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Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20,
1993) was an Anglo-Dutch Actor|actress, fashion
model, and humanitarian. Born Audrey Kathleen van
Heemstra Ruston in Brussels she was the daughter
of Joseph Anthony Ruston, a British banker, and
Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Netherlands|Dutch
aristocrat descended from France|French and
England|English monarch|kings. Her father appended
the name Hepburn to his surname, and Audrey became
Audrey Hepburn-Ruston at the same time. She had
two half-brothers, Alexander and Ian Quarles van
Ufford, by her mother's first marriage to a Dutch
nobleman.

==Life during World War Two==
Hepburn attended private schools in England and
the Netherlands but, after the 1935 divorce of her
parents, she was living with her mother at Arnhem
when the Germany|German invasion and occupation of
World War II occurred. At that time she adopted
the pseudonym Edda Van Heemstra, modifying her
mother's documents to do so, because an
"English-sounding" name was considered dangerous.
It was never her legal
name.http://www.genealogics.org/histories/9396.tex
t.jpg

After the landing of the Allied Forces on D-Day,
things grew worse under the German occupiers.
During the Dutch famine of 1944|Dutch famine over
the winter of 1944, brutality increased and the
Nazi|Nazis confiscated the Dutch people's limited
food and fuel supply for themselves. Without heat
in their homes, or food to eat, people in the
Netherlands starved and froze to death in the
streets; particularly so in Arnhem, which was
devastated during Operation Market Garden.
Suffering from malnutrition, Hepburn developed
several health problems, and the impact of those
times would shape her life and values.


==Rise to Stardom==
After the war, Hepburn and her mother moved to
London where she studied ballet, worked as a model
(person)|model, and in 1951 began acting in films,
mostly in minor or supporting roles; her first
major performance was in the 1951 film The Secret
People. Chosen to play the lead character in the
Broadway play Gigi  that opened on November 24,
1951, she won a Theatre World Award for her debut
performance. Following a successful six-month run
in New York City, she was offered a starring role
opposite Gregory Peck in the Hollywood motion
picture, Roman Holiday. For her performance in
this film|movie she won the Academy Award for Best
Actress, and over her illustrious career she would
be nominated for best actress four more times. In
the film Funny Face, Hepburn's mother appeared as
the patron of a sidewalk café. Her performance as
Holly Golightly in 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's
resulted in the creation of one of the most iconic
characters in 20th Century American cinema. Having
become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office
attractions, Hepburn co-starred with other major
actors such as Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, Gary
Cooper, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, Peter O'Toole,
and Sean Connery.

==Work for UNICEF==
From 1967 onward, after fifteen highly successful
years in film, Hepburn acted only occasionally and
her last role was filmed in 1988 just before she
was appointed a special ambassador to the United
Nations Children's Fund  (UNICEF). Grateful for
her own good fortune after being a victim of the 
Nazi occupation as a child, she dedicated the
remainder of her life to helping impoverished
children in the world's poorest nations. In 1992,
President George H. W. Bush|George Bush presented
her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in
recognition of her work with UNICEF. The Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her
contribution to humanity.  Her son accepted the
award shortly after her death. She has a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1652 Vine Street.

==Marriages and Death==
Hepburn married twice, to actor Mel Ferrer and to
Italian doctor Andrea Dotti, and had two sons. At
the time of her death she was the companion of
Robert Wolders, a Dutch actor who was the widower
of film star Merle Oberon. Hepburn died of cancer
on January 20, 1993, in Tolochenaz, Vaud,
Switzerland at the age of 63, and was interred
there.  According to Hepburn's son, Sean Ferrer,
Hepburn's cancer was very rare and originated in
the appendix. Ferrer has written a book about his
mother: Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit.

==Filmography==

* Always (movie)|Always (1989)
* Love Among Thieves (1987) - made for television
* They All Laughed (1981)
* Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline (1979)
* Robin and Marian (1976)
* Wait Until Dark  (1967)
* Two for the Road (1967)
* How to Steal a Million  (1966)
* My Fair Lady  (1964)
* Paris - When it Sizzles (1964)
* Charade  (1963)
* The Children's Hour (1961)
* Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
* The Unforgiven (1960 film)|The Unforgiven 
(1960)
* Green Mansions (1959)
* The Nun's Story (1959)
* Love in the Afternoon (1957)
* Mayerling (1957 film)|Mayerling (1957) -
produced as an episode of the TV series Producers'
Showcase and released to theatres in Europe.
* Funny Face (1957)
* War and Peace  (1956)
* Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina  (1954)
* Roman Holiday (1953)
* The Secret People (1952)
* The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) - bit role
* Monte Carlo Baby (1951) - released in both the
English and French languages
* Young Wives' Tale (1951) - bit role
* One Wild Oat (1951) - bit role
* Laughter in Paradise (1951) - bit role
* Nederlands in 7 lessen (1948) - bit role; also
known as Dutch in Seven Lessons.

In addition to the above, Hepburn hosted the 1993
television series, Gardens of the World with
Audrey Hepburn for Public Broadcasting
Service|PBS, a nine-episode documentary series
which premiered the day of her death. She also
appeared in an April 1952 episode of CBS
Television Workshop entitled "Rainy Day at
Paradise Junction" which predates her "official"
American debut in Roman Holiday. According to some
biographies, Hepburn claimed to have made
"several" American and British TV appearances
before Roman Holiday, and a poster for a 1951
British public appearance listed her as a TV
actress, but so far a copy of "Rainy Day" is the
only example of this early work to have surfaced.

Some sources state that Hepburn makes a cameo
appearance in the 1963 Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward
film, A New Kind of Love but this has not been
confirmed.

==Biographical film==
To date only one biographical film based upon
Audrey Hepburn's life has been attempted. The 2000
American made for television effort, The Audrey
Hepburn Story starred Jennifer Love Hewitt as the
actress. Hewitt also co-produced the film. The
film received mixed reviews, with some of the
criticism being directed at the casting of
American actress Hewitt in the role. The film
concludes with footage of the real Audrey Hepburn
shot during one of her final missions for UNICEF.
Several versions of the film exist; it was aired
as a mini-series in some countries, and in a
truncated version on America's American
Broadcasting Company|ABC television network, which
is also the version released on DVD in North
America.

===Potential 'Audrey Hepburns'===
A handful of current actresses have been noted for
their physical similarities to Audrey Hepburn,
with some media and Internet writers suggesting
they might make good choices for a future bio-pic.
Among the names often mentioned are
Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman,
France|French actress Audrey Tautou, and American
teen actress Emmy Rossum. Portman once dressed as
Hepburn for a modelling photo shoot, while Tautou
closely resembles Hepburn physically, a fact noted
by reviewers of her film, Amélie. Rossum played
Hepburn as a child in the Hewitt film.

==Awards==
Audrey Hepburn was one of the few people List of
people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar
and a Tony Award|who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an
Oscar and a Tony Award, although this distinction
was arrived at posthumously.
* Academy Awards|Academy Award: Best Actress for
Roman Holiday (1954) and posthumous The Jean
Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1993).
* Tony Awards|Tony Award: Best Actress for Ondine
(1954) and Special Achievement award (1968).
* Grammy Awards|Grammy Award: Best Spoken World
Album for Children (1993) for Audrey Hepburn's
Enchanted Tales (posthumous).
* Emmy Awards|Emmy Award: Outstanding Individual
Achievement - Informational Programming (1993) for
the "Flower Gardens" episode of her documentary
series, Gardens of the World (posthumous).

==Trivia==
* Opera diva Maria Callas reportedly loved
Hepburn's look so much that she adopted it for
herself in the 1950s.
* Despite the similar career choices, Audrey
Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn were neither sisters
nor even closely related in any way despite
occasional, and mistaken, press reports to the
contrary. A related legend holds that Audrey chose
the last name Hepburn in honor of Katharine when
she became an actress, however the record shows
that it was part of her family name for some time
before she entered show business.
* Hepburn is considered by many in Japan as a
model for feminine beauty, a theme explored in
Alan Brown's novel Audrey Hepburn's Neck (ISBN
0671526723).

==External links==
* http://www.audrey1.com Audrey Hepburn - L'Ange
des Enfants
*  imdb name | id = 0000030 | name = Audrey
Hepburn 
* http://www.audreyhepburn.com/ Official web site
by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund
*
http://www.genealogics.org/histories/9396.text.jpg
Note from Audrey Hepburn stating "I was born
Audrey Kathleen Ruston"
*
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/200
3/sr03_030.pdf U.S. postage stamp
* http://www.ahepburn.com/herwork.html Audrey
Hepburn A tribute to her Humanitarian Work