A Tribute to the Women I Admire- (4) – Audrey Hepburn
Today, March 8,is International Women’s Day. Happy Women’s Day to all women young and old! So this week March 5-10, I will present a tribute to some of the women-artists that I admire for their great passion, dedication and conviction. I have made these tribute portraits in the form of artist trading cards – 2.5″ x 3.5″. I believe the word about the life and works of these women-artists have to be spread as shining examples.
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| “Audrey & Her Secrets to True Beauty” A Portrait of Audrey Hepburn a performance artist who is a true epitome of beauty -inside and out- digital collage by Paulina Constancia |
Many people in the world have experienced and survived war and extremely difficult situations. However, not very many rise above the pain and choose to help the suffering and afflicted. In the unique case of Audrey, the glamour and glitz of Hollywood did not blur her memory of the horrors of war. Moreover, she chose to do something for people in difficult circumstances with her involvement in UNICEF. Audrey Hepburn, film legend and style icon, is a shining example of how beautiful we can be- inside and out, if we choose to be.
And here are Audrey’s beauty tips:
“For beautiful eyes, look 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.”
-Audrey Hepburn-
(1929-1993)
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| Watch a short preview of Audrey’s Bio
If you have more time, watch the complete
Audrey Hepburn Biography on You Tube
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Excerpts from her Biography
Source: The Audrey Hepburn website
“My career is a complete mystery to me. It’s been a total surprise since the first day. I never thought I was going to be an actress; I never thought I was going to be in movies. I never thought it would all happen the way it did.”
- Audrey Hepburn
The real Audrey Hepburn story begins with a little girl who experienced the cruelty and consequences of World War II and who never forgot what liberation felt like or the images of aid arriving to her and thousands like her in Holland.
Although she had dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina since childhood, the war rendered her physically incapable of it. Instead, Audrey turned a lost dream into the next best thing; she took modeling jobs where she learned to work in front of the camera, used her training to compete with 4,000 dancers for one of ten spots in a chorus line and, eventually, found herself in front of a motion picture camera. Within three years, the whole world would come to know Audrey as Princess Anne in Roman Holiday. And that is how we came to know her, be captivated by her, and why we are still in love with her.
With over 25 movies to her credit, there is no doubt that Audrey achieved a rarefied position as beloved actress and icon of style. Yet, Audrey always considered her work as a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador her greatest role. And that is the beauty of Audrey’s legacy; that we have the opportunity to know and appreciate her gifts, both as an actress and devoted humanitarian.
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| Watch this video Audrey Hepburn: In Her Own Words as UNICEF Ambassador |
Audrey Hepburn (4th May, 1929 – 20th Jan, 1993) was an Academy Award-winning Belgian-born British actress of film and theatre, Broadway stage performer, former ballerina, fashion model, and humanitarian.
Raised under German rule in Arnhem, Netherlands during World War II, Hepburn trained extensively to become a ballerina, before deciding to pursue acting.
Audrey’s Early life and WWII
Hepburn was born ‘Audrey Kathleen’ to John Victor Hepburn-Ruston(an Anglo Irish banker) and Baroness Ella van Heemstra(a Dutch aristocrat) in Belgium in 1929. Audrey’s father, who had fascist sympathies, left the family under mysterious circumstances when she was 6 years old. Soon after this, in 1939, her mother, Ella, moved her and her two half-brothers to their grandfather’s home in Arnhem, Netherlands. Ella believed the Netherlands would be safe from German attack. Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945 where she trained in ballet, in addition to learning a standard school curriculum.
In 1940, the Germans invaded Arnhem. During the war Hepburn adopted the pseudonym ”Edda van Heemstra”, modifying her mother’s documents to do so, because an “English-sounding” name was considered dangerous. This was never her legal name. The name Edda was a modified version of Hepburn’s mother’s name, Ella.
By 1944, Hepburn had become a proficient ballerina. She secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the underground movement. She later said, “the best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performance.”
After the landing of the Allied Forces on D-Day, things grew worse under the German occupiers. During the Dutch famine over the winter of 1944, the Germans confiscated the Dutch people’s limited food and fuel supply for themselves. Without heat in their homes or food to eat, people in the Netherlands starved and froze to death in the streets. Hepburn and many other Dutch people had to resort to using flour made from tulip bulbs to bake cakes and cookies. Arnhem was devastated during allied bombing raids that were part of Operation Market Garden. Hepburn’s uncle and a cousin of her mother’s were shot in front of Hepburn for being part of the Resistance. Hepburn’s half-brother Ian van Ufford spent time in a German labor camp. Suffering from malnutrition, Hepburn developed acute anemia, respiratory problems, and edema – a swelling of the limbs.
Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank
Hepburn noted the similarities between her and Anne Frank. “I was exactly the same age as Anne Frank. We were both 10 when war broke out and 15 when the war finished. I was given the book in Dutch, in galley form, in 1946 by a friend. I read it . . . and it destroyed me. It does this to many people when they first read it but I was not reading it as a book, as printed pages. This was my life. I didn’t know what I was going to read. I’ve never been the same again, it affected me so deeply.”
“We saw reprisals. We saw young men put against the wall and shot and they’d close the street and then open it and you could pass by again. If you read the diary, I’ve marked one place where she says, ‘Five hostages shot today’. That was the day my uncle was shot. And in this child’s words I was reading about what was inside me and is still there. It was a catharsis for me. This child who was locked up in four walls had written a full report of everything I’d experienced and felt.”
These times were not all bad and she was able to enjoy some of her childhood. Again drawing parallels to Anne Frank’s life, Hepburn said, “This spirit of survival is so strong in Anne Frank’s words. One minute she says, ‘I’m so depressed.’ The next she is longing to ride a bicycle. She is certainly a symbol of the child in very difficult circumstances, which is what I devote all my time to. She transcends her death.”
One way in which Audrey Hepburn passed the time was by drawing, and some of her childhood artwork can be seen today.
When the tanks came in and the country was liberated, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration trucks followed. Hepburn said in an interview that she ate an entire can of condensed milk and then got sick from one of her first relief meals because she put too much sugar in her oatmeal. This experience is what led her to become involved in UNICEF late in life.
Here are a few other interesting videos:
Watch A Rare Interview with Audrey Hepburn in Mexico
Watch “Tribute to an Angel”
-featuring some of the most unforgettable
Audrey moments on the big screen
Some of my favourite Audrey quotes:
1.”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 or her fingers through it once a day.For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.”
-Audrey Hepburn
2.”People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody.”
-Audrey Hepburn
3.”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.”
-Audrey Hepburn
4.“For me the only things of interests are those linked to the heart”
― Audrey Hepburn
5.“I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.”
― Audrey Hepburn
6.“A quality education has the power to transform societies in a single generation, provide children with the protection they need from the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation and disease, and given them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential.”
― Audrey Hepburn
7.“I have learnt how to live…how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch.”
― Audrey Hepburn
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Audrey Hepburn
A True Epitome of Beauty:inside and out
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8. “The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows. And the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
-Audrey Hepburn
Read more Audrey Hepburn quotes
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