The Life of Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born on May 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Belgium. She lived with her mother in England until World War II began, she and her mother then moved to Holland to live with her grandparents.

Audrey Hepburn’s career in dance began in grade school; at the age of ten she had her first ballet recital. Later, at the age of seventeen she took ballet lessons with Sonia Gaskell, who then recommended her to Marie Rambert, the owner of the Ballet Rambert dance school. When she entered Ballet Rambert she changed her last name to Hepburn (her great grandmother’s maiden name).

Hepburn’s first acting job was in a comedy/educational film Dutch in 7 Lessons, she was also in a few other movies in which she had minor roles. Her first major role was in the movie Gigi, where she played the main character. The audience and critics loved her gazelle-like eyes, and the look of awareness always on her face. After her success in Gigi, she was in many other films including The Secret People, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady, and Wait Until Dark.

In Hepburn’s later years she did charity work and was appointed a goodwill ambassador to UNICEF. She spent many of her last years in places such as Vietnam, Somalia, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Turkey, and Ecuador. She died on January 20, 1993 of appendicle cancer in her home in Switzerland.