This page hasn't had any infatuation for some time now, so here's the big one for me... Audrey Hepburn. Hollywood has a rich history of beautiful starlets that have graced the silver screen, but she is definitively my favourite! She wasn't just a film star, she was an amazing woman who triumphed in her life after terrible hardships and disappointments, and became an icon of not just Hollywood but to the world, and she not only earned it -she deserved it. She played real life roles of wife, mother, and humanitarian and never wavered from her own sense of what was important to her. How could a guy not admire that... and of course, she was beautiful.
Some odd trivia from her bio on the Internet Movie Database:
She was of Belgian, Dutch, English and Irish descent.
During World War II, 16-year-old Audrey was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital. During the battle of Arnhem, Hepburn's hospital received many wounded Allied soldiers. One of the injured soldiers young Audrey helped nurse back to health was a young British paratrooper - and future director - named Terence Young. More than 20 years later, Young directed Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967).
In Arnhem, Holland, during the Second World War, she worked with the Dutch Underground, giving ballet performances to collect donations for the anti-Nazi effort. -It was also portrayed in the film, The Audrey Hepburn Story, that she risked her life as a courier for the Dutch Underground.
Was fluent in English, Spanish, French, Dutch/Flemish and Italian.
She won the 1953 Best Actress Academy Award for Roman Holiday (1953). On March 25th, 1954, she accepted the award from the much revered Academy president Jean Hersholt. After accepting the award, Audrey kissed him smack on the mouth, instead of the cheek, in her excitement. Minutes after accepting her 1953 Oscar, Audrey realized that she'd misplaced it. Turning quickly on the steps of the Center Theater in New York, she raced back to the ladies' room, retrieved the award, and was ready to pose for photographs.
Interestingly... Forty years after she was presented with her 1953 Best Actress Oscar for "Roman Holiday" by actor and humanitarian Jean Hersholt, she would posthumously receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her work with UNICEF.
Like Humphrey Bogart, Hepburn also starred in five of the movies listed by American Film Institute in its Top 100 U.S. love stories (2002). They are Roman Holiday (1953), ranked #4 on the list, Sabrina (1954) ranked #54, which co-starred Bogart, My Fair Lady (1964) ranked #12, Two for the Road (1967) at #57 and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) #61.
Died on January 20, 1993, the 67th birthday of Patricia Neal. They starred together in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).
Henry Mancini said of her: "'Moon River' was written for her. No one else had ever understood it so completely. There have been more than a thousand versions of 'Moon River', but hers is inquestionably the greatest".
And to that I agree. But see for yourself... and I've included a couple of other interesting clips. One of Miss Hepburn, winning the Academy Award in 1959, and one of her later in life reflecting on the work of UNICEF. And to learn more about UNICEF, just click here.
