The last time we walked in the garden, Giovanni, our gardener, came up to us and said ‘Signora, when you get better, you’ll come and help me… to trim and plant again.’
She smiled and said: ‘Giovanni, I will help you… but not like before.’
Audrey Hepburn
People who know me know that I'm not the idolising type. You won't easily find me drooling over anybody, no matter what her or his accomplishments, and I don't give a damn about celebrity. But I must admit I do have a soft spot for Audrey Hepburn. Audrey wanted to lead a normal life; being a celebrity was the last thing she needed. And that's one of the things that made her so attractive. Next to her natural beauty, of course.
Audrey is best known for her acting performance in such classic films as Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady, Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany's.
I first found out about Audrey Hepburn when I watched Sabrina for the first time. Sabrina is absolutely a great film, with a great performance by a young Audrey Hepburn. But it was when I discovered Roman Holiday that she knocked me completely off my feet. I have never seen any actor or actress who could act so natural on the screen. Of course, she did have all the ingredients to play a perfect Princess Ann: charm, class, beauty, elegance. Roman Holiday was her first big film, and she rightly won an Academy Award for it, just like the male lead in the film, Gregory Peck, had predicted.
Favorite anecdote
In the beginning of 1993 Audrey Hepburn was terminally ill with cancer, and she knew she wouldn't live long anymore. The following brief anecdote is an excerpt from the eulogy her son Sean gave when Audrey died on 20th of January 1993.
Quotes about Audrey Hepburn
What is really needed in order to become a star is an extra element which god gives you or doesn't give you. You're born with it. You cannot learn it. God kissed on her cheek and there she was.
Billy Wilder, director
She looked as if she could spell schizophrenia.
Billy Wilder, director
This girl single-handedly could make bosoms a thing of the past!
Billy Wilder, director
Wow. That's more than a dress. That's an Audrey Hepburn movie.
Film “Jerry Maguire”
In a cruel and imperfect world, she was living proof that God could still create perfection.
Rex Reed, critic
She had a quality no other actress had: a curious combination of lady and pixie. She was a joy to work with – enormous talent and no ego.
Sidney Sheldon, writer
I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there, I can only record, I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait.
Richard Avedon
[I had] “that rare gut feeling that I was witnessing something very special indeed. She was a princess… But she was also every eager young girl who has ever come to Rome for the first time, and she reacted with so natural and spontaneous an eagerness that I, crusty veteran that I was, felt tears in my eyes watching her… I knew that very soon the entire world would fall in love with her, as all of us on the picture did.”
Director William Wyler, about watching the rushes for Roman Holiday
Most people think of Audrey Hepburn as regal. I like to think of her as spunky. It was my good luck to be her first screen fellow, to hold out my hand and help her keep her balance while she made everybody in the world fall in love with her.
Gregory Peck, actor
‘Moon River’ was written for her. No one else has ever understood it so completely. There have been more than a thousand versions of ‘Moon River’, but hers is unquestionably the greatest.
Henri Mancini, composer
To say anything against Audrey Hepburn is like talking against the Church.
Radie Harris, journalist and columnist
Quotes by Audrey Hepburn
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.
Audrey Hepburn
My own life has been much more than a fairy tale. I’ve had my share of difficult moments, but… whatever difficulties I’ve gone through, I’ve always gotten a prize at the end.
Audrey Hepburn
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.
Audrey Hepburn
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I'm possible”!
Audrey Hepburn
Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you're exactly the same.
Audrey Hepburn
I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone.
Audrey Hepburn
How to be beautiful
Time-tested Beauty Tips
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone...
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed...
Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
This was Audrey's favorite poem. It's often attributed to her, but it was actually written by Sam Levenson. It suits her though, and I can understand why it was her favorite.
Tolochenaz
In 1963 Audrey Hepburn bought a house in the small village of Tolochenaz, Switzerland, on Lake Geneva, where she lived until her death in 1993. When I was in Geneva with my girlfriend in September of 2016 we drove to Tolochenaz to visit her grave. You can find it on the small cemetery just outside the village. The grave is appropriately modest and inconspicuous, just like you would expect from her.
In the village there is a Place Audrey Hepburn (Audrey Hepburn Square) where you can see a head statuette of Audrey. On the pedestal there is a plaque with the following quote from Audrey:
“Je passe beaucoup de temps dans mon jardin. Je regarde souvent le ciel pour savoir ce que le temps réserve à mes fleurs. L'été, nous avons des orages violents car nous vivons non loin du lac. Le jour d'après, elles sont penchées et je dois les soutenir. Elles se relèvent. C'est cela que je trouve extraordinaire des plantes, leur détermination. Avec un peu d'aide elles revivent.”