Audrey Hepburn

Elegant, talented and funny Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was a Belgian-born, British-Dutch actress and humanitarian. After a start in European cinema, she became one of the most successful Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 1960s.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 385. Photo: Paramount / P.P.C. Publicity still for Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1530. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


French postcard. Publicity still for Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 384. Photo: Paramount / PPC, 1955. Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954). Costume: Hubert de Givenchy.


German postcard by Tushita, Duisburg / Innenhalen, no. B 489. Photo: Transglobe /Popperfoto. Audrey Hepburn was five times nominated for an Academy Award, and was awarded in 1954 the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK-5. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Paramount Film.


French postcard. Unknown editor and photographer.


Italian postcard by Emilio Modric Editore, Ancona, no. MX 243. Photo: Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961).

Wartime in Arnhem

Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in Ixelles/Elsene, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium, in 1929. She was the only child of Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, a Briton, and his second wife, the former Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch aristocrat, who was the daughter of a former governor of Dutch Guiana.

Her father later used the surname of his maternal grandmother, Kathleen Hepburn, to the family and her surname became Hepburn-Ruston. Hepburn's father's job with a British insurance company meant the family travelled often between Brussels, England, and The Netherlands. In 1935, her parents divorced and her father, a Nazi sympathiser, left the family.

In 1939, her mother moved her and her two half-brothers to their grandfather's home in Arnhem in the Netherlands, believing the Netherlands would be safe from a German attack. Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945, where she trained in ballet along with the standard school curriculum. In 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. During the German occupation, Hepburn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra, modifying her mother's documents because an 'English-sounding' name was considered dangerous.

By 1944, Audrey had become a proficient ballerina. She secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. During the Dutch famine that followed, over the winter of 1944, people starved and froze to death in the streets. Hepburn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits. Hepburn's wartime experiences later led her to become involved with UNICEF.

In 1945, after the war, Hepburn left the Arnhem Conservatory and moved to Amsterdam, where she took ballet lessons with Lithuanian-Dutch-Jewish dancer and choreographer Sonia Gaskell. Hepburn made her first film appearance in Nederlands in 7 lessen/Dutch in Seven Lessons (Charles Huguenot van der Linden, Heinz Josephson, 1948), a Dutch film made for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. It had a film-within-the-film scenario involving a cameraman who's given a week to photograph the aerial highlights of Holland for a travelogue. Hepburn played the stewardess.

She then travelled with her mother to London. Gaskell provided an introduction to Marie Rambert, and Hepburn studied ballet at the Ballet Rambert, supporting herself with part-time work as a model. Rambert warned her that she could not become a prima ballerina, because she was relatively tall (1.7m). Audrey decided to pursue an acting career instead.


British postcard by Acme Cards, London, no. AM 1. Photo: Angus McBean, 1951.


Belgian promotion card for Supernylons Plaza. The card refers to the British film Young Wives' Tale (Henry Cass, 1951) with 22-year-old Audrey Hepburn in her fourth film, two years before Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 1469. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1031. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1079. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1598. With Mel Ferrer.


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1599. Audrey Hepburn visited Arnhem after the war.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano (Milan).


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1422. Photo: Paramount.


West German postcard by Kolibri Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2884.

Meeting Colette

In London, Audrey Hepburn played in musical theatre in productions such as 'High Button Shoes' and 'Sauce Piquante'. Her theatre work revealed that her voice was not strong and needed to be developed, and during this time she took elocution lessons with the actor Felix Aylmer.

Part-time modelling work was not always available and Hepburn registered with the casting officers of Britain's film studios in the hope of getting work as an extra. Hepburn's first British film role was in the farce One Wild Oat (Charles Saunders, 1951) in which she played a hotel receptionist. She played several more small roles in Young Wives' Tale (Henry Cass, 1951), Laughter in Paradise (Mario Zampi, 1951), the classic crime comedy The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951), and the comedy Monte Carlo Baby (Jean Boyer, Lester Fuller, 1951).

Monte Carlo Baby was shot at the same time as the French-language version, Nous irons à Monte Carlo (Jean Boyer, 1952). During the filming, Hepburn met the famous author Colette, who recommended her for the lead character of a stage version of her novel 'Gigi' on Broadway.

Colette reportedly said when she first saw Hepburn "Voilà! There's our Gigi!" The play opened on 24 November 1951 and ran for 219 performances. Audrey won a Theatre World Award for her performance. Hepburn's first significant film performance was in the British crime drama Secret People (Thorold Dickinson, 1952), starring Valentina Cortese. Audrey played a prodigious ballerina and did all of her own dancing scenes.

Her first starring role was opposite Gregory Peck in the Italian-set Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1952). Producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role of Princess Ann, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test (the camera was left on and candid footage of Hepburn relaxing and answering questions, unaware that she was still being filmed, displayed her talents), that he cast her in the lead. For her enchanting role in Roman Holiday, she would win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Paramount signed her to a seven-picture contract with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 740. Photo: Paramount, 1956.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 787. Photo: Paramount Pictures, 1956.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 788. Photo: Paramount.


Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. 4244. Photo: MGM. Publicity still for Green Mansions (Mel Ferrer, 1959).


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 4175. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for The Nun's Story. (Fred Zinnemann, 1959).


French promotion card by Warner Bros. Photo: Warner Bros. Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959).


French promotion card by Warner Bros. Photo: Warner Bros. Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959).


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2989. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964) with Jeremy Brett and Rex Harrison. Costumes: Cecil Beaton.


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2988. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964). Costume: Cecil Beaton.


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 3028. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964). Costume: Cecil Beaton.

Oscar and Tony

After Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn filmed Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954) with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Hepburn was sent to a then-young and upcoming fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy to decide on her wardrobe. Their creative partnership endured for the remainder of Hepburn’s life. Audrey Hepburn wore De Givenchy creations in some of her most renowned films, such as How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961).

In 1954, she returned to the stage to play the water sprite in 'Ondine' in a performance with Mel Ferrer, who she would marry later in the year. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in 'Ondine' (1954). Hepburn is one of only three actresses to receive a Best Actress Oscar and Best Actress Tony in the same year - the others were Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn.

Audrey Hepburn was now one of the most successful film actresses in the world, but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognised sense of chic were both admired and imitated. She co-starred with such notable leading men as Henry Fonda in War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956), Fred Astaire in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957), Maurice Chevalier and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, 1957), Anthony Perkins in Green Mansions (Mel Ferrer, 1959), and Burt Lancaster in The Unforgiven (John Huston, 1960).

According to Denny Jackson at IMDb, "Audrey reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the delightful film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). For this, she received another Oscar nomination." Opposite Shirley MacLaine, she starred in The Children's Hour (William Wyler, 1961). She scored another box office hit with the espionage caper Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) with Cary Grant. One of her most radiant roles was as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), opposite Rex Harrison. She became only the third actor to receive $1,000,000 for a film role. She followed it with roles opposite Peter O'Toole in How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) and Albert Finney in Two for the Road (Stanley Donen, 1967).

Audrey Hepburn received Academy Award nominations for Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954), The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961) and Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967), and won BAFTA Awards for her performances in The Nun's Story(Fred Zinnemann, 1959) and Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963). After Wait Until Dark (1967) and 15 years of continuous success, she took a break from film-making from 1968 to 1975, mostly to spend more time with her two sons.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 129.


West German postcard by Schumann-Verlag, Berlin-Dahlem. Photo: Star Revue.


Spanish postcard by Postal Oscarcolor, no. F-179.


German postcard by Ufa (Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin-Tempelhof), no. CK-179. Photo: Terb Agency / Ufa. The retail price was 30 Pfg.


Big Dutch autograph card.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 222.


Dutch collectors card by the School of Dancing Joy, Amsterdam, no. 25. Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961). On the flip side are the basic steps of the slow waltz printed.


Israelian postcard by Editions De Luxe, no. 130. Photo: publicity still for Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961).


Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor. Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).


American postcard.

Passion for humanitarian work

In 1976 Audrey Hepburn returned to the screen with Sean Connery in the period piece Robin and Marian (Richard Lester, 1976), which was moderately successful.

Three years later she took the leading role in the international production Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) based on a novel by Sidney Sheldon. The film, an international intrigue amid the jet-set, was a critical and box office failure. Another commercial failure was the mad cap private-eye caper They All Laughed (Peter Bogdanovich, 1981). In 1989 she made her last film appearance as an angel in the romantic comedy Always (Steven Spielberg, 1989) starring Richard Dreyfuss.

Her wartime experiences inspired her passion for humanitarian work, and although she had worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) since the 1950s, during her later life, she dedicated much of her time and energy to the organisation. From 1988 until 1992, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia. In 1992, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

After her divorce from American actor Mel Ferrer, Hepburn married Italian psychiatrist Dr. Andrea Dotti. She had a son with each – Sean (1960) by Ferrer, and Luca (1970) by Dotti. From 1980 until her death, she lived with the Dutch actor Robert Wolders.

In 1993, Audrey Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Switzerland at the age of 63. She was posthumously awarded The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian work. She received a posthumous Grammy Award for her spoken word recording, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales in 1994, and in the same year, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, thereby becoming one of a few people to receive an Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.


Scenes from Nederlands in 7 lessen/Dutch in Seven Lessons (1948). Source: EverythingAudrey.com (YouTube).


Audrey Hepburn in Laughter in Paradise (1951). Source: My username is Robyn (YouTube).


Scenes from Secret People (1952). Source: EverythingAudrey.com (YouTube).


The screen test by William Wyler for Roman Holiday (1952). Source: Haphazard Studios (YouTube).


Audrey Hepburn and her husband Mel Ferrer visit the Netherlands to attend a film premiere of El Greco starring Mel Ferrer. Source: FabAudrey (YouTube).


Trailer of Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Source: FabAudrey (YouTube).


The Fashion Designer and His Muse - Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy. Source: Nanda (YouTube).


Swiss postcard by CVB Publishers, no. 57255. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


American postcard in the Magic of the Movies Series by Mayfair Cards, no. FP 859. Lobby card: Warner Bros / Reel Poster Archive. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

Sources: Denny Jackson and Volker Boehm (IMDb), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (page now defunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Tonight, Ivo Blom, university lecturer Arts & Culture at the Vrije Universiteit and EFSP colloborator, will introduce a screening of Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953) at the Rialto VU cinema in Amsterdam. This delightful romantic comedy about a princess who escapes her entourage in Rome and meets a journalist was a huge success, not least because of the chemistry between the two leads, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The film won three Oscars, including one for Hepburn, who became a star overnight. The film was shot entirely in Rome. Ivo, a former resident of Rome, will elaborate on the film's (top) locations and the context of the production.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1031. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. A 1079. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


Dutch postcard by Takken / 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. 1469. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).

Having a wonderful, romantic time together

Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young princess who is on an exhausting tour of European capitals with her entourage. This is how she ends up at the embassy in Rome. She is tired and she is fed up with all the handshaking and all the formalities. In the evening, she rebels against protocol. Her doctor gives her an injection of a sedative after which she is left in her room. She manages to escape through the window.

In the nightly streets of Rome, she is found on a bench by Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a single American journalist living in the city for a while. First, he tries to get her in a taxi towards her house and when that fails, he takes her to his own house, to stay the night at his place.

Only the next day at the newsroom does he realises who he has actually brought into his house. With this great scoop in his hands, he persuades her into a fun 'day of doing nothing' with him. They do all the things that 'normal people' think are ordinary, but are special for a princess. Like going out on a terrace, riding a scooter around town and going to a dance night. During their outing, everything is photographed by Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), a photographer friend. He uses a mini camera hidden in a lighter for this purpose.

Ann and Bradley are having a wonderful, romantic time together, but how long can it last? When Ann realises that her country is in trouble because of her sudden absence, she decides to return and carry out her duties. The next day, she gives a press conference to talk about her visits. She is advised to say she liked all the cities equally, but steps away from that protocol and calls Rome her best experience. She is surprised to see Joe in the room and is shocked to see Irving taking pictures with his lighter.

In the end, Irving and Joe offer her an envelope with a memento of the city, which contains the photos. Ann understands that their secret will remain secret. In her speech, Ann then says how grateful she is for her beautiful stay in town, but Joe clearly hears in this a packaged message of gratitude to him. Both realise that they feel a lot for each other, but that their love is doomed to remain unfulfilled.


Italian postcard by W. Di Giovanni. Photo: Augusto Di Giovanni. Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


Italian postcard by W. Di Giovanni. Image: Italian lobby card by Paramount with a photo by Augusto Di Giovanni. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).

Bitten by the Mouth of Truth

Director Frank Capra toyed with the idea of Roman Holiday back in 1949. It was to be a variation on his successful film It Happened One Night (1934), but this time starring Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor. But Capra's production company Liberty Films was in financial trouble after the flop of It's a Wonderful Life. Capra sold Liberty to Paramount Pictures, where screenwriter Dalton Trumbo went to work on the screenplay. Capra withdrew from the film when it turned out that the budget for the film was too tight.

Paramount then sought George Stevens as director, but he also saw little in the production, after which William Wyler was approached. Wyler who had just directed two heavy dramas, The Heiress (1949) and Detective Story(1951), was happy with this lightweight comedy. Wyler suggested to Paramount to shoot the film in Italy. After all, he had no desire to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating communist infiltration of the film industry and wanted to be far away from Hollywood. It was therefore a wry coincidence that the screenplay's writer, Dalton Trumbo had been blacklisted by the same House Un-American Activities Committee. Trumbo was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters who were banned from working in Hollywood because of alleged communist sympathies.

For this reason, Trumbo's name does not appear in the credits, nor could he receive the Oscar for Best Screenplay. His friend Ian McLellan Hunter got the credits and the Oscar. It was not until 1993 that the widow of Trumbo, who died in 1976, was finally awarded the Oscar. Paramount was initially not happy with the proposal to shoot the film on location. They wanted to shoot everything at the studio in Hollywood. They eventually relented, partly because Paramount could use frozen assets in Europe. However, Wyler was told that the budget was going down and the film had to be shot in black-and-white. With a budget of one and a half million dollars, Wyler went to work.

Initially, Cary Grant had been tapped for the male lead. However, Grant felt too old for the role and he renounced the film. Gregory Peck was interested though, especially since Roman Holiday was a comedy, and Peck had wanted to be in such a film for years. For the role of Princess Ann, they originally had Elizabeth Taylor in mind. However, director William Wyler wanted Jean Simmons for the role. When Simmons was not available, Wyler wanted to cancel the whole project. However, the studio went ahead and the next person approached was Suzanne Cloutier. However, she was also taken. More actresses were tested, but eventually, the role went to the then virtually unknown Audrey Hepburn, despite the fact that her test shot was actually a failure. She acted far too stiff and unnatural. After the audition, however, the camera kept rolling and recorded a relaxed Hepburn who stood talking enthusiastically to the director. It was this 'performance' that ensured Hepburn got the role.

Shooting in Rome was not always easy. It was extremely hot that summer with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees. The heat also rose to the heads of Rome's residents and strikes broke out regularly and film production suffered considerably. Filming was done without cordoning off streets and with the general public as casual extras. On the other hand, there were also fewer casual extras. Members of the Italian nobility figured at the Ambassador's ball (they donated their wages to charity) and members of the real press attended the press conference.

Among all the veterans like Peck and Wyler, debutante Hepburn struggled to find her way. During a take, for instance, she could not produce the tears she wanted. Take after take, the now boiling Wyler spent on his leading actress. He screamed his anger at all the failed shots, to which Hepburn burst into tears. Wyler immediately ran the camera and the scene was on. Gregory Peck had his own method of pulling Hepburn along. When shooting at the Mouth of Truth, Peck's character, Joe, had to put his hand in the mouth of a statue. According to legend, the mouth would bite the hand off if he was a liar. Wyler was keen to get a natural scare reaction from Hepburn and Peck helped him do that. The moment he withdrew his hand he gave a cry of pain and retracted his hand into the sleeve of his jacket. Hepburn knew nothing and her look of horror and surprise was genuine, as was the scream of terror that escaped her. Wyler could be satisfied, he only needed one take.


French postcard by Editions Art & Scène, Paris, no. CA 94, 1995, 1995. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


Italian postcard. Photo: Paramount. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).


Postcard. Poster for the Paramount film Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953).

Sources: Rialto VU, Wikipedia (Dutch) and IMDb

My Fair Lady (1964)

Today, EFSP starts two months of posts with European postcards with pictures of Hollywood film stars and/or films. Thursday is the day for the film specials, and our first film is special! 

My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964) is one of the all-time great film musicals, featuring classic songs by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe and the wonderful costumes by Cecil Beaton. The film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Rex Harrison in his legendary performance as misanthropic phonetics professor Henry Higgins. But Audrey Hepburn failed to be nominated for Best Actress. The Oscar was won by Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, in what many observers saw as a backlash against Andrews' not being cast in the film after originating the role of Eliza on stage.


Spanish postcard by Oscarcolor. Photo: Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2988. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964). Costume: Cecil Beaton.

The delusive dream of a man forming his own perfect woman

My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe as a stage musical from the the 1913 brilliant stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw about the delusive dream of a man forming his own perfect woman.

In Edwardian London, Professor Henry Higgins, a scholar of phonetics, believes that the accent and tone of one's voice determines a person's prospects in society. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, he boasts to a new acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering, himself an expert in phonetics, that he could teach any person to speak in a way that he could pass them off as a duke or duchess at an embassy ball.

Higgins selects as an example a young flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who has a strong Cockney accent. Higgins tells Pickering that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English.

Eliza's ambition is to work in a flower shop, but her thick accent makes her unsuitable. Having come from India to meet Higgins, Pickering is invited to stay with the professor. The following morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza shows up at Higgins' home, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. Pickering is intrigued and offers to cover all expenses, should the experiment be successful.

My Fair Lady became the longest-running Broadway musical with in the leads Rex Harrison as Henry and Julie Andrews as Eliza. With the same cast, the musical also became a huge success in London. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe made a great musical score. Most of their songs would become standards over the years that delighted audiences all over the world.

However, when Hollywood producer Jack Warner decided to make a film version of the hit musical, he felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable. He replaced her with Audrey Hepburn, a wonderful film actress but not a real singer. Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who had dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Supporting roles went to Stanley Holloway (as Eliza's father, dustman Afred P. Doolittle), Gladys Cooper (Henry's mother Mrs. Higgins), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Colonel Pickering) and Jeremy Brett as the young playboy Freddy.


Dutch postcard by Int. Filmpers, Amsterdam, no. 1306. Photo: Warner Bros. Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 261. Wilfrid Hyde-White and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

How could Eliza be played by anyone else than Julie Andrews?

With a production budget of $17 million, My Fair Lady became the most expensive film shot in the United States up to that time. George Cukor created an elegant, colourful adaptation of the beloved stage musical and Rex Harrison did another winning performance. But how did Audrey Hepburn? The move to choose her over Julie Andrews had puzzled many in the theatrical world. How could Eliza be played by anyone else than Andrews?

Hepburn played the unschooled street urchin with a sweet, naive charm. Eliza goes through many forms of speech training, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth, enduring Higgins' harsh approach to teaching and his treatment of her personally. She makes little progress, but just as she, Higgins, and Pickering are about to give up, Eliza finally 'gets it'; she instantly begins to speak with an impeccable upper class accent. As the elegant and beautiful lady at the end of the film, Hepburn literally glows in the exquisite costumes designed for her by Cecil Beaton. She is a perfect match to Harrison's Higgins.

Ephraim Gadsby at IMDb: "The old furors over Audrey Hepburn seem silly in hindsight. Hepburn replaced Julie Andrews, a wonderful singer-actress who had created the role, not only on Broadway but in London. But Andrews was not a familiar face to movie-goers and no one knew if she'd hold an audience in the movies as in the live theaters. Too, Hepburn was an inspired choice, since her background probably would make Eliza Doolittle's transformation from flower-selling gutter-snipe into a lady of quality more believable (Hepburn's mother was a baroness)."

Richard Gilliam in his review at AllMovie: "Exquisitely produced by Warner Bros, it represents the zenith of the movie musical as an art form and as popular entertainment. Rex Harrison leads an impeccable cast, and, yes, that's Marni Nixon singing for Audrey Hepburn, but Hepburn is perfectly cast otherwise. The major star of the film is perhaps set designer/costume designer Cecil Beaton, whose visual contributions immediately impacted European and U.S. fashion trends."

In 1998, the American Film Institute named My Fair Lady (1964) the 91st greatest American film of all time. Critic Roger Ebert put the film on his 'Great Movies' list: "My Fair Lady is the best and most unlikely of musicals, during which I cannot decide if I am happier when the characters are talking or when they are singing. The songs are literate and beloved; some romantic, some comic, some nonsense, some surprisingly philosophical, every single one wonderful."


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2989. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964) with Audrey Hepburn, Jeremy Brett and Rex Harrison.


East-German postcard by VEB-Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 3028. Retail price: 0,20 MDM. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

Sources: Roger Ebert, Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Richard Gilliam (AllMovie), Ephraim Gadsby (IMDb), Dennis Littrell (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.