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Real name - Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston
Date of Birth (location) 4 May 1929, Brussels, Belgium
Date of death (details) 20 January 1993, Tolochenaz, Switzerland. (cancer)
Height - 5' 7"
Parents - Baroness Ella van Heemstra and Joseph Victor Henry Ruston.
Spouse - Mel Ferrer(25 September 1954 - 1968) (divorced)
Dr. Andrea Dotti (1969 - 1979)
Biography
Audrey Hepburn Born in 1929 in Brussels of Irish-Dutch parents, Audrey lived in the
Netherlands during World War ii and later moved to London to study dance at the Rambert
Ballet School. She made her stage debut in 1948, as a ballerina in the musical 'High
Button Shoes', and later danced in 'Sauce Tartare'. After some initial film roles in
Britain, France, and Holland, Audrey was chosen to play the starring role in Gigi, which
Anita Loos had converted into a Broadway hit play. Then William Wyler saw an earlier
screen test Audrey had made for Paramount and demanded her to play Princess Anne in 'Roman
Holiday' (1953), opposite Gregory Peck, a performance that would eventually earn her her
first and only Academy Award.
Although Audrey had appeared in earlier movies, 'Roman Holiday' really began her legendary
screen career, including such early successes as 'Sabrina'(1954), 'War and Peace'(1956),
'Funny Face'(1957), and 'Love In the Afternoon'(1957). On Broadway, she also starred in
'Ondine, for which she won the Drama Critics' Award(she won this award in the same week as
her Academy Award). Her co-star in 'Ondine' was Mek Ferrer, whom she married at the end of
the plays run.
In 1957, Audrey Co-starred with Mel again, this time in the made for television movie
'Mayerling'. Up next came one of her greatest performances in 'The Nun's Story' in 1959.
In the early sixties, she starred in 'The Unforgiven', 'Breakfast At Tiffany's', 'The
Children's Hour', 'Charade', and 'Paris When It Sizzles' in 1964.
It was in 1964 also that Audrey got the part of Eliza Doolittle in 'My Fair Lady'. She
then co-starred with Peter O'Toole in 'How To Steal A Million' and Albert Finney in ' Two
For The Road', both in 1966, and in 1967 she played Susi Hendrix in the thriller 'Wait
Until Dark'. 'Wait Until Dark' marked Audrey's fifth and final Academy Award nomination,
and was the last movie she did for almost a decade.
In 1976, Audrey returned to the Silver Screen to co-star with Sean Connery in 'Robin and
Marian'. A movie she chose to do because she knew her kids would enjoy it. In 1987, Audrey
starred in 'Love Among Thieves', which would be the last starring role Audrey ever had.
But in that same year, Audrey was given the role of her lifetime. She was chosen to
succeed the late Danny Kaye as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
In 1989, she accepted a cameo role in Steven Spielberg's 'Always', in which she played an
angel named Hap. It would be her last movie. In the next years she continued her work with
UNICEF until the end of 1992, when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Four months before
her 64th birthday, Audrey died quietly in her sleep at her home in Tolochenaz,
Switzerland.
Trivia
Son, Sean Ferrer, with first husband, Mel Ferrer
Son, Luca Dotti, with second husband, Dr. Andrea Dotti
(1990) Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world
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