Audrey Hepburn’s grace was not an accident of fashion. It was forged in wartime, and it stayed with her for the rest of her life.
Born on 4 May 1929 in Brussels, she spent her childhood in the Netherlands during the German occupation, a period of hunger and hardship that she remembered all her life. After the war she studied ballet in London and began to work in theatre and film, first in Britain and then in Hollywood.
Her breakthrough came with Roman Holiday (1953), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Films such as Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and My Fair Lady (1964) made her one of the most admired stars of her time, known for elegance, humour and a distinctive, unaffected style.
In later life she devoted herself to humanitarian work, serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF from 1988 until her death on 20 January 1993 in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. Her legacy is twofold: a body of beloved films, and a life lived with compassion.
Image: Audrey Hepburn in 1956, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audrey_Hepburn_1956_(2).jpg