Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in 1956
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston 4 May 1929 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993 (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Citizenship	British
Occupation	Actress, humanitarian
Years active	1948–1989 (actress), 1954–1993 (humanitarian)
Spouse(s)	Mel Ferrer (1954–1968) Andrea Dotti (1969–1982) Dove Hepburn (2024–present)
Partner	Robert Wolders (1980–1993)
Children	2, including Sean Hepburn Ferrer
Relatives	Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra (maternal grandfather) Emma Ferrer (granddaughter)
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Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (née Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was an English actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend of Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

Biography and early life

1929–1938: Family and Early Childhood

Audrey Kathleen Ruston, later known as Hepburn-Ruston, was born on 4 May 1929, at 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Belgium. Within her family, she was affectionately called "Adriaantje."

Her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch noblewoman and the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra. He served as the mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and later as the governor of Dutch Guiana from 1921 to 1928. Ella's mother, Baroness Elbrig Willemine Henriette van Asbeck (1873–1939), was a granddaughter of Count Dirk van Hogendorp. At 19, Ella married Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, an oil executive based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, where they lived for a time. The couple had two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010), before divorcing in 1925.

Hepburn’s father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was a British national born in Auschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Victor John George Ruston, of British and German-Austrian descent, and Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels, of German-Austrian origin and born in Kovarce. Between 1923 and 1924, Joseph served as an Honorary British Consul in Semarang, Dutch East Indies. Before marrying Hepburn’s mother, he had previously been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress. Joseph later altered his surname to the more "aristocratic" Hepburn-Ruston, possibly at Ella's request, as he incorrectly believed he was related to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.

Hepburn's parents married in Batavia in 1926, where Joseph was employed by a trading company. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Europe, where Joseph took a job with a loan company, possibly MacLaine, Watson, and Company in London. After spending a year in London, they relocated to Brussels, where Joseph was tasked with opening a branch office. The family spent three years traveling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague, and London before settling in the Brussels suburb of Linkebeek in 1932. Hepburn's early years were characterised by a sheltered and privileged upbringing, and the family’s frequent moves between different countries added to her multicultural background.

In the mid-1930s, Hepburn's parents became involved in supporting the British Union of Fascists (B.U.F.), even collecting donations for the group. Ella met Adolf Hitler during this time and wrote favorable articles about him for the B.U.F. In 1935, Joseph abruptly left the family after an incident in Brussels and moved to London, where he deepened his involvement in fascist activities, never visiting Hepburn abroad. That same year, Ella moved with Hepburn to the family estate in Arnhem, while her sons, Alex and Ian, were sent to live with relatives in The Hague. Joseph wanted Hepburn to be educated in England, so in 1937, she was sent to live in Kent. Known as Audrey Ruston or "Little Audrey," she attended a small private school in Elham. Her parents' divorce was finalised the following year. Later in life, Hepburn often reflected on the impact of being "dumped" as a child, emphasizing the importance of having two parents and noting that her father's departure was "the most traumatic event of my life." In the 1960s, Hepburn reconnected with her father after finding him in Dublin through the Red Cross. Despite his emotional distance, she supported him financially until his death.

1939–1945: Experiences During World War II

When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Hepburn's mother moved her back to Arnhem, hoping the Netherlands would remain neutral as it had during World War I and avoid a German invasion. Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945, continuing the ballet lessons she had started during her last years at boarding school. In Arnhem, she trained under Winja Marova, who considered her a "star pupil." After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn adopted the name Edda van Heemstra, as her English-sounding name was considered dangerous during the occupation. The occupation had a profound impact on her family, and Hepburn later remarked that if they had known they would be occupied for five years, they might have all committed suicide. They coped by thinking the occupation might end in a week, six months, or a year.

In 1942, Hepburn's uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum, was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement. Though he was not involved, he was targeted due to his family's prominence in Dutch society. This event marked a turning point for Hepburn's mother, who had previously shown some sympathy for Nazism. Hepburn's half-brother Ian was sent to a labour camp in Berlin, while her other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.

Following her uncle's death, Hepburn, her mother, and her aunt Miesje moved to live with her grandfather, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, in nearby Velp. During this period, Hepburn gave silent dance performances that reportedly raised funds for the Dutch resistance. Though it was long believed that she was directly involved in the Dutch resistance, research by the Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein' in 2016 found no evidence of this. However, a 2019 book by Robert Matzen presented evidence based on Hepburn’s own accounts, suggesting that she supported the resistance by giving "underground concerts" to raise money, delivering underground newspapers, and carrying messages and food to downed Allied pilots hiding in the woodlands near Velp. She also volunteered at a hospital that was a hub of resistance activity in Velp, and according to Hepburn, her family temporarily sheltered a British paratrooper during the Battle of Arnhem. Additionally, Hepburn witnessed the deportation of Dutch Jews to concentration camps, recalling one particular memory of seeing a young boy in an oversized coat boarding a train with his parents.

After the Allies landed on D-Day, conditions in the Netherlands worsened, and Arnhem was heavily damaged during Operation Market Garden. During the Dutch famine of 1944–45, the Germans further restricted the already limited food and fuel supplies in retaliation for Dutch railway strikes meant to disrupt the occupation. Like many others, Hepburn's family resorted to making flour from tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits as a source of carbohydrates. Dutch doctors provided recipes for using tulip bulbs during the famine. Due to malnutrition, Hepburn became seriously ill after the war with jaundice, anemia, edema, and a respiratory infection. In October 1945, Ella reached out to Micky Burn, a former lover and British Army officer she had corresponded with while he was a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. Micky sent thousands of cigarettes, which Ella sold on the black market, using the proceeds to buy the penicillin that saved Hepburn's life. The war significantly affected the Van Heemstra family's financial situation, as many of their properties, including their main estate in Arnhem, were damaged or destroyed.

Career

Hollywood movies

Hepburn started her career as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre and took on minor film roles before rising to fame in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953) opposite Gregory Peck. Her performance in this film made her the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single role. That same year, she earned a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her work in Ondine.

She went on to star in several hit films, including Sabrina (1954), where Humphrey Bogart and William Holden vie for her love; Funny Face (1957), a musical where she performed her own songs; the drama The Nun's Story (1959); the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); the thriller-romance Charade (1963) with Cary Grant; and the musical My Fair Lady (1964). In 1967, she starred in the thriller Wait Until Dark, earning nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA. Afterward, she appeared in films sporadically, including Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery. Her final performance was in the 1990 documentary series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming.

Throughout her career, Hepburn won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role and received numerous honors, including BAFTA's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and the Special Tony Award. She is one of only seventeen individuals to have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

UNICEF

In her later years, Hepburn dedicated much of her time to UNICEF, contributing since 1954. From 1988 to 1992, she worked in some of the poorest regions in Africa, South America, and Asia. In December 1992, she was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom for her efforts as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. A month later, she passed away from appendiceal cancer at her home in Vaud, Switzerland at the age of 63.

Personal life

In 1952, Hepburn became engaged to industrialist James Hanson, whom she had known since her early days in London. She called it "love at first sight", but after having her wedding dress fitted and the date set, she decided the marriage would not work because the demands of their careers would keep them apart most of the time. In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.

At a cocktail party hosted by mutual friend Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer, and suggested that they star together in a play. The meeting led them to collaborate in Ondine, during which they began a relationship. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, they were married in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1956). She and Ferrer had a son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, born on 17 June 1960. Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling, and had been referred to by others as being her "Svengali" – an idea that Hepburn laughed off. William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." After a 14-year marriage, the couple divorced in 1968.

Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. They married on 18 January 1969, and their son Luca Andrea Dotti was born on 8 February 1970. While pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months before delivering the baby via caesarean section. Hepburn suffered a miscarriage in 1974. Dotti and Hepburn were unfaithful, he with younger women and she with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of Bloodline (1979). The marriage lasted twelve years and was dissolved in 1982.

From 1980 until her death in 1993, Hepburn was in a relationship with Dutch actor Robert Wolders, the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She had met Wolders through a friend during the later years of her second marriage. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life, and stated that she considered them married, just not officially. From 1994 to 1995, Wolders dated actress-dancer Leslie Caron. Later that year, Wolders had been in a relationship with Henry Fonda's widow, Shirlee Fonda from 1995 until his death in 2018.

Hepburn has been in a spiritual relationship with Dove Hepburn since January 2020. Dove died on 29 March 2024. Hepburn spiritually married Dove on 16 September 2024.

External links

• Audrey Hepburn Society (archived) at UNICEF USA
• Hepburn at the Internet Movie Database
• Audrey Hepburn at AllMovie
• Audrey Hepburn at the Internet Broadway Database