Audrey Hepburn was born in Belguim on May 4, 1929. The daughter of Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra and John Hepburn Ruston. On the subject of if she were to ever write a book about herself, it would start with this, "I was born on May 4, 1929, and I died three weeks later." This was because at 21 days old, Audrey had a bad case of whooping cough, and her heart stopped. Her mother was a strict Christian Scientist and she refused to call a doctor and revived her daughter by spanking her.
Her parents had a rough marriage and when Audrey was 9 years old they legeally divorced. Audrey attended an English boarding school when she was a child. She was very shy and always seemed to be daydreaming, far away in her thoughts. She was often teased for being shy and her not so perfect English. Despite this however, Audrey excelled and discovered her first love, of dancing. She took classes from a Miss Rigden in the English villiage of Kent. To Audrey's disapintment however in 1939 her mother pulled her out of school and brought her back to Eastern Europe, in Holland. In the year of 1939 England had declared war on Germany due to the Nazi invasion in Polland. Ella, Audrey's mother, feared she would never see her daughter again if she left her in England and it woudl be safer in the "neutral" Holland. This disicion was later on realized to be the wrong one as Hitler began to invade several European Countries, including Holland. Audrey spent the rest of her childhood in Nazi-occupied Holland. She experienced the murder of relatives and barely survived by eating tulip bulbs. She also carried secret messages for the resistance in her ballet shoes. This style of life left Audrey with severe malnutrition, her metabolism changed, and caused her "skinniness". She weighed a mere 110 pounds, which she maintained for the rest of her life.
After the war Audrey returned to England and in 1948 was accepted to the Marie Lambert ballet school on scholarship, but Audrey's dreams were crushed when she left the Marie Lambert ballet school due to her height and inadequate training. It was after this that Audrey turned to acting and began getting bit roles in movies. It was while filming the movie Monte Carlo Baby, However that got Audrey her big break. While filming in a hotel lobby, the French writer Collette saw Audrey. Collette's play "Gigi" was currently in the middle of casting and the main character, Gigi, had yet to be cast. After seeing Audrey she was amazed and said, "Voil! There is my Gigi." And so Audrey Hepburn began.
"Gigi" recived rave reviews and when it closed in New York, Audrey immediately flew to Rome to start filming the famous Roman Holiday. She stared in the film with Gregory Peck and recived an Academy award for her performance. During this part of her life Audrey also meet her first husband Mel Ferrer. They were married in a civil ceremony and Audrey miss carried twice before their son Sean was born in 1960. After about a year of Audrey's maternity break, she continuted filming and began "the role she was born to play." "Breakfast at Tiffany's", a novella by Truman Capote. Audrey wished to retire from the pictures and spend more time at home with her son, but her husband, Mel, insisted she do more films and due to this disagreement they split up. Two years later Audrey re-maried to Dr. Andrea Dotti and gave birth to her second son Luca Dotti one year later in 1970. Audrey continued with her work when her children had grown up and in 1980 she and her second husband divorced. Audrey met fellow actor Robert Wolders soon after however and were together for the rest of Audrey's life.
In 1987 Audrey began her most important role; Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. Audrey, having been a victim of war felt deeply in debt for such an organization, for it was the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) who came in with food and supplies after the ending of WWII and saved her life. A mere six years later however, after several trips to Central America, Ethiopia, Turkey, Somalia and South America, Audrey was diagnosed with colon cancer, and later operated on. The doctor gave her three months to live, but she only hung on for only seventy-nine days. On January 20, 1993, Audrey Hepburn passed away at 7 pm at her home peacefully in her sleep.Myspace Contact Tables , hosting by Imgdump.net
