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for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." Refreshing thoughts indeed in the dog eat dog world of Tinsel Town; but the public and those who worked with her seemed to respect and love her all the more for it. There were never stories of diva style strops or unprofessional behaviour reported from the set of a Hepburn movie, as there was with so many other stars of the time. She always held herself with dignity and grace, and that demands great respect from a performer constantly in the public eye.

After working constantly from 1953, Audrey went into semi-retirement in 1967 after making two films that year: Wait Until Dark and Two for the Road. She returned to the screen in 1976 to star opposite Sean Connery in Robin and Marian and again in 1979 for Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline. She retired from the screen for good in 1989, after her poignant final role as an angel in Always.

In her final years she dedicated herself to the most important role in her life (aside from motherhood); that of UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador at the salary of $1 a year. Audrey framed the first ever dollar she made from UNICEF, as a proud reminder of her achievements, and Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, "She was an inspiration. She brought enormous world attention to children. She raised the profile of the challenges they face." Audrey knew all too well the challenges of hardship after her experiences during the war when she had to eat tulip bulbs just to stay alive. During this time, she was brought food, medicine and clothing by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the forerunner of UNICEF, and she never forgot their kindness. Now that she had fame, money and time on her hands, she wanted to pay back what she had been given as a child, she said, "There is a moral obligation that those who have should give to those who don't". Through UNICEF, she certainly did this. From 1988 until her all too early death in 1993, Audrey travelled to Africa, Asia and Latin America to meet the children and talk to them. Despite being racked with pain with the cancer that was slowly spreading through her and would eventually kill her, Audrey never complained and continued taking trips with UNICEF until she finally succumbed to the illness and retired to her home in Switzerland to die with the same dignity that she had lived her life with. In the hopes that others would follow her lead, she said, "Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand: the first one is to help yourself, the second is to help others."

Her sons Sean and Luca set up The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund after her death to continue her wonderful work with UNICEF in raising the awareness of the plight of children who are ill-treated around the world. Her partner Robert Wolders said, "Given the immense love and tenderness she felt for her own children the knowledge of having inspired them to continue her work would have been her greatest reward." That just about says it all.

Audrey Hepburn was truly one of a kind, not just a great actress, icon and movie star but a great humanitarian, and a genuinely nice person. Women wanted to be her, her co-stars fell in love with her and her children were devoted to her. She did not use her fame cheaply and never acted like a star' or a diva. She was unique, there will never be another Audrey Hepburn, but it is the world's great fortune that, for a while, there was one.

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