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THE REAL AUDREY
AUDREY’S CHILDHOOD
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FROM BALLET TO BROADWAY
AUDREY IN AMERICA 2
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THE REAL AUDREY The real Audrey Hepburn story begins with a little girl who experienced the cruelty and consequences of World War II and who never forgot what liberation felt like or the images of aid arriving to her and thousands like her in Holland. Although she had dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina since childhood, the war rendered her physically incapable of it. Instead, Audrey turned a lost dream into the next best thing; she took modeling jobs where she learned to work in front of the camera, used her training to complete with 4,000 dancers for one of ten spots in a chorus line and, eventually, found herself in front of a motion picture camera. Within three years, the whole world would come to know Audrey as Princess Anne in Roman Holiday. And that is how we came to know her, be captivated by her, and why we are still in love with her. With over 25 movies to her credit, there is no doubt that Audrey achieved a rarefied position as beloved actress and icon of style. Yet, Audrey always considered her work as a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador her greatest role. And that is the beauty of Audrey’s legacy; that we have the opportunity to know and appreciate her gifts, both as an actress and devoted humanitarian.
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AUDREY’S CHILDHOOD Audrey’s father, Joseph, was an only child born in Onzic, Bohemia in 1889. Audrey’s mother, Ella, spent her childhood with her four siblings at Huis Doorn, a country estate with more than fifty rooms and sprawling lush green acreage. When Joseph and Ella met they had each already been divorced, an unusual occurrence for the time, and Ella had two sons, Alexander and Ian. Audrey was born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium, where the family first settled. At age fice, Audrey was sent to boarding school in England, separated from her family for the first time. Ella arranged for Audrey spend time in the English countryside and for her to begin ballet lessons. For Audrey, this ignited a passion for music and dance which never left her. When England declared war on Germany in 1939, Ella sent for Audrey to return to Holland, a neutral country. Joseph, who had abandoned the family, wan in England and put Audrey on one of the last planes out. On May 10, 1940 Germany invaded Holland and Audrey’s childhood changed forever. It would be nearly twenty-five years until Audrey saw her father again. At the time of Germany’s invasion of Holland, Audrey’s older brother, Alexander, went underground and Ian, age 19, was picked up by the germans and taken away. For the duration of the war, Ella and Audrey had no idea if he was dead or alive. Hepburn, in a retrospective interview, commented, “I have memories. More than 6
once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on to the train. I was a child observing a child.” Ella did her best to keep Audrey’s spirits up and enrolled her in ballet lessons at the Arnhem Conservatory. For her part, Audrey participated in “black-out performances” held to benefit the resistance and gave ballet lessons in her grandfather’s house to refugee girls in the area. By the fall of 1944, the import of all food into Holland was halted and the notorious “Hunger Winter” set in. Audrey, too weak to dance, waited out the endless days doing puzzles by lantern light and drawing pictures of happier times. Liberation came knocking on Audrey’s grandfather’s door on May 4, 1945. It was also Audrey’s sixteenth birthday. Despite the fact that she emerged from the war in a weakened condition suffering from anemia, asthma and malnutrition, the experience served to refocus her dreams. Her brother Ian returned from having spent the war in a munitions factory in Berlin and Alexander surprised everyone, returning married with a pregnant wife. It was now time for Ella And Audrey to begin their lives anew. With a recommendation from her dance teacher, Winja Maranova, mother and doughter set off for Amsterdam where Audrey was accepted as a student of Sonia Gaskell and the The Balletstudio 45. Audrey studied ballet, modern jazz and avant-garde choreography for three years until the studio closed in 1948. Audrey was then given a partial scholarship to study with the preeminent London ballet teacher, Marie Rambert, who had coached the world’s best dancers, including Nijinsky. Mother and daughter set their sights on London with the expectation that Audrey’s dreams of becoming a prima ballerina might finally come true.
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FROM BALLET TO BROADWAY Audrey arrived in England and immersed herself in study with Marie Rambert. To make ends meet, she took occasional modeling jobs and began auditioning for cabaret acts around London. Eventually Audrey was told that she could not become a prima ballerina because of the physical deprivation she’d suffered during the war and the limitations of her height. Hepburn was deeply disappointed but became determined to find a way to put her training and skills to good use. At the end of 1948, Audrey found that opportunity when she was cast in a Jerome Robbins choreographed cabaret show called, High Button Shoes. She continued to dance in the chorus until she finally landed a featured role in Sauce Piquante. She performed twelve shows a week while still pursuing modeling, attending movement classes, barre classes on Saturday 8
mornings, and taking private diction lessons. “I worked like an idiot”, Audrey said of these times. Before the end of 1951, Audrey had been cast in five movies: One Wild Oat, Young Wives’ Tale, Laughter In Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob, and Secret People. Audrey was then offered a small role in a film being shot in both English and French called Monte Carlo Baby (Nous Irons A Monte Carlo). With the double joy of going on location and wearing Christian Dior gowns, Audrey jumped at the opportunity. Little did she know it would be a decision that would ultimately shape the rest of her life. The famed writer, Colette, also happened to be in Monte Carlo on an international search for the right actress to star in her Broadway play. Colette took one look at Audrey and knew immediately that she had finally found her Gigi.
AUDREY IN AMERICA When first offered the role of Gigi by Colette, Audrey replied in her trademark modesty, “I’m sorry, Madame, but it is impossible. I wouldn’t be able to, because I can’t act”. But Colette thought otherwise and Audrey accepted the role. The rehearsal process was difficult and grueling as the bilingual cast was required to rehearse in French for a performance being given in English. Cast members were hired, fired or quit while those remaining tried to keep their nerves down. Wisely, Audrey did this by supplementing her rehearsals with hours of private coaching. After the smashing success of Gigi on Broadway, Audrey stepped into her first starring role in a Hollywood film and into the hearts of an adoring public. As Princess Anne in Roman Holiday, Audrey was immediately catapulted into the limelight and won the 1954 Oscar for Best Actress in her first American motion picture. Audrey’s cherished friendships with director William Wyler and co-star Gregory Peck lasted a lifetime. In fact, it was Gregory Peck who introduced Audrey to her future husband, Mel Ferrer, at a dinner he hosted in London celebrating the opening of Roman Holiday. Audrey’s next film, Sabrina, reinforced her star status and yielded a transformational friendship and collaboration with a young French designer named Hubert De Givenchy. After Sabrina wrapped, Mel Ferrer enticed Audrey to return to Broadway to co-star with him in Ondine. 10
PRODUCER CECILIA FIALHO 12