AUDREY HEPBURN
was born Edda van
Heemstra
Hepburn-Ruston on May 4, 1929
in Belgium. Her
father was a
British banker and
her mother a
Dutch baroness.
During WWII her
family faced
starvation while living
in the Nazi-occupied
Netherlands.
She went on
to become a model, a
successful actress,
she raised two
children and
later in her life was a special ambassador to the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
As an
actress she won an Academy
Award for her performance
in
Roman
Holiday (1953) and was also
nominated
for her roles in
Sabrina (1954),
The Nun's Story
(1959),
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
and Wait Until Dark
(1967).
Her elegance, charm and radiant
beauty were projected not only on
the screen, but through her efforts as a humanitarian tirelessly
devoting her time to raise public
awareness
of the plight of suffering
children around
the world,
particularly
in Africa and
Latin America.
She died from cancer
in
Tolochenaz,
Switzerland on January 20, 1993.
"I am proud
to have been in a business that gives pleasure,
creates beauty,
and awakens our conscience, arouses
compassion,
and perhaps most importantly, gives millions a
respite from our so violent world."
-- Audrey Hepburn
