The Couch Potato's Guide to Old Hollywood: The Legacy of Audrey Hepburn

Paramount-photo by Bud Fraker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Geoff Carter

Only a few actresses had the ability to exude the easy elegance, charm, and vulnerability of Audrey Hepburn. Grace Kelly could at times, but she didn’t quite match Hepburn’s otherworldly onscreen presence. Hepburn radiated natural uncontrived beauty and flawless grace, and she seemed to do it effortlessly. Her soft, lilting voice, big-eyed waiflike appearance, and shy smile communicated a humility that belied the strength of the characters she played.

Hepburn and her family lived through occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, suffering enormous personal and financial loss, privation, and illness. After the war, and a brief stint of modeling, she landed the romantic lead in Roman Holiday, which launched her film career and garnered her an Academy Award. Although her radiant persona always limned her roles, Hepburn became a versatile actress, portraying characters ranging from a liberated princess to a middle-aged nun to an inarticulate flower girl to a devil-may-care socialite.

It’s hardly surprising Audrey Hepburn actually came from royalty. Her mother was a countess, a Dutch noblewoman; it was probably no accident that her daughter was cast as a princess more than once. It’s also interesting that she was cast as a nun multiple times and that, in Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and My Fair Lady, her characters underwent transcendental personal transformations, enabling them to cross class lines. The flower girl becomes an aristocrat; the chauffeur’s daughter is swept into the upper class, and a country girl flits into New York high society. Audiences recognized the combination of grace, humility, and elegance as qualities that transcended money, power, and everything else. But, above all, her unaffected sense of goodness and deference seemed to radiate from each and every character. It’s not hard to believe her as a nun.

Hepburn has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest actresses of all time. She’s also remembered for role as a humanitarian, serving as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, citing her gratitude for the international aid she received during World War II in her native Holland.

Audrey Hepburn’s radiant presence still fills the screen. Perhaps her beauty, grace, and elegance seem so profound and obvious is because they come from within. Perhaps her beauty is transcendent and eternal for generations of movie-goers precisely because it comes from the heart.

The Ten Best Films of Audrey Hepburn

Breakfast at Tiffany’s: In this romantic comedy, Holly Golightly, (Hepburn), a flighty socialite, meets aspiring writer Paul Varjak (George Pepard), her new neighbor, befriends him, and draws him into her eccentric and unpredictable lifestyle. Romances, wild parties, strange liaisons, and heartbreak follow. This is yet another role in which Hepburn’s character has been transformed and then transported from a working-class background into the stratosphere of the upper class. Notable for Blake Edwards lively comic vision.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Pepard, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Ebsen, and Martin Balsam. Written by George Axelrod and Truman Capote. Directed by Blake Edwards.

My Fair Lady: Based on the Broadway musical that was based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, an arrogant linguist, Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), bets an acquaintance he can pass off cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn)—through the teaching of proper English—as a duchess in proper society. Eliza agrees to undergo the training and becomes everything Higgins thought she might be—and more. Notable for the fantastic Lerner and Lowe songs and Cukor’s lavish direction.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Gladys Cooper. Screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner and George Bernard Shaw. Directed by George Cukor.

Sabrina: Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn), daughter of the Larrabee family chauffeur, returns home after going to school in Paris transformed into a beautiful and sophisticated young woman. Ne’er do well David Larrabee (William Holden) vies with his straight-laced brother Linus’ (Humphrey Bogart) for Sabrina’s affections. At first, Linus, seeing that David’s infatuation might jeopardize his engagement and—in the process—precipitate a profitable corporate merger, encourages the two but eventually falls in love with Sabrina himself. Notable for one of Bogart’s rare forays into romantic comedy.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart, John Williams, Walter Hampden, and Martha Hyer. Written and directed by Billy Wilder.

Roman Holiday: Hepburn is perfectly cast as Ann, a restless European princess yearning to escape the stuffy confines of her royal office. Secretly escaping her embassy, she is recognized by Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a reporter who–without revealing his identity–befriends her, hoping to get an exclusive interview with her. Not surprisingly, they eventually fall in love and they both return to their lives. Notable for the fact Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted as a member of the Hollywood 10, penned the screenplay under the pseudonym Ian McLellan Hunter.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddy Albert, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams, and Margaret Rawlings. Written by Ian McLellan Hunter (Trumbo) and John Dighton. Directed by William Wyler.

Wait Until Dark: A psychological thriller in which a drug smuggler, fearing capture, gives a doll full of heroin to an unwitting photographer Sam, (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) who takes it home. where his wife Suzy (Hepburn) lives. Harry Roat (Alan Arkin), the drug kingpin, enlists two con men to help him fool Suzy and find the heroin in the apartment. After Sam leaves on a business trip, Roat and his cohorts try to fool Suzy by taking advantage of her disability into giving up the doll. Notable for the surprise twist at the end.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Alan Arkin, Sam Weston, Richard Crenna, and Julie Herrod. Written by Robert Carrington and Jane Howard-Carrington. Directed by Terence Young.

Funny Face: In this romantic musical comedy, fashionistas Maggie Prescott and Dick Avery (Astaire) are looking for a new “intellectual” look for their new layout. Avery stumbles across Jo Stockton (Hepburn) managing a Greenwich Village bookstore and decides that she is the look. Jo reluctantly agrees to accompany them to Paris where—amidst the inevitable series of misunderstandings and musical numbers—she finds herself falling in love. Notable for Hepburn’s display of singing and dancing skills.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michael Auclair, and Robert Fleming. Written by Leonard Gershe. Directed by Stanley Donen.

Robin and Marian: When Robin Hood (Sean Connery) and Little John (Nicol Williamson) return to England after fighting the Crusades, they find Sherwood Forest in complete disarray. Maid Marian (Hepburn) has become an abbess and that she is to be arrested Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw). Robin rescues Marian—against her will—and pledges to renew his battle with Nottingham but in the end is defeated—not by his nemesis, but by time. Notable for the great supporting cast, particularly Shaw’s portrayal of Nottingham.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Sean Connery, Nicol Williamson, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Denholm Elliott, and Ian Holm. Written by James Goldman. Directed by Richard Lester.

The Children’s Hour: In this chilling psychological drama, two former college classmates Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen Wright (Hepburn) open a private school for girls. After one of the girls, Mary, is caught in a lie and reprimanded by Martha, she retaliates by telling her grandmother that Martha and Karen are lovers. Forcing another student to collaborate her story, Mary convinces her grandmother the lie is true. As a result, most of the children leave and the school is ruined. Notable for the great performances by Shirley MacLaine and Hepburn.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Veronica Cartwright, Fay Bainter, and Karen Balkin. Written by John Michael Hayes from the play by Lillian Hellman. Directed by William Wyler.

How to Steal a Million: In zany this caper comedy, Nicole Bonnet (Hepburn), is the daughter on an art forger who—after her father has lent a renowned (and forged)—statue to Kleber-Lafayette Museum, fears that his criminal enterprise will be exposed. She enlists the help of an art thief (Peter O’Toole) to purloin the piece before the forgery is discovered by the authorities. She is blissfully unaware that Dermott is actually an investigator who is already on the trail of her dad when she first encountered him. Notable for masterful comedic staging during the robbery scenes.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Hugh Griffith, Eli Wallach, Charles Boyer, and Fernand Gravey. Written by Harry Kurnitz. Directed by William Wyler.

Charade: In this international thriller, finding her husband mysteriously murdered and their belongings ransacked at a Paris hotel, Regina (Hepburn) discovers that her late husband Charles had conspired with four other men to steal $250,000 from the French Resistance during World War II but had taken the money for himself. The others, convinced that Regina knows where the money is, threaten her. Peter, one of the men, protects her as they dodge the others and try to stay alive until they can find the money. Notable for the crisp dialogue between Hepburn and Grant in Peter Stone’s outstanding screenplay.

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Walter Matthau, and Ned Glass. Written by Peter Stone. Directed by Stanley Donen.