Audrey Hepburn
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Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (/ˈɔːdri ˈhɛpˌbɜrn/; born Audrey 1 Early life Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Insti- tute as the third greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Bel- Hepburn was born on 4 May 1929 at number 48 gium, England, and the Netherlands, including German- Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality in Brussels, occupied Arnhem during the Second World War where Belgium.[2] Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Rus- she worked as a courier for the Dutch resistance and as- ton (1889–1980), was a British subject born in Úžice, sisted with fundraising. In Amsterdam, she studied bal- Bohemia,[3][lower-alpha 1] to Anna Ruston (née Wels), of let with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948 Austrian descent,[4] and Victor John George Ruston, to continue her ballet training with Marie Rambert and of British and Austrian descent.[5] A one-time hon- perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre pro- orary British consul in the Dutch East Indies, Hep- ductions. She spoke several languages, including English, burn’s father had earlier been married to Cornelia Biss- [1] French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and German. chop, a Dutch heiress.[3][6] Although born Ruston, he Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn later double-barrelled the surname to the more “aristo- starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spot- cratic” Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly[5] believing himself ted by French novelist Colette. Hepburn shot to star- descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, dom for playing the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), Queen of Scots.[6] for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for a sin- was a Dutch aristocrat and the daughter of Baron gle performance. The same year, she won a Tony Award Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in 1910 to 1920, and served as Governor of Dutch Suriname Ondine. Hepburn went on to star in a number of suc- from 1921 to 1928. Ella’s mother was Elbrig Willemine cessful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun’s Story Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873–1939), who was (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Charade (1963), a granddaughter of jurist Count Dirk van Hogendorp.[7] My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for At age nineteen, Ella had married Jonkheer (Esquire) which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, but they di- BAFTA nominations. Hepburn won a record three vorced in 1925. Hepburn had two half-brothers from this BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading marriage who were both born in the Dutch East Indies: Role. In recognition of her film career, she was awarded Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA, Golden (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Ufford (1924–2010).[6][8] Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. Hepburn remains one of the few people who have won Hepburn’s mother and father married in the Dutch- Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Colonial Batavia (now Jakarta), Dutch East Indies, in September 1926. They moved back to Europe, to Ix- Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, de- elles in Belgium, where Hepburn was born in 1929, be- voting much of her later life to UNICEF. Although con- fore moving to Linkebeek, a nearby Brussels municipal- tributing to the organisation since 1954, she worked in ity, in January 1932.[9] Although born in Belgium, Hep- some of the most profoundly impoverished communities burn held British citizenship through her father.[2] of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Free- As a result of her multinational background and travelling [10][lower-alpha 2] dom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill with her family because of her father’s job, Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn she learned to speak five languages: Dutch and English died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at from her parents and later French, Spanish, and Italian. the age of 63. Hepburn began studying ballet when she was five years old. 1 2 2 ENTERTAINMENT CAREER 1.1 Childhood and adolescence during lect money for the Dutch resistance. “The best audience World War II I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performances”, she remarked.[22] She also occasionally Hepburn’s parents were members of the British Union of acted as a courier for the resistance, delivering messages Fascists in the mid-1930s,[11] with her father becoming a and packages. After the Allied landing on D-Day, liv- true Nazi sympathiser.[12] The marriage began to fail in ing conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently 1935, and after her mother discovered him in bed with destroyed during Operation Market Garden. During the nanny of her children,[13] Hepburn’s father left the the Dutch famine that followed in the winter of 1944, family abruptly. Joseph settled in London following the the Germans blocked the resupply routes of the Dutch’s divorce.[3] In the 1960s, Hepburn would finally locate him already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for again in Dublin through the Red Cross. Although he re- railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupa- mained emotionally detached, his daughter remained in tion. People starved and froze to death in the streets; Hep- contact and supported him financially until his death.[14] burn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits.[12][23] One way young In 1937, Ella and Audrey moved to Kent, South East Eng- Audrey passed the time was by drawing; some of her land, where Hepburn was educated at a small independent childhood artwork can be seen today.[24] When the coun- school in Elham, run by two sisters known as “The Mes- try was liberated, United Nations Relief and Rehabilita- [15][16] demoiselles Smith”. In September 1939, Britain tion Administration trucks followed.[25] Hepburn said in declared war on Germany, and Hepburn’s mother relo- an interview that she fell ill from putting too much sugar cated with her daughter back to Arnhem in the hope that in her porridge and eating an entire can of condensed (as during World War I) the Netherlands would remain milk.[26] Hepburn’s war-time experiences sparked her de- neutral and be spared a German attack. While there, votion to UNICEF, an international humanitarian organ- Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 isation, in her later career.[12][23] to 1945 where, in addition to the standard school cur- riculum, she trained in ballet with Winja Marova. Af- ter the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hep- burn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra because 2 Entertainment career an “English sounding” name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. In 1942, Hepburn’s un- 2.1 Career beginnings and early roles cle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother’s older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an After the war ended in 1945, Ella and Audrey moved to act of sabotage by the resistance movement, while Hep- Amsterdam, where Ella managed a flower shop nearby burn’s half brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a their flat, due to the Van Heemstra fortunes being lost to German labour camp. Hepburn’s other half-brother Alex [27] [17] Nazi occupation. In Amsterdam, Hepburn took bal- went into hiding to avoid the same fate. “We saw young let lessons for three years with Sonia Gaskell, a leading men put against the wall and shot, and they'd close the figure in Dutch ballet.[28] In 1948, she appeared on film street and then open it and you could pass by again...Don't for the first time as an air stewardess in Dutch in Seven discount anything awful you hear or read about the Nazis. [18] Lessons, an educational travel film made by Charles van It’s worse than you could ever imagine.” der Linden and Henry Josephson.[29] Later the same year, After this, Ella, Miesje, and Hepburn moved in with she moved to London to take up a ballet scholarship with Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra in nearby Velp. At the Ballet Rambert, which was then based in Notting Hill.[30] time, Hepburn suffered from malnutrition, developed She supported herself with part-time work as a model, acute anæmia, respiratory problems, and edema.[19] Hep- and dropped “Ruston” from her surname. On request- burn, in a retrospective interview, commented, “I have ing Rambert’s assessment of her prospects, Hepburn was memories. More than once I was at the station see- told she had talent, but her height and weak constitution ing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these (the after effect of wartime undernutrition) would make faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very the status of prima ballerina unattainable.