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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. ~ Audrey Hepburn

Fan Favorite Films

Roman Holiday

My Fair Lady

Wait Until Dark

Charade

Audrey Hepburn ( May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) had an extensive career in film, television, and on the stage from 1948 to 1993. Considered by some to be one of the most beautiful women of all time, she was ranked as the third greatest screen legend in American cinema by the American Film Institute. Hepburn is also remembered as both a film and style icon. In 1951, she made her Broadway debut as the title character in the play Gigi. Hepburn’s Hollywood debut as a runaway princess in William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) opposite Gregory Peck made her a star. For her performance she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1954 she played a chauffeur’s daughter caught in a love triangle in Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy Sabrina opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden .

Her next role was as Natasha Rostova in the 1956 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In 1957 Hepburn starred with Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier in Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon, and with Fred Astaire in the musical film Funny Face. Two years later she appeared in the romantic adventure film Green Mansions, and played a nun in The Nun’s Story. In 1961, Hepburn played café society girl Holly Golightly in the romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s , and as a teacher accused of lesbianism in Wyler’s drama The Children’s Hour opposite Shirley MacLaine. Two years later she appeared opposite Cary Grant in the romantic mystery film Charade . Hepburn followed this by starring in the romantic comedy Paris When It Sizzles opposite William Holden, and as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the musical film My Fair Lady (both in 1964). In 1967, she played a blind woman menaced by drug dealers in her own home in the suspense thriller Wait Until Dark which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Nine years later, Hepburn played Maid Marian opposite Sean Connery as Robin Hood in Robin and Marian.

Her final film appearance was a cameo as an angel in Steven Spielberg’s Always (1989). Hepburn’s final screen role was as the host of the television documentary series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn (1993) for which she posthumously received the Prime-time Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming.

Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. She had contributed to the organization since 1954, then worked in some of the poorest 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 December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.

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