Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 - 20 January 1993)
Audrey Hepburn was a highly regarded British actress famous for films such as 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' and 'My Fair Lady'.

Net worth: Audrey Hepburn had a net worth of $100 million before her death. (Celebrity Net Worth)

Childhood: Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium. Her parents were Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston and Baroness Ella van Heemstra. They were part of the Nazi sympathiser group the British Union of Fascists and her father left when Audrey was still young. As a child, she moved repeatedly between Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands becoming multi-lingual. She had also learned ballet by the time she was 5. Audrey went to school at a small school in Elham, Kent before moving to the Netherlands following the onset of World War II and being educated at Arnhem Conservatory. During the German attack on the Netherlands in 1940, she changed her named to Edda van Heemstra. The war had a serious impact on Audrey's health: she suffered malnutrition, anaemia, edema and problems with her respiratory system. Her struggles led to her becoming heavily involved with the charity UNICEF.

Acting career: Audrey Hepburn began studying ballet intensely after the war. She took on her first film role in a 1948 educational travel film called 'Dutch in Seven Lessons' before continuing her dance studies at the Ballet Rambert and practising part time modelling. With her years of wartime suffering, she quit ballet due to the effects it had on her body. In a bid to make money, she appeared in various theatre revues such as 'High Button Shoes', 'Sauce Tartare' and 'Sauce Piquante'. She began working as a freelance actress with small roles in 'One Wild Oat', 'Laughter in Paradise', 'Young Wives' Tale' and 'The Lavender Hill Mob'. Her first big role was in 1952's 'The Secret People' in which she played a ballerina. She made her Broadway debut as the title character in 'Gigi', having been personally selected by the author of the original novel Colette. Audrey's first starring role was in 1953's 'Roman Holiday' alongside Gregory Peck. Her performance was highly praised and she won an Academy Award for best actress. Her next film was 'Sabrina' in which she had the title role opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. The film won her a BAFTA and another Academy Award nomination. In the same year she appeared with Mel Ferrer in the acclaimed Broadway show 'Ondine' and subsequently won a Tony award. Among her later box office successes were 'War and Peace' (1956) with Henry Fonda, musical 'Funny Face' (1957) with Fred Astaire and rom com 'Love in the Afternoon' (1957) opposite Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier. She landed her second BAFTA with 'Sister Luke in The Nun's Story' (1959), for which she researched in-depth by visiting convents. Reviews were less positive for her 1959 romance 'Green Mansions' with Anthony Perkins and her western 'The Unforgiven'. In 1961, she appeared in arguably her most influential movie yet: Blake Edwards' 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. The movie is a romantic comedy based on the Truman Capote novella and featured Hepburn as the fabulous quirky and stylish Holly Golightly. She then appeared in the cooly received 'lesbian' drama 'The Children's Hour' with Shirley MacLaine and James Garner. In 1963, she starred alongside Cary Grant in thriller 'Charade', following that up by rejoining William Holdenin '64 for 'Paris When It Sizzles'. Holden's frequent attempts to woo Hepburn and his alcoholism proved a problem during filming. Another major movie for Hepburn was 'My Fair Lady' in which she starred as the singing flower girl Eliza Doolittle. Despite Hepburn's pleasant singing voice, she was mostly dubbed over by Marni Nixon - a fact that caused plenty of upset initially. Hepburn starred in the thriller 'Wait Until Dark' which was produced by her husband at the time Mel Ferrer. It caused much stress for the actress, who lost over a stone in weight due to anxiety. Her final movie projects included 1976's 'Robin and Marian' with Sean Connery, 1979's 'Bloodline', 1981's 'They All Laughed' with Ben Gazzara and 1987's 'Love Among Thieves' with Robert Wagner. Her very last motion picture role was a cameo in Steven Spielberg's 'Always'. As well as acting, Hepburn was heavily involved in her humanitarian work. She became Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and her work with the charity earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Being fluent in several languages, she did much travelling in her work to help poor families around the world, including visiting an orphanage in Ethiopia, touring Central America and helping out in Sudan during the civil war.

Personal life: Audrey Hepburn had various high-profile relationships including with James Hanson, Michael Butler and William Holden. In 1954, she married Mel Ferrer with whom she had a son named Sean. She also had a total of four miscarriages and the relationship was tumultuous, with many seeing Mel as controlling towards Hepburn. They divorced in 1968. The following year she married psychiatrist Andrea Dotti and gave birth to a son named Luca in 1970. She later suffered another miscarriage. While Andrea had frequent affairs, Audrey also began seeing her 'Bloodline' co-star Ben Gazzara. They subsequently divorced in 1982. She spent the rest of her years with Robert Wolders. She was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in 1992 which, after much treatment and surgery, soon turned out to be terminal. She lived out the rest of her days in a hospice in Switzerland, dying the following year.