Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston (1929-05-04)4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993(1993-01-20) (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery
Citizenship	British
Occupations	Actress humanitarian
Years active	1948–1989
Notable work	Full list
Spouses	Mel Ferrer ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1968)​ Andrea Dotti ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1982)​
Partner	Robert Wolders (1980–1993)
Children	2, including Sean Hepburn Ferrer
Parent	Ella van Heemstra (mother)
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
Awards	Full list
Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF
In office 1989–1993
Signature

Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (née Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress admired for her charm and elegance.

Born in Brussels, Belgium, to an English father and a Dutch mother who were divorced in 1935. She grew up in Arnhem municipality in the Netherlands during the war, with her mother and two maternal half-brothers. When World War II ended, she and her mother moved to England. There, she studied ballet, and began working as a model and appearing in bit parts in the theatre and in movies.

Hepburn played her first major role in 1951, when she was chosen by French writer Colette to play the lead role in the English version of her play Gigi on Broadway.

This led to her being cast in the lead female part in the movie Roman Holiday (1953), opposite Gregory Peck. The movie made her an instant international star. Her performance won her the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA for best actress, becoming the first actress to win all three for the same role.^[1] She then appeared in a string of successful romantic comedies, such as Sabrina (1954), Love in the Afternoon (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), How to Steal a Million (1967), etc. She also appeared in two musicals; Funny Face (1957) and My Fair Lady (1964) and tackled more dramatic roles in movies such as War and Peace (1956), The Nun's Story (1959), The Children's Hour (1961), Two for the Road (1967) and the thriller Wait Until Dark (1967).

After an eight years absence from the screen to take care of her family, she returned with Robin and Marian (1976), opposite Sean Connery. She also appeared in Bloodline (1979) and They All Laughed (1981) but retired for good shortly after.

In later life, she worked as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and hosted a television series The Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn.

She was married twice; first to actor/director Mel Ferrer in 1954, with whom she had a son Sean (b. 1960), and second to Italian psychiatrist Doctor Andrea Dotti in 1969, with whom she had a second son Luca (b. 1970). Both marriages ended in divorce.

Hepburn became an EGOT winner in 1994, becoming the first person to do so posthumously.^[1]

Hepburn died of appendix cancer in January 1993.^[2] Her elder son, Sean Ferrer, later wrote a book about his mother, called Audrey Hepburn: an elegant spirit. The asteroid 4238 Audrey is named after her.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Audrey Hepburn

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Audrey Hepburn.

• Audrey Hepburn on IMDb
• Audrey Hepburn at the TCM Movie Database
• Audrey Hepburn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Official web site by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund Archived 2017-12-28 at the Wayback Machine
• Audrey Hepburn's Gravesite
• Audrey Hepburn at TV.com