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Audrey Hepburn

An Academy Award and Tony Award winning film and stage actress, Audrey Hepburn was also a humanitarian. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her as the third greatest female star of all time. Hepburn was born a ‘blueblood’, a descendant of King Edward III of England and Mary Queen of Scots' consort, James Hepburn. This made Hepburn a distant cousin of Diana Princess of Wales, who thought of her as her favorite actress. She was also related to other notable distant cousins including Humphrey Bogart and Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

In 1944,while vacationing with her mother in Holland, Hitler's army took over the country. It was here that she fell on hard times during the Nazi occupation and Hepburn resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to keep from starving.  She suffered from malnutrition and saw relatives shot before her eyes. Hepburn noted the similarities between herself and Anne Frank: “I was exactly the same age as Anne Frank. We were both ten when war broke out and fifteen when the war finished. A friend gave me the book in Dutch in 1946. I read it – and it destroyed me. It does this to many people when they first read it but I was not reading it as a book, as printed pages. This was my life. I didn’t know what I was going to read. ‘'ve never been the same again, it affected me so deeply.”

By the mid-1950s, Hepburn was not only one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood, but also a major fashion icon. Her gamine appearance and widely recognized sense of chic were both admired and imitated.  She had gained immediate prominence in the US with her role in Roman Holiday in 1953, a smashing success and she won the Oscar as Best Actress.

Her role as Holly Golightly in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s became an iconic character in American cinema and she won another Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to star in 31 unforgettable films.  Soon after Hepburn’s final film role, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Children’s Fund. She began to travel the world to see firsthand the damage done by drought, famine, and the cruelty of humanity. 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. Former President George Bush Sr. presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 in recognition of her work with UNICEF. It is safe to say that the whole world mourned her death.                                                                                

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.

“As a child, I was taught that it was bad manners to bring attention to yourself, and to never, ever make a spectacle of yourself... All of which I’ve earned a living doing.”

“I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.”

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.”

“How shall I sum up my life? I think I've been particularly lucky. Does that have something to do with faith also? I know my mother always used to say, ‘Good things aren’t supposed to just fall in your lap. God is very generous, but he expects you to do your part first.’  So you have to make that effort. But at the end of a bad time or a huge effort, I’ve always had - how shall I say it? - the prize at the end. My whole life shows that.”

“I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.”

          

“It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so don’t fuss, dear; get on with it.”“Pick the day. Enjoy it - to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come... The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present - and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.”

“I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing ‘Funny Face when I couldn't sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn’t dance - and do all kinds of things I wasn't prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.”

“When the chips are down, you are alone, and loneliness can be terrifying. Fortunately, I’ve always had a chum I could call. And I love to be alone. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m my own company.”

“I can testify to what UNICEF means to children, because I was among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II. I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does.”

“I was born with something that appealed to an audience at that particular time...I acted instinctively. I’ve had one of the greatest schools of all - a whole row of great, great directors.”

“A quality education has the power to transform societies in a single generation, provide children with the protection they need from the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation and disease, and given them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential.”

“Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same.”

“I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one manmade solution… peace.”

“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.”

“I auditioned for this job for forty-five years and I finally got it. I always felt very powerless when I would see the terrible pictures on TV. But I was offered a wonderful opportunity to do something [and it] is a marvelous therapy to the anguish I feel.”
“Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can’t take it all in at once."

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.”

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”

“I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.”

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others: for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

- Audrey Hepburn  (1929-1993)

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