10 questions · Society & Everyday
Audrey Hepburn is born in Brussels in 1929 and spends her youth in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands. The war marks her deeply: she experiences hunger and hardship, secretly supports the Dutch resistance and long suffers the effects of malnutrition. She dreams of a career as a ballerina: but her health, weakened by the war, stands in the way, and she turns to acting instead. Her breakthrough comes in 1953 with 'Roman Holiday', in which she plays a princess opposite Gregory Peck and wins the Oscar for Best Actress for it. With her slender frame, large eyes and natural elegance, she embodies a wholly new kind of woman in Hollywood, beyond the curvy blondes of her era. Films such as 'Sabrina', 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'My Fair Lady' make her a style icon. As Holly Golightly in the little black Givenchy dress she creates one of the most famous images in film history. Her close collaboration with the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy shapes the elegant "Audrey look" to this day. In her later years Hepburn largely withdraws from film and devotes herself to a cause close to her heart from her own wartime experience: as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN children's fund UNICEF she travels to the poorest regions of the world to draw attention to the suffering of children. When she dies in 1993, she is revered as much for her humanitarian work as for her films.
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Her little black Givenchy dress from it is one of the most famous images in film history.
💡 Did you know? Her black Givenchy dress from „Breakfast at Tiffany's“ (1961) became one of the most famous dresses in film history.
Roman Holiday
Playing a princess opposite Gregory Peck, it was her breakthrough.
💡 Did you know? For her first Hollywood lead as a princess in „Roman Holiday,“ Hepburn won the Oscar straight away.
style icon
With her slim silhouette, ballet flats and pinned-up hair, Hepburn shaped an ideal of beauty that endures today.
💡 Did you know? She embodied a new kind of woman, beyond the curvy blondes of her era.
Hubert de Givenchy
Their collaboration shaped the elegant "Audrey look" to this day.
💡 Did you know? Her friendship with Hubert de Givenchy lasted a lifetime: he designed many of her iconic film and private outfits.
My Fair Lady
Other classics with her include 'Sabrina' and 'Charade'.
💡 Did you know? In „My Fair Lady“ Hepburn's singing was secretly dubbed: which probably cost her an Oscar nomination.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
In her final years Hepburn travelled as a UNICEF ambassador to crisis regions, championing starving children.
💡 Did you know? Drawing on her own wartime experience, she travelled to the poorest regions to highlight children's suffering.
ballerina / ballet dancer
Her health, weakened by wartime hunger, stood in the way of a ballet career.
💡 Did you know? Wartime malnutrition had weakened Hepburn's body too much for a career as a prima ballerina.
in occupied Holland, marked by hunger
She secretly supported the Dutch resistance.
💡 Did you know? As a child in occupied Holland, Hepburn went badly hungry: during the „hunger winter“ the family sometimes ate tulip bulbs.
Foto: Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Wikimedia Commons
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (1929 to 1993) was a British film actress and style icon, famous for films like „Breakfast at Tiffany's“ and her later work for UNICEF.
💡 Did you know? Hepburn is one of the few artists to win an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony: the coveted „EGOT,“ partly posthumously.
1929
Born: 4 May 1929 in Brussels
Society & Everyday: all topics →
Home · All topics · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms · Contact
