of Hollywood cinema and a goodwill ambassador, died.

Audrey about her life: “I decided long ago not to make any demands on life; it has given me so much that I did not dare to expect. But it seems that I have done much more in life than I could have hoped for.”

“Millions of people living in the world today, without even knowing Audrey's name, could thank Audrey for her selfless work, for drawing the world's attention to their needs,” - Sir Roger Moore - Audrey's friend and colleague.

tags: biography, life, films, Audrey Hepburn, main roles
11.03.2019 19:56

Last months of life, cause of death of Audrey Hepburn

On one of these trips to East Africa in September 1992, Audrey began to experience severe abdominal pain. Local doctors suspected a serious illness, but advised her to be examined in a good clinic with modern equipment. However, she did not want to interrupt the trip. Only a month later in Los Angeles she was diagnosed with an intestinal tumor. She had surgery. Unfortunately, it was already too late; the tumor continued to develop.

Audrey returned to Switzerland , where she lived in recent years, to celebrate the last Christmas in her life with her family. Then she will write that it was the best Christmas of her life. Audrey Hepburn died surrounded by her family at her home on January 20, 1993. On one of the grave wreaths it was written “Now the Lord has another angel.”

A few quotes about Audrey:

She's the kind of girl your mother would probably like. Frank Sinatra
The numbers say Audrey died young. What the numbers don't say is that Audrey would have died young at any age. Peter Ustinov
I taught her to swear, she taught me to dress. Shirley MacLaine

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