by Marilyn Justine

Created on: February 01, 2009

Had Audrey Hepburn lived, she would have turned 80 this coming May. Although her life was relatively short, she crammed the equivalent of a few lifetimes into her 63 years.

Born Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston on 4 May 1929, Hepburn grew up in Brussels, Belgium as the only offspring of an English banker and a Dutch baroness. She was a child of World War II, suffering from depression and malnutrition during the Nazi occupation of Holland. After the liberation, Hepburn moved to London with her mother, she attended ballet school on a scholarship but was informed she wasn't good enough to make the big time'. Audrey began modeling and acting on stage and her unique looks got her plenty of work; she played the lead role in Colette's Broadway play Gigi which ran for two years between 1951 and 1953.

After a series of bit parts in a number of British films while appearing in Gigi, Audrey made the trip across the ocean to the USA where she was introduced' to the American public in the 1953 film Roman Holiday opposite Gregory Peck. Hepburn plays Princess Ann, who escapes from her home in the castle and spends the day as a normal girl' with reporter Peck. Audrey captured the hearts of America as the fun-loving princess, as well as bagging herself an Oscar for Best Actress in her first starring role. The same year she also won the coveted Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actress for her stagework in Mel Ferrer's production of Ondine. Audrey's stardom in America was immediate and the following year she was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Dramatic Role, again for her debut in Roman Holiday. More than fifty awards would follow over the next decade.

Audrey was a refreshing change to cinema. She was a world apart from the voluptuous sex-symbols of the time, including Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Kim Novak. Hepburn instantly gained enormous popularity, showing that leading ladies did not have to be full-figured, dripping in diamonds and constantly wearing 9" stiletto heels to be a star. Director Billy Wilder noted that "she may single-handedly make bosoms a thing of the past".

Hepburn was slightly too tall at 5'7", had size 10 feet, was painfully thin, had crooked teeth and described herself as "an ugly duckling" but the public loved her. She caused a new generation of free spirited, intelligent young women to realise that you didn't have to dress up 24 hours a day, and thousands of impersonators started to pop up in leggings, black polo necks and

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