Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born on May 4, 1929, in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels. Her mother was Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch baroness; her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, a British-born banker. The family moved to the Netherlands — to Arnhem — where her parents separated in 1935. Her father left and did not maintain contact. She was educated at a girls' school in England for a period before the war.

In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Hepburn was ten years old. The occupation lasted five years. In the Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944–45, as the German administration restricted food supplies to the occupied western Netherlands in response to a Dutch railway strike, severe famine conditions set in. Hepburn later described symptoms consistent with malnutrition from this period: edema, anemia, respiratory problems. She was fifteen years old when the Netherlands was liberated by Allied forces in May 1945.

After the war, she moved to London with her mother. She studied ballet under Marie Rambert at the Ballet Rambert school. Her height — she grew to five feet seven — was not ideal for classical ballet, and she redirected toward musical theatre. She worked in small stage and film roles in London and appeared as an extra in several British productions in the early 1950s.

In 1951, while filming in Monte Carlo, she met the French novelist Colette, who selected her on the spot to play the title role in the Broadway adaptation of Gigi. The play opened in New York in November 1951. It ran for 219 performances. The production brought her to significant attention in the American entertainment industry.

In 1953, William Wyler cast her as Princess Ann opposite Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday, filmed on location in Rome. The film was released in August 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, as well as a Tony Award in the same year for Ondine, becoming the first person in a single calendar year to win both. Sabrina (1954), directed by Billy Wilder opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, followed. In 1954 she married actor-director Mel Ferrer.

War and Peace (1956), directed by King Vidor; Funny Face (1957) opposite Fred Astaire; The Nun's Story (1959), for which she received another Academy Award nomination. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), directed by Blake Edwards, cast her as Holly Golightly. The film's title sequence, featuring Henry Mancini's "Moon River," became among the most reproduced cultural images of the decade. The Children's Hour (1961), Charade (1963), Paris When It Sizzles (1964). My Fair Lady (1964), directed by George Cukor opposite Rex Harrison: she was not permitted to record her own songs; the singing parts were dubbed by Marni Nixon, a fact that generated controversy at the time. How to Steal a Million (1966), Two for the Road (1967), Wait Until Dark (1967) — the last earned her a fifth Academy Award nomination.