A nun of the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT) treating people injured in the Haiti earthquake.

Nun in cloister, 1930; photography by Doris Ulmann

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her life to her religion.^[1] She may be a woman who decided to dedicate her life to serve the other living beings or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. The term "nun" is applicable to Catholics – both eastern and western traditions – Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Jains, Buddhists, Taoists, and Hindus. While in common usage the terms nun and sister are often used interchangeably, in some cases they are differentiated, a nun being a religious woman who lives a contemplative cloistered life of prayer and meditation for the salvation of others, while a sister, in Christian Catholic order like Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, lives an active vocation of prayer and service, often to the needy, sick, poor, and uneducated.

Buddhism[link]

All Buddhist traditions have nuns, although their status is different among the various Buddhist countries. The Buddha is reported to have allowed women into the sangha only with great reluctance, predicting that the move would lead to Buddhism's collapse after 500 years, rather than the 1,000 years it would have enjoyed otherwise (this prophecy occurs only once in the Canon and is the only prophecy involving time in the Canon, leading some to suspect that it is a late addition.)^[2] Fully ordained Buddhist nuns (bhikkhunis) have more Patimokkha-rules than the monks (bhikkhus). The important vows are the same, however.

As with monks, there is quite a lot of variation in nuns' dress and social conventions between different Buddhist cultures in Asia. Chinese nuns possess the full bhikkuni ordination, Tibetan nuns do not, and in Theravada countries female renunciates are discouraged from even wearing saffron robes. Disparities may often be observed in the amount of respect and financial resources given to monks viz. nuns, with nuns receiving less of both in all countries with the possible exception of Taiwan. Despite barriers, some nuns succeed in becoming religious teachers and authorities.

Thailand[link]

Buddhist nuns in Rangoon, Burma.

In Thailand, a country which never had a tradition of fully ordained nuns (bhikkhuni), there developed a separate order of non-ordained female renunciates called mae ji. However, some of them has played an important role in dharma-practitioners' community. There are in Thai Forest Tradition foremost nuns such as Mae Ji Kaew Sianglam, the founder of Nunnery of Baan Huai Saai, who is believed to be enlightened^[3] as well as Upāsikā Kee Nanayon.^[4] At the beginning of the 21st century, some Buddhist women in Thailand have started to introduce the bhikkhuni sangha in their country as well, even if public acceptance is still lacking.^[5] Dhammananda Bhikkhuni,^[6] formerly the successful academic scholar Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, established a controversial monastery for the training of Buddhist nuns in Thailand.^[7]

Taiwan[link]

Chinese Buddhism possesses a full bhikkuni tradition. Thanks largely to the efforts of Master Cheng Yen of the Buddhist charity Tzu Chi (which utterly dominates philanthopic giving in Taiwan), Taiwan's nuns nowadays probably receive more public respect and support than monks.^{[citation needed]}

Researcher Charles Brewer Jones estimates that since 1952, when the Buddhist Association of the ROC organized public ordination, female applicants have outnumbered males by about three to one. He adds:

"All my informants in the areas of Taipei and Sanhsia considered nuns at least as respectable as monks, or even more so. [...] In contrast, however, Shiu-kuen Tsung found in Taipei county that female clergy were viewed with some suspicion by society. She reports that while outsiders did not necessarily regard their vocation as unworthy of respect, they still tended to view the nuns as social misfits."^[8]

Tibet[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (September 2010)

The August 2007 International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha, with the support of H. H. XIVth Dalai Lama, reinstated the Gelongma (Dharmaguptaka vinaya bhikkhuni) lineage, having been lost, in India and Tibet, for centuries. Gelongma ordination requires the presence of ten fully ordained people keeping exactly the same vows. Because ten nuns are required in order to ordain a new one, the effort to establish the Dharmaguptaka bhikkhu tradition has taken a long time.

It is permissible for a Tibetan nun to receive bhikkhuni ordination from another living tradition, e.g. in Vietnam. Based on this, Western nuns ordained in Tibetan tradition, like Thubten Chodron, took full ordination in another tradition.

The ordination of monks and nuns in Tibetan Buddhism distinguishes three stages rabjung-ma, getshül-ma and gelong-ma. The clothes of the nuns in Tibet are basically the same as those of monks, but there are differences between novice and gelong robes.

Christianity[link]

Roman Catholic[link]

Sisters in traditional habit singing Gregorian chant

A Catholic Sister in brightly coloured clothes rides a motor-bike, Basankusu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the Catholic Church, a nun is a woman who has taken solemn vows (the male equivalent is often called a monk or friar). The main distinction between a nun and a sister is that nuns have solemn vows and sisters have simple vows, which allows them to inherit property, unlike a nun. Also, as monastics, nuns commit themselves to the daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the day in church, usually in a solemn manner. Thus, for those making this commitment, they are distinguished within the monastic community under the title of choir nuns, as opposed to "lay Sisters", who are entrusted with the upkeep of the monastery, or even running errands outside the cloister.

Nuns are usually cloistered or enclosed to the degree established by the rule of the religious institute they enter;^[9] exceptions include one branch of Visitandines and the Ursulines. This is another distinction from Religious Sisters, which were first established by Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac, who founded the Daughters of Charity (usually referred to as the Sisters of Charity) in 1633.^[10] The Sisters of Charity and other Religious Sisters are usually involved in some form of apostolic work or ministry, traditionally that of nursing or teaching, or more recently counseling at-risk youth, which requires them to be out among the public.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, there are a large number of different orders of nuns and Sisters, each with its own charism or special character.

In general, when a woman enters a convent, monastery or abbey, she first undergoes an initial period of testing the life for a period of six months to a year called a postulancy. If she, and the order, determine that she may have a vocation to the life, she receives the habit of the order (usually with some modification, normally a white veil instead of a black, to distinguish her from professed nuns) and undertakes the novitiate, a period (that lasts one to two years) of living the life of a nun without yet taking vows.^[11] Upon completion of this period she may take her initial, temporary vows.^[12] Temporary vows last one to three years, typically, and will be professed for not less than three years and not more than six.^[13] Finally, she will petition to make her "perpetual profession", taking permanent, solemn vows.^[14]

In the various branches of the Benedictine tradition (Benedictines, Cistercians, Camaldolese, and Trappists among others) nuns take vows of stability (that is, to remain a member of a single monastic community), obedience (to an abbess or prioress), and "conversion of life" (which includes poverty and chastity). The "Poor Clares" (a Franciscan order) and those Dominican nuns who live a cloistered life take the threefold vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Most orders of nuns not listed here follow one of these two patterns, with some orders taking an additional vow related to the specific work or character of their order (for example, to undertake a certain style of devotion, praying for a specific intention or purpose).

Nuns at Work in the Cloister, by Henriette Browne

Cloistered nuns (Carmelites, for example) observe "papal enclosure" ^[15] rules and their monasteries typically have walls separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave (except for medical necessity, or occasionally for purposes related to their contemplative life) though they may have visitors in specially built parlors, often with either a "grill" or half-wall separating the nuns' side from the visitors', that allow them to meet with outsiders. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams or candies or baked goods by mail order, or by making liturgical items (such as vestments, candles, or hosts to be Consecrated at Mass for Holy Communion).

They often undertake contemplative ministries—that is, a monastery of nuns is often associated with prayer for some particular good or supporting the missions of another Order by prayer (for instance, the Dominican nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in the Bronx, N.Y. pray in support of the priests of the Archdiocese of New York). Yet Religious Sisters can also do this form of ministry, e.g., the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters have small houses of contemplative Sisters, some in mission locations, who pray for the work of the priests, brothers and other Sisters of their Congregation; the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master are also cloistered Sisters who pray in support of their sister congregation, the Daughters of St. Paul in their media ministry.

A canoness is a nun who corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and rules of monastic life are common to both. As with the canons, differences in the observance of rule gave rise to two types: the canoness regular, who lives in a religious house, taking the traditional religious vows, and the secular canoness, which was primarily a way of leading a pious life by daughters of aristocratic families who did not wish to take religious vows, and thus remained free to own property and leave to marry, should they choose. This latter way of life has disappeared in the modern age.

A nun who is elected to head her religious house is termed an abbess if the house is an abbey, with the exception of Poor Clares who have an abbess but no abbey perhaps from St. Clare's beginning her religious life "train" by the Benedictines, to whom St. Francis entrusted her, who have abbesses, a prioress if it is a monastery, or more generically may be referred to as the Mother Superior and styled "Reverend Mother". The distinction between abbey and monastery has to do with the terms used by a particular order or by the level of independence of the religious house. Technically, a convent is any home of a community of sisters—or, indeed, of priests and brothers, though this term is rarely used in the U.S. The term "monastery" is often used by communities within the Benedictine family, and "convent" (when referring to a cloister) is often used of the monasteries of certain other orders.

Traditional cloistered nuns' clothing consists of a tunic which is tied around the waist with a cloth or leather belt. Over the tunic some nuns wear a scapular which is a garment of long wide piece of woolen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head. Some wear a white wimple which "encircles" the face and a veil the most significant and ancient aspect of the habit. Some nuns such as Poor Clares wear a large rosary on their belt. Benedictine Abbesses wear a cross or crucifix on a chain around their neck. After the second Vatican Council, many orders chose to no longer wear the traditional habit, and as well did away with choosing a religious name. However, Catholic Church or Canon Law states (669.1) "As a sign of their consecration and as a witness to poverty religious are to wear their habit in accordance with the institute's own law."

The Vale of Rest ; by John Everett Millais, 1848 (Tate Gallery, London)

Distinction between a nun and a religious sister[link]

During the first millennium, nearly all communities of men and women were dedicated to prayer and contemplation. These monasteries, abbeys, or convents were built in remote locations or were separated from the world by means of a cloister. The mendicant orders, founded in the 13th century, combined a life of prayer and dedication to God with active works of preaching, hearing confessions, and service to the poor, and members of these orders are known as friars rather than monks. At that time, Church law did not allow women to leave the cloister if they had taken religious vows. Female members of the mendicant orders (Dominican, Augustinian and Carmelite nuns and Poor Clares) continued to observe the same enclosed life as members of the monastic orders.

Originally, the vows taken by profession in any religious institute approved by the Holy See were classified as solemn.^[16] This was declared by Pope Boniface VIII (1235–1303).^[17] The situation changed in the 16th century. In 1521, two years after the Fourth Lateran Council had forbidden the establishment of new religious institutes, Pope Leo X appointed a religious rule with simple vows for those tertiaries attached to existing institutes who undertook to live in a community. In 1566 and 1568, Pope Pius V rejected this class of congregation, but they continued to exist and even increased in number. After at first being merely tolerated, they afterwards obtained approval.^[16] Pope Leo XIII recognized as religious all men and women who took simple vows.^[18] Their lives were oriented not to the ancient monastic way of life, but more to social service and to evangelization, both in Europe and in mission areas. Their number increased further in the upheavals brought by the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic invasions of other Catholic countries, depriving thousands of religious of the income that their communities held because of inheritances and forcing them to find a new way of living the religious life. But members of these new associations were not recognized as "religious" until Pope Leo XIII's Constitution "Conditae a Christo" of 8 December 1900.^[19]

The 1917 Code of Canon Law reserved the term "nun" (Latin: monialis) for women religious who took solemn vows or who, while being allowed in some places to take simple vows, belonged to institutes whose vows were normally solemn.^[20] It used the word "sister" (Latin: soror) exclusively for members of institutes for women that it classified as "congregations"; and for "nuns" and "sisters" jointly it used the Latin word religiosae (women religious). The same religious order could include both "nuns" and "sisters", if some members took solemn vows and other simple vows.

Eastern Orthodox[link]

Saint Sophia of Suzdal, wearing the full monastic habit of a Schemanun

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is no distinction between a monastery for women and a monastery for men. In Greek, Russian, and other Eastern European languages, both domiciles are called "monasteries" and the ascetics who live therein are "Monastics". In English, however, it is acceptable to use the terms "nun" and "convent" for clarity and convenience. The term for an abbess is the feminine form of abbot (hegumen)—Greek: hegumeni; Serbian: Игуманија (Igumanija); Russian: игумения, (igumenia). Orthodox monastics do not have distinct "orders" as in Western Christianity. Orthodox monks and nuns lead identical spiritual lives.^[21] There may be slight differences in the way a monastery functions internally but these are simply differences in style (Gr. typica) dependent on the Abbess or Abbot. The Abbess is the spiritual leader of the convent and her authority is absolute (no priest, bishop, or even patriarch can override an abbess within the walls of her monastery.) There has always been spiritual equality between men and women in the Orthodox Church (Galatians 3:28). Abbots and Abbesses rank in authority equal to bishops in many ways and were included in ecumenical councils. Orthodox monasteries are usually associated with a local synod of bishops by jurisdiction, but are otherwise self governing. Abbesses hear confessions (but do not absolve) and dispense blessings on their charges, though they still require the services of a presbyter (i.e., a priest) to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and perform other priestly functions, such as the absolution of a penitent.

Orthodox monastics, in general have little or no contact with the outside world, especially family. The pious family whose child decides to enter the monastic profession understands that their child will become "dead to the world" and therefore be unavailable for social visits.

There are a number of different levels that the nun passes through in her profession:

• Novice—When one enters a monastery the first three to five years are spent as a novice. Novices may or may not (depending on the abbess's wishes) dress in the black inner robe (Isorassa); those who do will also usually wear the apostolnik or a black scarf tied over the head (see photo, above). The isorassa is the first part of the monastic "habit" of which there is only one style for Orthodox monastics (this is true in general, there have been a few slight regional variations over the centuries, but the style always seems to precipitate back to a style common in the 3rd or 4th century). If a novice chooses to leave during the novitiate period no penalty is incurred.
• Rassaphore—When the abbess deems the novice ready, the novice is asked to join the monastery. If she accepts, she is tonsured in a formal service during which she is given the outer robe (Exorassa) and veil (Epanokamelavkion) to wear, and (because she is now dead to the world) receives a new name. Nuns consider themselves part of a sisterhood; however, tonsured nuns are usually addressed as "Mother" (in some convents, the title of "Mother" is reserved to those who enter into the next level of Stavrophore).
• Stavrophore—The next level for monastics takes place some years after the first tonsure when the abbess feels the nun has reached a level of discipline, dedication, and humility. Once again, in a formal service the nun is elevated to the "Little Schema" which is signified by additions to her habit of certain symbolic articles of clothing. In addition, the abbess increases the nun’s prayer rule, she is allowed a stricter personal ascetic practice.
• Great Schema—The final stage, called "Megaloschemos" or "Great Schema" is reached by nuns whose Abbess feels they have reached a high level of excellence. In some monastic traditions the Great Schema is only given to monks and nuns on their death bed, while in others they may be elevated after as little as 25 years of service.

Princess Praskovya Yusupova before becoming a nun Nikolai Nevrev, 1886

The Way of Humility: Russian Orthodox nun working at Ein Karem, Jerusalem

Anglican Communion[link]

Anglican religious orders are organizations of laity and/or clergy in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule. The term "religious orders" must be distinguished from Holy Orders (the sacrament of ordination which bishops, priests, and deacons receive), though many communities do have ordained members.

The structure and function of religious orders in Anglicanism roughly parallels that which exists in Roman Catholicism. Religious communities are divided into orders proper, in which members take solemn vows and congregations, whose members take simple vows.

Religious communities throughout England were destroyed by King Henry VIII when he separated the Church of England from the papacy during the English Reformation (see Dissolution of the Monasteries). Monasteries were deprived of their lands and possessions, and monastics were forced to either live a secular life or flee the country.

With the rise of the Catholic Revival and the Oxford Movement in Anglicanism in the early 19th century came interest in the revival of "religious life" in England. Between 1841 and 1855, several religious orders for nuns were founded, among them the Community of St. Mary at Wantage and the Community of St. Margaret at East Grinstead.

In the United States and Canada, the founding of Anglican religious orders of nuns began in 1845 with the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion (now defunct) in New York.

In the Episcopal Church in the United States, there are two recognized types of religious communities, called Religious Orders and Christian Communities. The differences are as follows:

A Religious Order of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, to holding their possessions in common or in trust; to a celibate life in community; and obedience to their Rule and Constitution. (Title III, Canon 24, section 1)

A Christian Community of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, in obedience to their Rule and Constitution. (Title III, Canon 24, section 2)

In some Anglican orders, there are sisters who have been ordained and can celebrate the Eucharist.^[22]

Fiction and dramatizations featuring[link]

Nuns play an important role in the public's imagination. The following list of notable works where nuns play a major part ranges from A Time for Miracles which is literally hagiography to realistic accounts by Kathryn Hulme and Monica Baldwin to the blatant nunsploitation of Sacred Flesh. All the works use Catholic nuns save Black Narcissus (Anglican). All are outsiders' views with the exceptions of Dead Man Walking, a film based on a non-fiction book of the same title by Helen Prejean, and The Nun's Story, a book by Kathryn Hulme relating the experiences of ex-nun Marie Louise Habets.

See also[link]

Religion portal

• Monk, the male monastic
• Catholic religious order

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Simpson J. A. & Weiner, E. S. C. (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nuns

• Blogs by Catholic nuns
• Vocation-Network.org information about Catholic religious communities and life as a sister, brother, or priest.
• VocationMatch.com helps those discerning a Catholic religious vocation sort through options and find the order or vocation that may be right for them.
• DigitalVocationGuide.org digital edition of VISION, the annual Catholic religious vocation discernment guide.
• Monastic Matrix: A Scholarly Resource for the Study of Women's Religious Communities 400-1600 C.E.
• Full Text + Illustrations, The Hermits and Anchorites of England by Rotha Mary Clay.
• Nuns of Medieval England, Full Text + Illustrations.
• Religious Orders including Female Religious. Full Text + Illustrations.
• Medieval Shrines of British Saints, including sainted women religious. Full Text + Illustrations.
• Nuns article from The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Instruction on the Contemplative Life and on the Enclosure of Nuns Verbi Sponsa of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life
• A Biography of a Vajrayana Buddhist Nun
• Martin Luther's letter To Several Nuns, August 6, 1524. (Two reasons life at the convent and vows may be forsaken)
• Sakyadhita — The International Association of Buddhist Women
• The Ursulines Sisters
• The Dominican Monastery of Saint Jude
• Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Monastery in Buffalo NY (A Dominican contemplative monastery with Latin chant)

Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in a studio publicity portrait for 1957 film Love in the Afternoon
Born	Audrey Kathleen Ruston (1929-05-04)4 May 1929 Ixelles, Belgium
Died	20 January 1993(1993-01-20) (aged 63) Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Cause of death	Appendiceal cancer
Resting place	Tolochenaz Cemetery, Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Nationality	British
Other names	Edda van Heemstra Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston
Occupation	Actress, humanitarian
Years active	1948–1992
Spouse	Mel Ferrer (1954–1968) Andrea Dotti (1969–1982)
Partner	Robert Wolders (1980–1993; her death)
Children	Sean Hepburn Ferrer Luca Dotti
Parents	Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (deceased) Ella van Heemstra (deceased)
Awards	List of awards and honours
Signature
Website
www.audreyhepburn.com

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time who was ranked as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema. Remembered as both a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century, Hepburn redefined glamour with "elfin" features and a gamine waif-like figure that inspired designs by Givenchy and earned her place in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.^[1][2][3]

Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War, where she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam before moving to London in 1948 to continue ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions.

After appearing in several British films and starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn gained instant Hollywood stardom for playing the Academy Award-winning lead role in Roman Holiday (1953). Later performing in Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), Hepburn became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age who received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and accrued a Tony Award for her theatrical performance in the 1954 Broadway play Ondine. Hepburn remains one of few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

She appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. Her war-time struggles inspired her passion for humanitarian work and, although contributing to the organisation since 1954, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in late 1992, but a month later, aged 63, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland in early 1993.^[4][5][6]

Early life[link]

Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on 4 May 1929 on Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality in Brussels in Belgium.^[7] Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was born in Úžice, Bohemia^[8] to a father of British Isles and Austrian descent^[9] and an Austrian mother.^[10] Ruston had earlier been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress he met in the Dutch East Indies.^[11] Although born Ruston, he later double-barrelled the surname to the more "aristocratic" Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly^[12] believing himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[11]

Her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch aristocrat and the daughter of Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Governor of Suriname from 1921 to 1928. Ella's mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873-1939), who was a granddaughter of Dirk van Hogendorp.^[10] At age nineteen, Ella had married the knight Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, but they divorced in 1925. Hepburn had two half-brothers from this marriage: Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander "Alex" Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010).^[11][13]

Ruston and van Heemstra married in Batavia in September 1926. They moved back to Europe, to Ixelles in Belgium, where Hepburn was born in 1929. In January 1932 the family moved on to Linkebeek, a nearby Brussels municipality.^[14] Although born in Belgium, Hepburn had British citizenship through her father.^[7] Because of her mother's family in the Netherlands and her father's job with a British company,^[15] the family often travelled between the three countries. With her multinational background, she had a talent for languages ​​and went on to speak fluent English, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. Hepburn was a playful and imaginative child who discovered a passion for ballet by the age of 5, loved to read and was nicknamed "Monkey Puzzle" by her father.

Childhood and adolescence in World War II[link]

Hepburn's parents were members of the British Union of Fascists in the mid-1930s,^[16] with her father becoming a true Nazi sympathiser.^[17] After her mother discovered him in bed with the nanny of her children,^[18] Hepburn's father left the family abruptly. In the 1960s, Hepburn would finally locate him again in Dublin through the Red Cross. Although he remained emotionally detached, his daughter remained in contact and supported him financially until his death.^[19]

After Joseph had left in 1935, Ella van Heemstra took her children home to Arnhem, though her sons spent much time with their father in The Hague. Ella and Audrey moved to Kent in 1937, where Hepburn was educated at a tiny independent girls' school in the village of Elham, run by the sisters Rigden and then attended by about 14 children.^[20][21] In September 1939, her mother relocated her back home in Arnhem, in the belief that, like in the First World War, the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. Whilst there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945 where, in addition to the standard school curriculum, she trained in ballet with Winja Marova. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra, a derivative of her mother's name Ella,^[22] because an "English sounding" name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. In 1942, her uncle Otto van Limburg Stirum, husband of Ella's older sister Miesje, was executed in retaliation for a sabotage by the resistance movement, while her half-brother Jan was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp (Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate).^[23] After this, Ella, Miesje and Audrey moved in with Baron van Heemstra in nearby Velp. During her wartime struggles, Hepburn suffered from malnutrition, developed acute anæmia, respiratory problems, and œdema.^[24] Hepburn, in a retrospective interview, commented, "I have memories. More than 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."^[25]

Notwithstanding such strife, by 1944, Hepburn had become a proficient ballerina. She had secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. "The best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performances," she remarked.^[26] After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently devastated by Allied artillery fire under Operation Market Garden. During the Dutch famine that followed in the winter of 1944, the Germans had blocked the resupply routes of the Netherlands' already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupation. People starved and froze to death in the streets; Hepburn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits.^[17][27] One way that Hepburn passed the time was by drawing; some of her childhood artwork can be seen today.^[28] When the country was liberated, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration trucks followed.^[29] Hepburn said in an interview that she fell ill from putting too much sugar in her oatmeal and eating an entire can of condensed milk.^[30] Hepburn's war-time experiences sparked her devotion to UNICEF, an international humanitarian organisation, in her later career.^[17][27]

Career[link]

Career beginnings and early roles[link]

After the war ended in 1945, Ella and Audrey moved to Amsterdam, where Hepburn took ballet lessons for three years with Sonia Gaskell, arguably the leading figure in Dutch ballet.^[31] In 1948 she appeared for the first time on film, as an air stewardess in an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson, Dutch in Seven Lessons.^[32] Gaskell provided an introduction to Marie Rambert, and in 1948 Hepburn traveled with her mother to London to study ballet at the Ballet Rambert. She supported herself with part-time work as a model. Around that time she decided to drop "Ruston" from her double-barreled surname. When Hepburn asked Rambert about her future, Rambert assured her that she could continue to work there and have a great career, but her relatively tall height of 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)^[33] coupled with her poor nutrition during the war would keep her from becoming a prima ballerina. Hepburn trusted Rambert's assessment and decided to pursue acting: a career in which she at least had the chance to excel.^[34] After becoming a star, Rambert said of Hepburn, "She was a wonderful learner. If she had wanted to persevere, she might have become an outstanding ballerina."^[35]

Hepburn's mother worked menial jobs in order to support them but Hepburn needed to find employment. Since she had trained in theatre all her life, working as a London chorus girl seemed sensible. "I needed the money; it paid ₤3 more than ballet jobs."^[36] She performed in the musical theatre revues High Button Shoes (1948) at the London Hippodrome and Cecil Landeau's Sauce Tartare (1949) and Sauce Piquante (1950) at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. Her theatrical work, however, revealed that her voice was not strong and needed to be developed. Hepburn, therefore, took elocution lessons with the actor Felix Aylmer.^[37] After being spotted by a scout for Paramount Pictures on stage,^[35] Hepburn registered with the casting officers of British film studios while working in the West End and appeared in minor roles in the 1951 films One Wild Oat, Laughter in Paradise, Young Wives' Tale and The Lavender Hill Mob. Hepburn's first significant film performance was in Thorold Dickinson's The Secret People (1952), in which she played a prodigious ballerina and performed all of her own dancing sequences. Noticed by the French novelist Colette when on the set of Monte Carlo Baby (1951), Hepburn was also chosen to play the title character in the Broadway play Gigi. Upon first sight of Hepburn, Colette whispered, "Voilà," indicating Hepburn, "there's your Gigi."^[35][38] Opening on 24 November 1951 at the Fulton Theatre, the play ran for 219 performances finishing on 31 May 1952.^[39] Hepburn's debut on Broadway earned her a Theatre World Award.^[39]

[edit] Roman Holiday and increased popularity

Hepburn in a screen test for Roman Holiday (1953) which was also used as promotional material

In the Italian-set Roman Holiday (1953), a film she would later call her dearest movie, Hepburn had her first starring role as Princess Ann, an incognito European princess who, escaping the reins of royalty, falls in love with an American newsman (Gregory Peck). While producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test that he cast her in the lead. Unbeknownst that she was still being filmed after the screen test, Hepburn displayed her ability as she candidly answered questions, relaxed and completely unaware. Wyler later commented, "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, 'That's the girl!'"^[40] Originally, the film was to have had only Gregory Peck's name above its title in large font while she would receive "Introducing Audrey Hepburn" beneath though Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing so her name appeared before the title and in type as large as his: "You've got to change that because she'll be a big star and I'll look like a big jerk."^[41]

Peck was correct. Hepburn garnered critical and commercial acclaim for her portrayal and supplemented the unexpected Academy Award for Best Actress with her first BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and only Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1953. A. H. Weiler noted in The New York Times that although "she is not precisely a newcomer to films, [Hepburn] the British actress who is being starred for the first time as Princess Ann, is a slender, elfin and wistful beauty, alternately regal and childlike in her profound appreciation of newly found, simple pleasures and love. Although she bravely smiles her acknowledgement of the end of that affair, she remains a pitifully lonely figure facing a stuffy future."^[1] Due to the instant celebrity that came with the film, she was signed to a seven-picture contract with Paramount with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work^[42] while spawning what became known as the Audrey Hepburn "look" after her illustration was placed on the September 1953 cover of TIME magazine.^[43]

Following her success in Roman Holiday, she starred in Billy Wilder's romantic Cinderella-story comedy Sabrina (1954) in which wealthy brothers (Humphrey Bogart and William Holden) compete for the affections of their chauffeur's innocent daughter (Hepburn). For her performance, she was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Actress while winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the same year. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times labeled Hepburn "a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame" concluding that "she is even more luminous as the daughter and pet of the servants' hall than she was as a princess last year."^[44] The uncredited Hubert de Givenchy was responsible for many of Hepburn's outfits in the film. Initially disappointed, Givenchy noted that, upon being told that the actress would be "Miss Hepburn", he had expected Katharine Hepburn. When faced with this actress, he told Hepburn he had little time to spare. Nevertheless, she knew exactly how she wanted to look and asked to view his latest collection.^[41] Their collaboration in Sabrina formed a life-long friendship and partnership; she was often a muse for many of his designs and her style became renowned internationally.

Beginning another collaboration that year, this time with actor Mel Ferrer, she starred in the fantasy play Ondine on Broadway. With her lithe and lean frame, Hepburn made a convincing water spirit named Ondine in this sad story about love found and lost with a human (Ferrer). A New York Times critic commented, "Somehow Miss Hepburn is able to translate [its intangibles] into the language of the theatre without artfulness or precociousness. She gives a pulsing performance that is all grace and enchantment, disciplined by an instinct for the realities of the stage." While the leading characters in the play grow apart, the actors found themselves becoming closer. Hepburn and Ferrer got married on September 25, 1954, in Switzerland; their sometimes tumultuous partnership would last for the better part of the next fifteen years. Her performance won her the 1954 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, the same year she won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday. Hepburn, therefore, stands as one of three actresses to receive the Academy and Tony Awards for Best Actress in the same year (the others being Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn).^[45] By the mid-1950s, Hepburn was vastly becoming one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood and received the Golden Globe for World Film Favorite – Female in 1955,^[46] but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognised sense of chic were both admired and imitated. Hepburn was asked to play Anne Frank's counterpart in both the Broadway and film adaptations of Frank's life. Hepburn, however, who was born the same year as Frank, found herself "emotionally incapable" of the task, and at almost thirty years old, too old.^[47] The role was eventually given to Susan Strasberg and Millie Perkins in the play and film respectively.

Hepburn in War and Peace (1956)

Having become one of Hollywood's most popular box-office attractions, she went on to star in a series of successful films during the remainder of the decade, including her BAFTA- and Golden Globe-nominated role as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (1956), an adaptation of the Tolstoy novel set during the Napoleonic wars with Henry Fonda and husband Mel Ferrer. In 1957, she exhibited her dancing abilities in her debut musical film Funny Face (1957) where Fred Astaire, a fashion photographer, discovers a beatnik bookstore clerk (Hepburn), who, lured by a free trip to Paris, becomes a beautiful model. The same year Hepburn starred in another romantic comedy, Love in the Afternoon, alongside Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier. Yet, she stepped away from lighthearted fare when she played Sister Luke in The Nun's Story (1959), which focuses on the character's struggle to succeed as a nun alongside co-star Peter Finch. The role accrued her third Academy Award nomination and earned her a second BAFTA Award. A review in Variety said "Hepburn has her most demanding film role, and she gives her finest performance." Films in Review stated that her performance "will forever silence those who have thought her less an actress than a symbol of the sophisticated child/woman. Her portrayal of Sister Luke is one of the great performances of the screen."^[48] Reportedly, she spent hours in convents and with members of the Church to bring truth to her portrayal: "I gave more time, energy and thought to this than to any of my previous screen performances."^[49] Following this, she received lukewarm reception for starring with Anthony Perkins in the romantic adventure Green Mansions (1959) where she plays – "with grace and dignity" – the "ethereal" Rima, a jungle girl, who falls in love with a Venezuelan traveller played by Perkins^[50] and The Unforgiven (1960), her only western film, where she appears "a bit too polished, too fragile and civilized among such tough and stubborn types" of Burt Lancaster and Lillian Gish in a story of racism against a group of Native Americans.^[51]

[edit] Breakfast at Tiffany's and continued stardom

Hepburn in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), wearing the iconic little black dress by Givenchy

Three months after the birth of her son, Sean, in 1960, Hepburn began work on Blake Edwards' Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a film very loosely based on the Truman Capote novella. The film was drastically changed from the original version. Capote disapproved of many changes and proclaimed that Hepburn was "grossly miscast"^[52] as Holly Golightly, a quirky New York call girl,^[53] a role he had envisioned for Marilyn Monroe.^[52] Hepburn's portrayal of Golightly was adapted from the original: "I can't play a hooker," she admitted to Marty Jurow, co-producer of the film.^[52] Despite the lack of sexual innuendo in her character,^[52] her portrayal was nominated for the 1961 Academy Award for Best Actress and became an iconic character in American cinema. Often considered her defining role,^[54] Holly Golightly, Hepburn's high fashion style and sophistication within the film became synonymous with her. She named the role "the jazziest of my career"^[55] yet admitted that, "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did."^[56] The little black dress which is worn by Hepburn in the beginning of the film is cited as one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of the twentieth century and perhaps the most famous little black dress of all time.^{[57][58][59][60]}

Shirley MacLaine and Hepburn in the trailer for The Children's Hour (1961)

Playing opposite Shirley MacLaine and James Garner, her next role in William Wyler's lesbian-themed drama The Children's Hour (1961) saw Hepburn and MacLaine play teachers whose lives become troubled after a student accuses them of being lesbians. The film was one of Hollywood's earliest treatments of the subject of lesbianism,^[54] and perhaps due to the illiberal state of society, the film and Hepburn's performance went seemingly unnoticed both critically and commercially. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, however, noted that "it is not too well acted" with the exception of Hepburn who "gives the impression of being sensitive and pure" of its "muted theme"^[61] while Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn's "soft sensitivity, marvellous projection and emotional understatement" adding that Hepburn and MacLaine "beautifully complement each other."^[62]

With Cary Grant in Charade (1963)

Her only film with Cary Grant came in the comic thriller Charade (1963). Hepburn, who plays Regina Lampert, finds herself pursued by several men who chase the fortune her murdered husband had stolen. The role earned her third and final competitive BAFTA Award and accrued another Golden Globe nomination though critic Bosley Crowther was less kind: "Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes."^[63] Grant (59 years old at the time), who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about the age difference between Hepburn (at age 34) and him, making him uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to change the screenplay so that Hepburn's character would be the one to romantically pursue his.^[64] Grant, however, loved to humour Hepburn and once said, "All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn."^[65]

Paris When It Sizzles (1964) reteamed Hepburn with William Holden nearly ten years after Sabrina. The Parisian-set screwball comedy, called "marshmallow-weight hokum",^[66] was "uniformly panned"^[67] but critics were kind to Hepburn's creation of Gabrielle Simpson, the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter (Holden) who aids his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots, describing her as "a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve."^[66] Critical reception was worsened by a number of problems that plagued the set behind the scenes. Holden tried, without success, to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress; that, combined with his alcoholism made the situation a challenge. Hepburn, after principal photography began, demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies.^[67] Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number (she had dressing room 55 for Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and required that Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume.^[67]

"Not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady," wrote Soundstage magazine in 1964,^[45] yet Hepburn's landing the role of Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 George Cukor film adaptation of the stage musical sparked controversy. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role in the stage show, had not been offered the part because producer Jack Warner thought Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor more "bankable" propositions.^[68] Initially refusing, Hepburn asked Warner to give it to Andrews but, eventually, Hepburn was cast.^[68] Further friction was created when, although non-singer Hepburn had sung with "throaty charm" in Funny Face and had lengthy vocal preparation for the role in My Fair Lady,^[68] her vocals were dubbed by Marni Nixon.^[69][70] A dubber was required because Eliza Doolittle's songs were not transposed down to accommodate Hepburn's "low-mezzo voice" (as Nixon referred to it).^[68] Upset, when first informed, she walked out. She returned the next day and apologized to everybody for her "wicked behavior".^[68] Although Hepburn had lip synced to her recorded tracks during filming, Nixon looped her vocals in post-production and was given multiple attempts to match Hepburn's lip movements precisely.^[68] Overall, about 90% of her singing was dubbed despite being promised that most of her vocals would be used.^[68] Hepburn's voice remains in one line in "I Could Have Danced All Night", in the first verse of "Just You Wait", and in the entirety of its reprise in addition to sing-talking in parts of "The Rain in Spain" in the finished film.^[68] When asked about the dubbing of an actress with such distinctive vocal tones, Hepburn frowned and said, "You could tell, couldn't you? And there was Rex, recording all his songs as he acted ... next time —" She bit her lip to prevent her saying more.^[56] She later admitted that she would have never have accepted the role knowing that Warner intended to have nearly all of her singing dubbed.^[68] The controversy reached its height when, despite the film's accumulation of eight out of a possible twelve awards at the 37th Academy Awards, Hepburn was left nomination-less in the Best Actress category. Julie Andrews, however, was nominated for her efforts in Mary Poppins (1964), and won it. The media tried to play up a rivalry between the two actresses, even though both women denied any such bad feelings existed and got along well. Despite such strife, many critics greatly applauded Hepburn's "exquisite" performance.^[70] "The happiest thing about [My Fair Lady]," wrote Bosley Crowther in The New York Times "is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of Jack Warner to get her to play the title role."^[69] Her co-star Rex Harrison, who played Professor Higgins, also called Hepburn his favourite leading lady and Gene Ringgold of Soundstage also commented that "Audrey Hepburn is magnificent. She is Eliza for the ages,"^[45] while adding, "Everyone agreed that if Julie Andrews was not to be in the film, Audrey Hepburn was the perfect choice."^[45]

As the decade carried on, Hepburn appeared in an assortment of genres including the heist comedy How to Steal a Million (1966) where she played Nicole, the daughter of a famous art collector whose collection consists entirely of forgeries. Fearing her father's exposure, Nicole sets out to steal one of his priceless statues with the help of Simon Dermott (Peter O'Toole). In 1967, she starred in two films; the first being Two for the Road, a non-linear and innovative British dramedy that traces the course of a couple's troubled marriage. Director Stanley Donen said that Hepburn was more free and happy than he had ever seen her, and he credited that to co-star Albert Finney.^[71] The second, Wait Until Dark, is a suspense thriller in which Hepburn demonstrated her acting range by playing the part of a terrorised blind woman. Filmed on the brink of divorce, it was a difficult film considering husband Mel Ferrer was its producer and she lost fifteen pounds under the stress, but she found solace in co-star Richard Crenna and director Terence Young. Hepburn earned her fifth and final competitive Academy Award nomination for Best Actress; Bosley Crawther affirmed, "Hepburn plays the poignant role, the quickness with which she changes and the skill with which she manifests terror attract sympathy and anxiety to her and give her genuine solidity in the final scenes."^[72]

Final entertainment-related projects[link]

From 1967 onward, after fifteen highly successful years in film, Hepburn decided to devote more time to her family and acted only occasionally. She attempted a comeback in 1976, co-starring with Sean Connery, in the period piece Robin and Marian, which was moderately successful. In 1979, Hepburn took the lead role of Elizabeth Roffe in the international production of Bloodline, re-teaming with director Terence Young (Wait Until Dark). She shared top billing with co-stars Ben Gazzara, James Mason and Romy Schneider. Author Sidney Sheldon revised his novel when it was reissued to tie into the film, making her character a much older woman to better match the actress's age. The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box office failure. Hepburn's last starring role in a cinematic film was with Ben Gazzara in the 1981 comedy They All Laughed, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was overshadowed by the murder of one of its stars, Bogdanovich's girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten; the film was released after Stratten's death but only in limited runs. In 1987, she co-starred with Robert Wagner in a tongue-in-cheek made-for-television caper film, Love Among Thieves, which borrowed elements from several of Hepburn's films, most notably Charade and How to Steal a Million.

After finishing her last role in a motion picture in 1988, a cameo appearance as an angel in Steven Spielberg's Always, Hepburn completed only two more entertainment-related projects, both critically acclaimed. Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn was a PBS documentary television series, her final performance before cameras filmed on location in seven countries in the spring and summer of 1990. A one-hour special preceded the series, debuting in March 1991, while the series commenced the day after her death (21 January 1993). For the series's debut, Hepburn was posthumously awarded the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming. Recorded in 1992, her spoken word album, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales, features readings of classic children's stories and earned her a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. She remains one of the few entertainers to win Grammy and Emmy Awards posthumously.

Contributions to UNICEF[link]

Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. Then-United States president George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded her the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity, with her son accepting on her behalf. Grateful for her own good fortune after enduring the German occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; besides being naturally bilingual in English and Dutch, she also was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German.^[73]

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 1950s, starting in 1954 with radio presentations, this was a much higher level of dedication. Those close to her^[who?] say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. Her first field mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mek'ele that housed 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said, "I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can't stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn't tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can't be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars... I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The 'Third World' is a term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering."^[74]

In August 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunisation campaign. She called Turkey "the loveliest example" of UNICEF's capabilities. Of the trip, she said, "the army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad."^{[citation needed]} In October, Hepburn went to South America. In Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told the United States Congress, "I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle – and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF." Hepburn toured Central America in February 1989, and met with leaders in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, she visited Sudan with Wolders as part of a mission called "Operation Lifeline". Because of civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, "I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution – peace."^{[citation needed]} In October, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, "Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her – she was like the Pied Piper." In October 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunisation and clean water programmes.

In September 1992, four months before she died, Hepburn went to Somalia. Calling it "apocalyptic", she said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this – so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn't prepared for this." "The earth is red – an extraordinary sight – that deep terracotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around them like an ocean bed. And those were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp – there are graves everywhere."^{[citation needed]} Though scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. "Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics." "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist. I have seen the miracle of water which UNICEF has helped to make a reality. Where for centuries young girls and women had to walk for miles to get water, now they have clean drinking water near their homes. Water is life, and clean water now means health for the children of this village." "People in these places don't know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognise the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF."

Personal life[link]

Romances, marriages, children and miscarriages[link]

Hepburn and Mel Ferrer on the set of War and Peace (1955)

In 1952, Hepburn was engaged to the young James Hanson,^[75] whom she had known since her London dancing days. She called it "love at first sight"; however, 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.^[76] She issued a statement about her decision, saying, "When I get married, I want to be really married."^[77] In the early 1950s, she also dated future Hair producer Michael Butler.^[78] Hepburn and Gregory Peck bonded during the filming of Roman Holiday (1953) and there were rumours that they were romantically involved; both denied it. Hepburn, however, added, "Actually, you have to be a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa. If you're going to portray love, you have to feel it. You can't do it any other way. But you don't carry it beyond the set."^[79] They did however become lifelong friends. During the filming of Sabrina (1954), Hepburn and the already-married William Holden became romantically involved. She hoped to marry him and have children, but she broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy.^[80][81] Although a common perception that Bogart and Hepburn (both starred in Sabrina together) did not get along, Hepburn commented that, "Sometimes it's the so-called 'tough guys' that are the most tender hearted, as Bogey was with me."^[82]

Hepburn and Andrea Dotti

At a cocktail party hosted by Gregory Peck, Hepburn met American actor Mel Ferrer.^[45] Ferrer recalled that, "We began talking about theatre; she knew all about the La Jolla Playhouse Summer Theatre, where Greg Peck and I had been co-producing plays. She also said she'd seen me three times in the movie Lili. Finally, she said she'd like to do a play with me, and she asked me to send her a likely play if I found one."^[45][83] Ferrer, vying for Hepburn to take the title role, sent her the script for the play Ondine. She agreed and rehearsals started in January 1954. Eight months later, on 25 September 1954, after meeting, working together and falling in love, the pair were married^[84] while preparing to star together in the film War and Peace (1955). Before having their only son, Hepburn had two miscarriages in March 1955^{[citation needed]} and in 1959. The latter occurred when filming The Unforgiven (1960) where breaking her back after falling off a horse and onto a rock resulted in hospital stay and miscarriage induced by physical and mental stress. Hepburn, therefore, took a year off work in order to successfully have a child. Sean Hepburn Ferrer, their son, whose godfather was the novelist A. J. Cronin who resided near Hepburn in Lucerne, was born on 17 July 1960. Despite the insistence from gossip columns that the marriage would not last, Hepburn claimed that she and her husband were inseparable and very happy together yet admitting that he had a bad temper.^[85] Ferrer was rumoured to be too controlling of Hepburn and had been referred to by others as being her Svengali – an accusation that Hepburn laughed off.^[86] William Holden was quoted as saying, "I think Audrey allows Mel to think he influences her." After a 14 year marriage, the couple divorced on 5 December 1968. Their son believed that Hepburn had stayed in the marriage too long. In June 2008, Mel Ferrer died of heart failure at the age of ninety.

Then-President Ronald Reagan with Hepburn and Robert Wolders in 1981

She met Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti on a cruise and fell in love with him on a trip to Greek ruins. She believed she would have more children, and possibly stop working. She married him on 18 January 1969 at age 40, she gave birth to their son Luca Dotti on 8 February 1970. When pregnant with Luca in 1969, Hepburn was more careful, resting for months and passing the time by painting before delivering him by caesarean section. Hepburn had her final miscarriage in 1974.^[87] Although Dotti loved Hepburn and was well liked by Sean, who called him "fun", he began having affairs with younger women. As for herself, Hepburn had a romantic relationship with actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of the 1979 movie Bloodline.[3] The Dotti-Hepburn marriage lasted thirteen years and ended in 1982 when Hepburn felt Luca and Sean were old enough to handle life with a single mother.^{[citation needed]} Although Hepburn broke off all contact with Ferrer (she only spoke to him twice more in the remainder of her life), she remained in touch with Dotti for the benefit of Luca. In October 2007, Andrea Dotti died from complications of a colonoscopy.

From 1980 until her death, Hepburn lived and was romantically involved with Dutch actor Robert Wolders,^[88] the widower of actress Merle Oberon. She met Wolders through a friend in the later stage of her marriage to Dotti. The divorce from Dotti finalised, Wolders and Hepburn started their lives together, although they never married. In 1989, she called the nine years she had spent with him the happiest years of her life. "Took me long enough," she said in an interview with American journalist Barbara Walters. Walters then asked why they never married; Hepburn replied that they were married, just not formally.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Grave of Audrey Hepburn in Tolochenaz, Switzerland

Upon return from Somalia to Switzerland in late September 1992, Hepburn began suffering from abdominal pains. She went to specialists and received inconclusive results, so decided to have herself examined while on a trip to Los Angeles, California in October. On 1 November, Hepburn checked in at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with her family. Doctors performed a laparoscopy and discovered abdominal cancer that had spread from her appendix, a very rare form of cancer belonging to a group of cancers known as pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP).^[89] Having grown slowly over several years, the cancer had metastasised, not as a tumour, but as a thin coating over her small intestine. After surgery, the doctors put Hepburn through 5-fluorouracil Leucovorin chemotherapy.^[90] A few days later, she had an obstruction and medication was not enough to dull the pain. She underwent further surgery on 1 December. After one hour, the surgeon decided that the cancer had spread too far to be removed fully, and was inoperable.

After coming to terms with the gravity of Hepburn's illness, her family decided to return home to Switzerland in order to celebrate her last Christmas. Because Hepburn was still recovering from surgery, she was unable to fly on commercial aircraft. Hubert de Givenchy offered to help and arranged for Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to send her private Gulfstream jet, filled with flowers, to take Hepburn from Los Angeles to Geneva.^[91] On the evening of 20 January 1993, at her home in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland, Hepburn died in her sleep of appendiceal cancer. After her death, Gregory Peck went on camera and tearfully recited her favourite poem, "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore.^[92]

Funeral services were held at the village church of Tolochenaz, Switzerland, on 24 January 1993. Maurice Eindiguer, the same pastor who wed Hepburn and Mel Ferrer and baptised her son Sean in 1960, presided over her funeral while Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, of UNICEF, delivered a eulogy. Many family members and friends attended the funeral, including her sons, partner Robert Wolders, brother Ian Quarles van Ufford, ex-husbands Andrea Dotti and Mel Ferrer, Hubert de Givenchy, executives of UNICEF, and fellow actors Alain Delon and Roger Moore.^[93] Flower arrangements were sent to the funeral by Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor and the Dutch royal family.^[94] The same day as her funeral, Hepburn was interred at the Tolochenaz Cemetery, a small cemetery that sits atop a hill overlooking the village.^[95]

Legacy[link]

Hepburn's legacy as an actress and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Hepburn third among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. Even in her last years, she remained a visible presence in the film world. She received a tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1991 and was a frequent presenter at the Academy Awards. She was the recipient of four posthumous awards including the 1993 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and competitive Grammy and Emmy Awards. She has been the subject of many biographies since her death and the 2000 dramatisation of her life titled The Audrey Hepburn Story which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Emmy Rossum as the older and younger Hepburn respectively.^[96] The film concludes with footage of the real Audrey Hepburn, shot during one of her final missions for UNICEF.

Hepburn's image is widely used in advertising campaigns across the world. In Japan, a series of commercials used colourised and digitally enhanced clips of Hepburn in Roman Holiday to advertise Kirin black tea. In the United States, Hepburn was featured in a Gap commercial which ran from 7 September 2006, to 5 October 2006. It used clips of her dancing from Funny Face, set to AC/DC's "Back in Black", with the tagline "It's Back – The Skinny Black Pant". To celebrate its "Keep it Simple" campaign, the Gap made a sizeable donation to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.^[97]

Hepburn has been considered a gay icon.^{[98][99][100]}

Style[link]

Hepburn was first dressed by Givenchy in the film Sabrina (1954)

Hepburn's reverence as a fashion icon has continued long since her death, proved by accruing the titles "most beautiful woman of all time" and "most beautiful woman of the 20th century" in polls by Evian and QVC respectively.^{[101][102][103]} Despite her physique being far from the Hollywood preference of bosomy actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Martine Carol, Kim Novak and Lana Turner. "This girl, singlehanded, may make bosoms a thing of the past," said director Billy Wilder maliciously, adding that she was very feminine by her grace, huge eyes and long legs, but even against the gender stereotypes of the time, the natural thickness of her brown eyebrows makes her "funny face unforgettable."^[104]

Her style was partially the result of meeting the couturier Hubert de Givenchy, who designed her dresses for Sabrina in 1954. Hepburn revealed, "[Givenchy] gave me a look, a kind, a silhouette. He has always been the best and he stayed the best. Because he kept the spare style that I love. What is more beautiful than a simple sheath made an extraordinary way in a special fabric, and just two earrings?"^[104] The designer created her outfits for many other films, including Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Paris When It Sizzles, Charade and How to Steal a Million. In the latter, Peter O'Toole's character tells Hepburn's to "give Givenchy the night off", persuading her to dress as a cleaning lady. Givenchy was always amazed that, even after thirty five years of collaboration, "her measurements [had] not changed an inch."^[104] Givenchy remained Hepburn's friend and ambassador, and she his muse, throughout her life. Hepburn observed, "I have many things in common with Hubert. We like the same things."^[104] She agreed to model, on occasions, the creations of her friend. In 1988, when he presented his summer collection in Paris, she said, "Wherever I am in the world, he is always there. He is a man who does not disperse into worldliness. He has time for those he loves."^[104] Givenchy subsequently created a perfume for her titled L'Interdit (French for "Forbidden"). She equally inspired fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who captured an intentionally overexposed close-up of Hepburn's face in which only her famous features – her eyes, her eyebrows, and her mouth – are visible. "I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there. I can only record. I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait."^[105]

Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo created a shoe for her and made her ambassador of his fashion house while honouring her in a 1999 exhibition dedicated to the actress titled Audrey Hepburn, a woman, the style. She also popularised the Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses after the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) in addition to being on the cover of many fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. She exercised fashion in her lifetime and continues to influence fashion. Fashion experts affirmed that Hepburn's longevity as a style icon results from her sticking with a look that suited her: "clean lines, simple yet bold accessories, minimalist palette."^[106] One of her many costars, Shirley Maclaine, wrote in her 1996 memoir My Lucky Stars, "[Hepburn] had very rare qualities and I envied her style and taste. I felt clumsy and old fashioned when I was with her." Hepburn's fashion styles continue to be popular among women today.^[107] Although Hepburn enjoyed fashion, she did not place much importance on it, preferring casual and comfortable clothes contrary to her image.^[108] In addition, she never considered herself attractive. She stated in a 1959 interview, "you can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly... you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn't conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive."^[109]

The "little black dress" from Breakfast at Tiffany's, designed by Givenchy, was sold at a Christie's auction on 5 December 2006 for £467,200 (approximately $920,000), almost seven times its £70,000 pre-sale estimate. This was the highest price paid for a dress from a film,^[110] until it was surpassed by the $4.6 million paid in June 2011 for the Marilyn Monroe "subway dress" from The Seven Year Itch.^[111] The proceeds went to the City of Joy Aid charity to aid underprivileged children in India. The head of the charity said, "there are tears in my eyes. I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools."^[112] However, the dress auctioned by Christie's was not the one that Hepburn wore in the film.^[113] Of the two dresses that Hepburn did wear, one is held in the Givenchy archives while the other is displayed in the Museum of Costume in Madrid.^[112] A subsequent London auction of Hepburn's film wardrobe in December 2009 raised £270,200 ($437,000), including £60,000 for the black Chantilly lace cocktail gown from How to Steal a Million. Half the proceeds were donated to All Children in School, a joint venture of The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund and UNICEF.^[114]

Credits[link]

Awards[link]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
• White floral Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn (Academy Awards, 1954)

References[link]