WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 Okay, let's unpack this. Welcome back to the 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:06.839 deep dive. Today we are moving past the glossy 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:10.640 magazine covers and the indelible movie posters 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.539 to take a really exhaustive look at Audrey Hepburn. 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:17.179 Someone who, for most of us, exists as this perfect, 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.019 elegant and almost impossibly serene silhouette. 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:22.579 That iconic image, the little black dress, the 00:00:22.579 --> 00:00:25.339 pearls, the cigarette holder. It's so powerfully 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:27.920 ingrained in global culture. It really is. But 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.199 if you stop there, you miss the true narrative. 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:33.450 Our mission today is to, well, to quickly and 00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:35.630 thoroughly synthesize the sources that peel back 00:00:35.630 --> 00:00:39.350 those layers to reveal the complex, often contradictory 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:41.490 foundation of her identity. Right. The world 00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:43.689 class film star. Yes, the fashion revolutionary. 00:00:43.789 --> 00:00:47.329 Absolutely. But maybe most profoundly, the dedicated 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:50.750 humanitarian whose ferocious drive was rooted 00:00:50.750 --> 00:00:53.890 in her own brutal wartime trauma. Exactly. We're 00:00:53.890 --> 00:00:56.070 moving past Holly Go Lightly to understand a 00:00:56.070 --> 00:00:58.350 woman who is really forged by history. And when 00:00:58.350 --> 00:01:00.090 you look at her competitive accolades, I mean, 00:01:00.109 --> 00:01:01.969 she belongs to one of the most exclusive clubs 00:01:01.969 --> 00:01:04.010 in entertainment history. She's one of the few 00:01:04.010 --> 00:01:06.109 entertainers and certainly one of the most beloved 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:09.310 who achieved what we call the E -Goat. So that's 00:01:09.310 --> 00:01:12.269 winning the Academy Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:15.510 competitively. And not only that, but you have 00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:18.430 to consider her legacy against the whole sweep 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:21.480 of Hollywood history. The American Film Institute 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:24.319 ranked her as the third greatest female screen 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.719 legend from the classical Hollywood cinema era. 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:29.299 The third greatest. When you see her placed right 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:31.719 behind Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis, you 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:34.280 realize the magnitude of her cultural footprint. 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:36.959 It's an astonishing list of honors, really. But 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.299 what's truly compelling and what the source material 00:01:39.299 --> 00:01:41.680 really drives home is how her career success 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:44.459 directly contrasts with her origins completely 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:47.500 her entire life story is this unique synthesis 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:50.519 she was the product of aristocratic european 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:53.219 roots her mother was a baroness but she was also 00:01:53.219 --> 00:01:56.200 a victim of horrific wartime poverty the dutch 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.260 famine and intense personal abandonment and that 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:02.739 profound contrast that internal tension between 00:02:02.739 --> 00:02:07.079 you know refinement and just raw survival It 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:09.699 set the foundation for everything. It shaped 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:12.479 her physical fragility, her professional choices, 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.919 and ultimately her fierce, non -negotiable commitment 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.259 to philanthropy. She spent the first half of 00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:20.680 her life surviving and the second half, in a 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.199 way, paying back the world for her survival. 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:26.020 OK, so let's dive into this complicated, really 00:02:26.020 --> 00:02:28.669 turbulent beginning. The woman the world came 00:02:28.669 --> 00:02:31.150 to know as Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen 00:02:31.150 --> 00:02:34.889 Rustin in Ixalase, Brussels in 1929. She was 00:02:34.889 --> 00:02:37.469 truly multinational from birth, though she held 00:02:37.469 --> 00:02:39.650 solely British citizenship throughout her life. 00:02:39.789 --> 00:02:41.689 Which is an interesting detail in itself. It 00:02:41.689 --> 00:02:43.750 is. Her heritage was split half Dutch through 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:46.189 her mother, and her aptitude for languages was 00:02:46.189 --> 00:02:48.590 just incredible. She was fluent in Dutch, French, 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:51.310 Italian, German, and Spanish. She was, in the 00:02:51.310 --> 00:02:53.990 truest sense, a proper European citizen. And 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:56.330 we really need to emphasize the sheer depth of 00:02:56.330 --> 00:02:58.270 her aristocratic lineage through her mother, 00:02:58.389 --> 00:03:01.770 Ella. Ella was Baroness Ella van Hemstra, a member 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:03.870 of the Dutch nobility. And this wasn't, you know, 00:03:03.889 --> 00:03:06.870 minor gentry. This was the real deal. Her father, 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:10.210 Audrey's maternal grandfather, Baron Arnaud van 00:03:10.210 --> 00:03:13.189 Hemstra, had been a prominent politician. He 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:15.210 served as the mayor of Arnhem and later as the 00:03:15.210 --> 00:03:17.789 governor of Dutch Guiana. This was a family of 00:03:17.789 --> 00:03:20.650 extreme social and political prominence, accustomed 00:03:20.650 --> 00:03:23.229 to security and privilege. Right. Which makes 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.250 the background of her father, Joseph Rustin, 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:28.810 feel almost like a slight theatrical construction 00:03:28.810 --> 00:03:31.490 by comparison. He was a British subject born 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:34.229 in Austria -Hungary, but he later changed his 00:03:34.229 --> 00:03:36.870 surname to the double -barreled Hepburn Rustin. 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:40.189 And why the addition? Well, because he mistakenly 00:03:40.189 --> 00:03:42.389 believed, or perhaps just preferred to believe, 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:44.469 that he was descended from James Hepburn, the 00:03:44.469 --> 00:03:47.310 fourth Earl of Bothwell. It adds this strange, 00:03:47.430 --> 00:03:49.810 almost fictional air to the family structure 00:03:49.810 --> 00:03:52.289 right before it utterly descends into this terrible 00:03:52.289 --> 00:03:55.129 chaos that defined her childhood. And speaking 00:03:55.129 --> 00:03:57.650 of terrible chaos, this is where it gets really 00:03:57.650 --> 00:03:59.509 interesting and, I mean, intensely uncomfortable. 00:03:59.949 --> 00:04:02.810 We have to address the unsettling political and 00:04:02.810 --> 00:04:05.610 family trauma that unfolded in the mid -1930s. 00:04:05.870 --> 00:04:08.569 The sources confirm that both Ella the Baroness 00:04:08.569 --> 00:04:11.150 and Joseph, the self -titled descendant of an 00:04:11.150 --> 00:04:13.229 earl, became involved with the British Union 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:17.420 of Fascists. The BUF. That is just a staggering 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:20.139 fact to reconcile with the icons she became. 00:04:20.379 --> 00:04:23.139 The sources detail how her mother, Ella, wasn't 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:25.540 just a passive member. She actually met Adolf 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:27.579 Hitler. She met him. And wrote favorable articles 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:30.889 about him for the BUF magazine. So we're talking 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:32.870 about a woman, a child who would later become 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:35.589 a victim of the Nazi regime, whose parents were, 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:38.329 for a period, sympathetic to that very ideology. 00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:41.050 It's a stunning, necessary piece of history. 00:04:41.149 --> 00:04:43.410 And it really speaks to the confusing, turbulent 00:04:43.410 --> 00:04:45.569 political climate of the 1930s, particularly 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:49.029 amongst the sort of disillusioned European aristocracy. 00:04:49.250 --> 00:04:51.310 However, this political shadow was compounded 00:04:51.310 --> 00:04:53.490 by an intensely personal and immediate wound. 00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:57.209 Joseph abruptly left the family in 1935 after 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:00.120 a scene in Brussels. And this event was emotionally 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:03.199 devastating for her. Hepburn herself later recalled 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:07.139 it as the most traumatic event of my life. She 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:09.839 spoke openly about how children need both parents 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.220 and the profound, agonizing pain of feeling dumped 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:15.800 and abandoned at such a young, formative age. 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:18.980 And that abandonment created an emotional vacuum 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:21.139 that she spent much of her adult life trying 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:23.649 to fill. It was an emotional wound that never 00:05:23.649 --> 00:05:26.389 truly healed, even when she later renewed contact. 00:05:26.689 --> 00:05:28.769 Right. She found him again later in life. She 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:31.990 did. After she became famous, she located him 00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:34.410 through the Red Cross in the 1960s and supported 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:37.189 him financially until his death. Yet the sources 00:05:37.189 --> 00:05:39.350 specify that despite all her efforts for financial 00:05:39.350 --> 00:05:43.100 support, he remained emotionally detached. That 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.240 pursuit of emotional connection, often followed 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:47.680 by emotional distance, it just became a constant 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.000 theme in her romantic and private life. But let's 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.920 go back to her mother's political perspective, 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:54.660 because that, thankfully for history, had a violent 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.100 and very personal turning point. Her mother's 00:05:57.100 --> 00:05:59.800 attitude regarding Nazism completely and irreversibly 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:03.060 changed after 1942. The catalyst was the execution 00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:06.000 of her uncle, Baron Otto von Limburg -Steerem, 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.829 in 1942. He was a key figure targeted by the 00:06:09.829 --> 00:06:12.930 Germans and executed in retaliation for resistance 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:15.670 activity, specifically because of his family's 00:06:15.670 --> 00:06:18.209 high prominence in Dutch society. It's the difference 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:20.910 between an abstract political idea and the brutal 00:06:20.910 --> 00:06:23.810 personal reality of fascism, isn't it? Exactly. 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:26.370 That execution, coupled with her half -brother 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:28.990 Ian being deported to a German labor camp and 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:30.910 her other half -brother Alex going into hiding. 00:06:31.370 --> 00:06:34.170 It forced Ella to confront the absolute reality 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:36.230 of the system she had once written favorably 00:06:36.230 --> 00:06:39.050 about. It radically transformed their existence 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.050 from one of conflicted political involvement 00:06:41.050 --> 00:06:44.449 into one of pure grinding survival. Which brings 00:06:44.449 --> 00:06:46.649 us to the devastating years of the Dutch famine 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:50.569 from 1939 to 1945. When Britain declared war 00:06:50.569 --> 00:06:52.769 on Germany, Audrey's mother had moved her back 00:06:52.769 --> 00:06:54.949 to Arnhem, hoping the Netherlands would remain 00:06:54.949 --> 00:06:57.430 neutral. A fatal miscalculation. A huge one. 00:06:57.470 --> 00:07:00.240 Instead, they were occupied in 1940. Audrey had 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.439 been studying ballet at the Arnhem Conservatory, 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:04.420 but her life quickly devolved into a nightmare 00:07:04.420 --> 00:07:07.620 of hiding, fear, and chronic hardship. And the 00:07:07.620 --> 00:07:10.160 necessity of disguise was immediate and stark. 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:12.519 Yeah. Because of her British citizenship and 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.680 her English -sounding name, she started using 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:17.879 the pseudonym Edda Van Himstra to hide her identity 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:21.000 during the German occupation. The family initially 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.220 survived through the desperate, common belief 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:26.459 that the occupation would be brief, six months, 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:29.399 maybe a year. but it just dragged on for five 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.199 brutal years. And while some early accounts of 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:34.220 her resistance work were sometimes, you know, 00:07:34.259 --> 00:07:36.920 questioned or maybe exaggerated, subsequent detailed 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:39.100 research and Hepburn's own candid statements 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.600 provide compelling, specific evidence of her 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:43.759 genuine support for the Dutch resistance. For 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.860 sure. She gave silent dance performances, referred 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.579 to as underground concerts, where the proceeds 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:51.870 were raised for the resistance effort. The atmosphere 00:07:51.870 --> 00:07:54.110 of these underground concerts must have been 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.990 electric and just terrifying. They were held 00:07:56.990 --> 00:07:59.230 in secret locations with no applause allowed 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:01.829 to avoid drawing attention. She was just a teenager, 00:08:02.009 --> 00:08:04.449 a dedicated ballet student risking her life to 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:06.949 raise funds. She was also reportedly involved 00:08:06.949 --> 00:08:10.610 in more dangerous logistical support. The sources 00:08:10.610 --> 00:08:12.470 indicate she delivered the underground newspaper, 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:15.430 carried messages that were often slipped into 00:08:15.430 --> 00:08:18.889 her ballet shoes, and took food to downed Allied 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:22.189 flyers hiding near Velp. Crucially, during the 00:08:22.189 --> 00:08:24.629 Battle of Arnhem, her family temporarily hid 00:08:24.629 --> 00:08:27.250 a British paratrooper in their home. These were 00:08:27.250 --> 00:08:29.290 not peripheral activities. These were genuine 00:08:29.290 --> 00:08:31.470 acts of resistance that carried the death penalty. 00:08:31.709 --> 00:08:33.669 What's truly heartbreaking and what she recalled 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:36.950 with such chilling clarity was the constant exposure 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:40.309 to trauma as a witness. She was forced to see 00:08:40.309 --> 00:08:42.570 the horrors unfolding around her, particularly 00:08:42.570 --> 00:08:45.389 the fate of her Jewish neighbors. She witnessed 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:47.789 the transportation of Dutch Jews to concentration 00:08:47.789 --> 00:08:50.870 camps. she recounted seeing young men put against 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:53.009 the wall and shot as punishment for resistance 00:08:53.009 --> 00:08:56.129 activities her observation of the jewish children 00:08:56.129 --> 00:08:58.809 being deported was just heartbreakingly simple 00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:02.289 but so devastating she said i was a child observing 00:09:02.289 --> 00:09:05.909 a child she later insisted that anyone who discounted 00:09:05.909 --> 00:09:07.889 the awful things heard about the nazis was wrong 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:10.009 stating flatly it's worse than you could ever 00:09:10.009 --> 00:09:13.350 imagine And the visceral details of the famine 00:09:13.350 --> 00:09:16.549 conditions are truly shocking, especially when 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:18.570 you contrast them with the elegant image she 00:09:18.570 --> 00:09:21.509 later cultivated. The famine, known as the hunger 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:24.690 winter, was horrific. The sources describe her 00:09:24.690 --> 00:09:27.330 family resorting to desperate measures, including 00:09:27.330 --> 00:09:29.769 making flour out of tulip bulbs just to bake 00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:32.629 cakes and biscuits. Tulip bulbs. I mean, we think 00:09:32.629 --> 00:09:34.370 of them as symbols of Dutch beauty, but they 00:09:34.370 --> 00:09:37.389 became a source of starchy carbohydrates recommended 00:09:37.389 --> 00:09:39.909 by Dutch doctors during that starvation period. 00:09:40.299 --> 00:09:42.740 The consumption of tulip bulbs, coupled with 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.440 the severe lack of nutrients, had profound and 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.639 lasting physical effects. She was living off 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:49.860 nettles and grass, drinking water just to fill 00:09:49.860 --> 00:09:53.820 her stomach. When the war ended in 1945, Hepburn 00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:56.559 became gravely ill. She suffered from jaundice, 00:09:56.700 --> 00:09:59.500 severe anemia, edema. That's the swelling from 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:01.720 fluid retention. Yeah, and a respiratory infection. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.240 The sources make it clear that her life was hanging 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.659 by a thread. It was a shocking twist of fate 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:10.190 that likely saved her. A family friend. a former 00:10:10.190 --> 00:10:12.629 prisoner of war, sent thousands of cigarettes. 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:15.870 Her mother, Ella, sold them on the black market 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.110 to buy the necessary penicillin to treat her 00:10:18.110 --> 00:10:21.570 infections. The black market, in a strange way, 00:10:21.690 --> 00:10:24.529 provided the medical lifeline. So we have to 00:10:24.529 --> 00:10:26.929 pause here. What does this deep traumatic history 00:10:26.929 --> 00:10:29.649 really mean when we look at her future global 00:10:29.649 --> 00:10:33.379 stardom? It means everything. The almost unbelievable 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.220 contrast between her sheltered, aristocratic 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:39.019 childhood, a life of relative privilege, and 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:41.399 the horrific years of survival set the absolute 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:44.299 foundation for everything she became. That period 00:10:44.299 --> 00:10:46.600 cultivated an intense appreciation of simple 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:49.299 life, a physical fragility that manifested as 00:10:49.299 --> 00:10:52.090 her distinctive slender frame. Her weak constitution, 00:10:52.389 --> 00:10:54.690 as they called it, was a direct result of malnutrition. 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:57.529 Exactly. And a fierce, visceral humanitarian 00:10:57.529 --> 00:11:00.450 commitment. She knew firsthand what it meant 00:11:00.450 --> 00:11:02.269 to be a child on the receiving end of international 00:11:02.269 --> 00:11:04.470 aid. And that experience ultimately directed 00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:07.210 the final, most meaningful act of her life. It 00:11:07.210 --> 00:11:09.190 was a debt of gratitude she felt she had to repay, 00:11:09.389 --> 00:11:11.889 and it was non -negotiable. So the war ends, 00:11:12.110 --> 00:11:14.750 and Audrey, physically and emotionally scarred, 00:11:14.769 --> 00:11:17.549 moves forward. She turns her attention to her 00:11:17.549 --> 00:11:21.399 first love, ballet. She moved with her mother 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:23.980 to Amsterdam, training rigorously there, and 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:26.000 later accepted a scholarship to the prestigious 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.700 Ballet Rambert in London. She was incredibly 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:31.440 dedicated. For a moment, it really seemed her 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:34.019 career path was set. But again, the body told 00:11:34.019 --> 00:11:37.299 the story of her trauma. When she arrived in 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:39.399 London, she was told by Marie Rambert herself 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.259 that despite her obvious talent and dedication, 00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:45.419 her height, she was 5 feet 7 inches, combined 00:11:45.419 --> 00:11:48.259 with that weak constitution. those long -lasting 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:51.139 effects of wartime malnutrition. It would prevent 00:11:51.139 --> 00:11:53.200 her from reaching the status of prima ballerina. 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:56.039 That must have been just devastating. To realize 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:57.840 that the famine she survived had fundamentally 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.059 altered her whole trajectory. She had devoted 00:12:00.059 --> 00:12:02.500 years to this dream, only to be told her physical 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:04.500 frame just couldn't withstand the professional 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.080 demands of that peak role. It was a brutal reality 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:09.340 check, but it forced one of the greatest career 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:12.259 pivots in history. Instead of achieving her childhood 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:14.899 dream, she chose to concentrate on acting as 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:17.559 a second best option. Initially, she believed 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:19.899 it was just a temporary step. She needed income. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.519 So she started modestly enough, really paying 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:25.200 her dues. She began as a chorus girl in West 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.299 and musical reviews, including the very cheekily 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:31.340 named Sauce Tartare and Sauce Picante. She took 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:33.899 minor, often uncredited roles in films like The 00:12:33.899 --> 00:12:37.220 Lavender Hill Mob in 1951, all while diligently 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:39.980 working to refine her craft, including taking 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.679 elocution lessons to develop that smooth, recognizable 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.710 voice we all know today. And this is where fate, 00:12:45.830 --> 00:12:48.269 or perhaps just remarkable luck, intervened, 00:12:48.269 --> 00:12:50.470 leading to her big break. It happened almost 00:12:50.470 --> 00:12:52.730 accidentally through her involvement in a small, 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:55.870 bilingual film called Monte Carlo Baby. And this 00:12:55.870 --> 00:12:57.990 anecdote from the sources is truly legendary. 00:12:58.330 --> 00:13:01.450 While filming in Monte Carlo in 1951, the famed 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:03.690 French novelist Colette happened to be at the 00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:06.480 Hotel de Paris. Colette, who was frail and in 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.379 her late 70s at the time, saw Audrey and was 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:11.559 just captivated by her gamine look and her innate 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.440 grace. Colette immediately insisted that Hepburn 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:16.440 be cast in the title role of the Broadway play 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:19.240 Gigi, which was based on Colette's 1944 novella. 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:22.220 She literally pointed and said, there is my Gigi. 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:25.399 And just like that, Audrey was yanked from minor 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:28.179 film roles and chorus lines and thrust onto the 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:30.840 Broadway stage. She stepped onto the stage having 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:33.840 never really carried a lead role or spoken extensive 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.919 lines on stage before, which necessitated private 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:39.720 coaching on her stage projection. But when Gigi 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:41.960 opened in New York, the critics were unanimous. 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.120 She received high praise, winning a Theatre World 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:47.000 Award. Life magazine called her a hit, and the 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.120 New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson said her 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.840 quality was so winning and so right that she 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.549 is the success of the evening. That play ran 00:13:54.549 --> 00:13:57.610 for 219 performances before touring extensively, 00:13:57.929 --> 00:14:00.350 turning the accidental actress into a genuine 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:03.350 stage sensation. And that Broadway success was 00:14:03.350 --> 00:14:06.289 instantly parlayed into her first starring role 00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:11.509 in Hollywood, Roman Holiday, in 1953. Director 00:14:11.509 --> 00:14:13.649 William Wyler was initially looking at established 00:14:13.649 --> 00:14:15.889 stars like Elizabeth Taylor for the role of the 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:18.450 runaway Princess Anne, but after viewing Hepburn's 00:14:18.450 --> 00:14:21.009 screen test, he was entirely won over by her 00:14:21.009 --> 00:14:23.750 distinct charm. What was it about that screen 00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:26.450 test? The sources recall Wyler saying she had 00:14:26.450 --> 00:14:28.590 everything he was looking for. Charm, innocence, 00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:31.190 and talent. He also noted something crucial. 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.509 She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, 00:14:34.509 --> 00:14:37.190 and we said, that's the girl. It was that combination 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:40.049 of elegance and genuine, approachable humor that 00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:42.490 set her apart. And the debut was just extraordinary. 00:14:42.649 --> 00:14:45.350 She achieved instant icon status, cementing it 00:14:45.350 --> 00:14:48.210 with an unprecedented triple crown win. For that 00:14:48.210 --> 00:14:49.970 single performance in Roman Holiday, she won 00:14:49.970 --> 00:14:52.210 the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden 00:14:52.210 --> 00:14:54.169 Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, 00:14:54.370 --> 00:14:56.909 and the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress 00:14:56.909 --> 00:15:00.029 in a Leading Role. Wow. That clean sweep of all 00:15:00.029 --> 00:15:02.450 three major competitive awards for a single film 00:15:02.450 --> 00:15:05.529 debut was virtually unique at the time. The recognition 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:08.809 was so immediate and so overwhelming that even 00:15:08.809 --> 00:15:11.710 her legendary co -star Gregory Peck had to step 00:15:11.710 --> 00:15:14.470 in and apply the brakes. The sources confirm 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:16.710 that originally the credits were slated to read, 00:15:16.809 --> 00:15:19.929 Introducing Audrey Hepburn Beneath Peck's Established 00:15:19.929 --> 00:15:22.549 Name. And Peck, sensing the shifting currents 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:25.649 of Hollywood, insisted on equal billing. His 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:28.789 quote is fantastic. It shows incredible professionalism 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.450 and foresight. He told Wyler, you've got to change 00:15:31.450 --> 00:15:33.649 that because she'll be a big star and I'll look 00:15:33.649 --> 00:15:36.710 like a big jerk. He recognized her transcendent 00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:39.190 star power instantly, proving that her debut 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.929 wasn't just a flash in the pan. Following Roman 00:15:41.929 --> 00:15:44.090 Holiday, she was immediately signed to a seven 00:15:44.090 --> 00:15:46.529 -picture contract with Paramount. Crucially, 00:15:46.629 --> 00:15:48.990 the contract intentionally included a 12 -month 00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:51.950 period between films, allowing her time to pursue 00:15:51.950 --> 00:15:54.629 stage work. which is a testament to her serious 00:15:54.629 --> 00:15:56.649 approach to acting and her desire to balance 00:15:56.649 --> 00:15:58.549 the demands of Hollywood with her theater background. 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.409 Her golden age was now in full swing, dominating 00:16:01.409 --> 00:16:05.149 the period from 1954 to 1967. She immediately 00:16:05.149 --> 00:16:07.649 followed up her Oscar win with Sabrina in 1954, 00:16:08.110 --> 00:16:10.470 earning her a second Academy Award nomination 00:16:10.470 --> 00:16:13.009 and kicking off a collaboration that would define 00:16:13.009 --> 00:16:15.929 her entire persona, her partnership with designer 00:16:15.929 --> 00:16:20.100 Hubert de Givenchy. And 1954 truly was the most 00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:22.940 astonishing year of her competitive e -gut journey. 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:25.799 Just three days after winning her Oscar for Roman 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.139 Holiday, she won the Tony Award for Best Leading 00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:30.879 Actress in a play for Andine, where she played 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.419 a delicate water nymph. So she became one of 00:16:33.419 --> 00:16:35.820 only three actresses in history to win the competitive 00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:38.399 Oscar and the competitive Tony for Best Actress 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.799 in the same year. That kind of simultaneous recognition 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:43.159 across different mediums is truly remarkable 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.360 and speaks to her immediate versatility. She 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.539 continued selecting challenging, serious roles, 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:50.220 moving far beyond the romantic ingenue mold. 00:16:50.539 --> 00:16:54.500 Most notably, Nun's Story in 1959. This role 00:16:54.500 --> 00:16:56.940 earned her third Oscar nomination, and critics 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:59.000 widely hailed it as her finest performance to 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:01.500 date. The detail here is significant, and it 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:03.659 speaks to her dedication, connecting right back 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:06.819 to her wartime sense of duty. She spent a full 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:08.640 year researching and working on the challenging 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.509 role. This included extensive consultations with 00:17:11.509 --> 00:17:14.509 former nuns and time spent in a convent in Belgium, 00:17:14.710 --> 00:17:17.230 devoting more time, energy, and thought to it 00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:19.450 than any of her previous screen performances. 00:17:20.089 --> 00:17:22.529 This wasn't about glamour. It was about internal 00:17:22.529 --> 00:17:24.970 discipline and understanding a spiritual life 00:17:24.970 --> 00:17:28.049 completely alien to her own celebrity. The nun's 00:17:28.049 --> 00:17:30.710 story proved she wasn't just a charming personality, 00:17:30.890 --> 00:17:33.829 but a serious, dedicated actress. But of course, 00:17:33.829 --> 00:17:35.990 for the general public, the defining role remains 00:17:35.990 --> 00:17:38.349 Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's in 00:17:38.349 --> 00:17:42.089 1961. This film solidified her as a style icon 00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:46.250 and defined 1960s sophistication. Yet this role 00:17:46.250 --> 00:17:48.869 was a massive challenge for her personally. The 00:17:48.869 --> 00:17:51.069 sources mention the initial friction. Truman 00:17:51.069 --> 00:17:53.470 Capote, the novelist, famously wanted Marilyn 00:17:53.470 --> 00:17:55.640 Monroe for the role. But Hepburn took on the 00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:58.000 challenge, calling Holly Golightly the jazziest 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.900 of my career. She was absolutely playing against 00:17:59.900 --> 00:18:02.640 type, wasn't she? Completely. Holly Golightly 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.059 is this chaotic, flamboyant extrovert running 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:08.000 from herself. Hepburn admitted later, I'm an 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.200 introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:13.259 hardest thing I ever did. It highlights that 00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:15.220 fundamental disconnect between the sophisticated, 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:18.279 carefree image she projected and the vulnerable, 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:21.720 self -conscious person she was privately. A theme 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:24.349 we'll definitely revisit later. We also see her 00:18:24.349 --> 00:18:26.970 navigating the subtle power dynamics of the studio 00:18:26.970 --> 00:18:29.190 system in films like the comic thriller charade 00:18:29.190 --> 00:18:32.869 in 1963. She starred opposite Cary Grant, who 00:18:32.869 --> 00:18:36.190 was 59 while she was 34. Grant felt genuine discomfort 00:18:36.190 --> 00:18:38.690 about the age difference and the romantic interplay. 00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:41.930 And to satisfy his concerns, and this is a great 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:44.450 detail, the filmmakers altered the script so 00:18:44.450 --> 00:18:46.450 that her character was the one aggressively pursuing 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:49.319 him. This was unusual for the era. putting the 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:51.339 power dynamic in the hands of the female lead. 00:18:51.539 --> 00:18:53.859 The sources note that this adjustment made the 00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:56.279 experience positive for Grant, resulting in his 00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:58.579 famous quote, all I want for Christmas is another 00:18:58.579 --> 00:19:00.779 picture with Audrey Hepburn. And then we have 00:19:00.779 --> 00:19:03.599 the casting controversy of My Fair Lady in 1964. 00:19:04.800 --> 00:19:07.359 Julie Andrews, who originated the role of Eliza 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.619 Doolittle on stage, was controversially passed 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:12.680 over for the film version because producer Jack 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.019 L. Warner calculated that Hepburn was a more 00:19:15.019 --> 00:19:18.799 bankable box office draw. Hepburn herself, aware 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.200 of the injustice, even asked Warner to give the 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:24.440 role to Andrews first. The controversy was intensely 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.160 painful for her, and it was deepened by the subsequent 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.259 production decisions. Despite her having vocal 00:19:30.259 --> 00:19:32.880 preparation and having successfully sung her 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.319 own parts in Funny Face, approximately 90 % of 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:38.859 her vocals for My Fair Lady were dubbed by the 00:19:38.859 --> 00:19:42.220 famous ghost singer, Marty Nixon. That must have 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:44.519 been a crushing professional blow, even with 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:46.819 the star power she possessed. The sources state 00:19:46.819 --> 00:19:48.960 Hepburn was deeply upset and reportedly walked 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:50.500 off the set when she was informed of the final 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:53.000 decision. She later admitted she would have never 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:54.799 accepted the role if she had known they intended 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.359 to dub nearly all of her singing. It really reveals 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.579 the complex power structure of Hollywood. Even 00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:03.400 an icon can be told that her own voice isn't 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:05.460 sufficient for a project built around her image. 00:20:05.930 --> 00:20:08.950 Yet, despite the turmoil, she delivered a performance 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:11.930 that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. And 00:20:11.930 --> 00:20:13.930 critics like Bosley Crowther applauded her, saying 00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:17.700 she superbly justifies the decision. She emerged 00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:20.420 from that crucible still celebrated, though wounded 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:23.319 by the process. Her final competitive Oscar nomination 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:27.039 came in 1967 for Wait Until Dark. She played 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:29.740 a terrorized blind woman in a genuinely chilling 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:32.740 suspense thriller, earning her fifth and final 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:34.859 competitive nomination, further demonstrating 00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:37.880 her commitment to dramatic range. And the production 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:40.180 of Wait Until Dark was difficult. Filmed on the 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:42.259 brink of her divorce from Mel Ferrer, who was 00:20:42.259 --> 00:20:44.759 also the film's producer, the emotional stress 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:48.299 of the period caused her to lose 15 pounds, underscoring 00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:50.380 how physically and emotionally taxing the final 00:20:50.380 --> 00:20:52.960 phase of her initial career was. She chose that 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.619 moment to essentially retire, recognizing the 00:20:55.619 --> 00:20:57.779 immense toll her career was taking on her personal 00:20:57.779 --> 00:21:00.180 life and her peace of mind. Let's pivot now to 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:03.250 her most persistent global legacy. The image 00:21:03.250 --> 00:21:05.529 itself. What's fascinating here is that Audrey 00:21:05.529 --> 00:21:08.309 Hepburn fundamentally provided an entirely alternative 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:12.089 feminine ideal in the 1950s and 60s. She countered 00:21:12.089 --> 00:21:14.289 the overtly curvier, more sexualized figures 00:21:14.289 --> 00:21:16.849 dominating Hollywood at the time, specifically 00:21:16.849 --> 00:21:19.490 Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. She was 00:21:19.490 --> 00:21:22.089 a visual revolution. Her look was described using 00:21:22.089 --> 00:21:25.849 the French term gammon, meaning a slender, impish 00:21:25.849 --> 00:21:28.869 girl characterized by her thick eyebrows, short 00:21:28.869 --> 00:21:32.220 hairstyle and lean physique. Fashion photographer 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:34.619 Cecil Beaton called her the public embodiment 00:21:34.619 --> 00:21:38.079 of our new feminine ideal in vogue in 1954. It 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.720 was a democratic fashion ideal, too. As the sources 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:42.779 point out, her look was not only distinct, but 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:44.900 critically, it was easier for young women globally 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.460 to emulate. Easier than the unattainable hourglass 00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:49.880 figures of the other major stars. She was cited, 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:51.980 along with the later model Twiggy, as a key figure 00:21:51.980 --> 00:21:53.960 in making a very slim silhouette, fashionable 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:56.460 and aspirational. And the foundation of this 00:21:56.460 --> 00:21:59.539 iconic look was her lifelong, non -negotiable 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:02.390 partnership. with French designer Hubert de Givenchy. 00:22:02.869 --> 00:22:05.849 The collaboration began, almost comically, on 00:22:05.849 --> 00:22:09.710 the set of Sabrina in 1954. Givenchy, upon receiving 00:22:09.710 --> 00:22:12.670 the request to design for Hepburn, mistakenly 00:22:12.670 --> 00:22:14.410 thought he was designing for the already established 00:22:14.410 --> 00:22:17.319 Catherine Hepburn. That initial confusion led 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:19.400 to one of the most fruitful friendships in fashion 00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.240 history. Upon meeting Audrey, they formed a deep, 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:24.859 symbiotic, lifelong professional and personal 00:22:24.859 --> 00:22:27.960 bond. She became his muse, and he became the 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:30.579 architect of her iconic persona. Given Hay designed 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:33.299 costumes for six of her films, including Breakfast 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:36.259 at Tiffany's, Funny Face, and Charade, and styled 00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:38.480 her extensively off -screen. It was a partnership 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.700 based on mutual respect for elegance and simplicity. 00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:43.789 Their collaboration cemented the idea of fashion 00:22:43.789 --> 00:22:46.130 as character development, not just ornamentation. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.940 And her fashion influence went far beyond haute 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:51.759 couture. The sources credit her with popularizing 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.079 incredibly practical, simple items, like plain 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:57.880 black leggings as outerwear and boosting sales 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.640 of Burberry trench coats, which she wore so memorably 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.599 in Breakfast at Tiffany's. She democratized high 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:05.980 fashion by making it look effortless and minimal. 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.380 And of course, the little black dress from Breakfast 00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:10.599 at Tiffany's is arguably the single most famous 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:13.319 dress in cinema history. It became a global standard 00:23:13.319 --> 00:23:32.809 for elegance. The sheer stag... But despite this 00:23:32.809 --> 00:23:35.509 meticulously curated, glamorous external image, 00:23:35.609 --> 00:23:37.250 she was named the most beautiful woman of all 00:23:37.250 --> 00:23:40.069 time in some polls. Her private reality was deeply 00:23:40.069 --> 00:23:42.910 contradictory, almost painfully so. She confessed 00:23:42.910 --> 00:23:45.440 to profound insecurity throughout her life. This 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.299 is a critical insight for understanding her. 00:23:47.460 --> 00:23:59.440 She stated, That is such a powerful admission. 00:24:00.340 --> 00:24:02.980 Elegant, serene, public persona, the woman who 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:06.000 seemed completely at peace, was, by her own account, 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:09.799 a mask. Forged out of unnecessary, self -imposed 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:12.220 discipline to overcome feelings of inferiority 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:14.200 and self -hatred rooted in her childhood trauma, 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:17.259 she had to actively create the confident, serene 00:24:17.259 --> 00:24:20.160 Audrey Hepburn we saw on screen. And this dichotomy 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:22.970 extended to her everyday life. In her private 00:24:22.970 --> 00:24:25.509 moments, away from the demanding scrutiny of 00:24:25.509 --> 00:24:27.910 the public eye and the constraints of haute couture, 00:24:28.170 --> 00:24:30.930 she actually preferred casual, comfortable clothing. 00:24:31.109 --> 00:24:33.329 She was an inherently private introvert forced 00:24:33.329 --> 00:24:35.829 into the most public of careers. After the emotional 00:24:35.829 --> 00:24:38.309 and physical strain of Wait Until Dark in 1967, 00:24:38.950 --> 00:24:40.849 Hepburn chose semi -retirement to prioritize 00:24:40.849 --> 00:24:43.329 her family and her mental well -being. This led 00:24:43.329 --> 00:24:45.309 to her decisive move to Tollechenau, Switzerland, 00:24:45.549 --> 00:24:48.049 where she bought a 21 -room country estate called 00:24:48.049 --> 00:24:51.069 Le Passebois, which translates quite simply to... 00:24:51.390 --> 00:24:53.910 The peaceful one. She sought intense privacy 00:24:53.910 --> 00:24:56.769 there, actively pushing back against the celebrity 00:24:56.769 --> 00:25:00.410 machine. But the location choice itself was deeply 00:25:00.410 --> 00:25:03.490 connected to her wartime trauma. She specifically 00:25:03.490 --> 00:25:05.269 chose the French -speaking part of Switzerland 00:25:05.269 --> 00:25:08.309 to ensure that her first son, Sean, did not learn 00:25:08.309 --> 00:25:11.450 German in school. This is a very clear, powerful 00:25:11.450 --> 00:25:14.390 echo of her traumatic wartime childhood, showing 00:25:14.390 --> 00:25:16.589 how far she would go to shield her children from 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:19.130 that dark shadow. her personal life was often 00:25:19.130 --> 00:25:22.230 tumultuous despite the serene facade she had 00:25:22.230 --> 00:25:24.990 two marriages first to american actor mel ferrer 00:25:24.990 --> 00:25:27.730 which lasted 14 years and then to italian psychiatrist 00:25:27.730 --> 00:25:31.690 under Andrea Dottie, which ended in 1982. The 00:25:31.690 --> 00:25:33.950 source material notes both marriages were strained 00:25:33.950 --> 00:25:36.750 by infidelity. Dottie was unfaithful with younger 00:25:36.750 --> 00:25:38.650 women, and Hepburn was reportedly involved with 00:25:38.650 --> 00:25:40.609 actor Ben Gazzara during the filming of Bloodline. 00:25:40.750 --> 00:25:43.349 But her final and ultimately happiest long -term 00:25:43.349 --> 00:25:45.809 relationship was with Dutch actor Roderick Wolders, 00:25:45.910 --> 00:25:48.569 which began in 1980 and lasted until her death. 00:25:48.809 --> 00:25:51.069 She considered them married even without the 00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:53.390 official paperwork, stating candidly that the 00:25:53.390 --> 00:25:55.009 nine years she spent with him were the happiest 00:25:55.009 --> 00:25:57.720 of her life. After her semi -retirement in 1967, 00:25:58.180 --> 00:26:01.019 she acted only occasionally. Her last feature 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:03.660 film cameo was in Steven Spielberg's Always in 00:26:03.660 --> 00:26:07.400 1989. However, even in her later years, and posthumously, 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:09.960 she was still adding to her remarkable collection 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:12.519 of awards, finally completing her competitive 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:15.700 ego status. That final stretch of the egody was 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:18.940 completed with two posthumous wins. She won her 00:26:18.940 --> 00:26:22.140 Grammy in 1994 for a spoken word recording called 00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:25.039 Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales, a testament. 00:26:25.289 --> 00:26:28.289 to her beautiful, recognizable voice. And she 00:26:28.289 --> 00:26:31.009 won her Emmy in 1993 for the documentary series 00:26:31.009 --> 00:26:33.309 Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. These 00:26:33.309 --> 00:26:36.250 late -career nonfiction projects perfectly mirrored 00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:38.309 the quiet, contemplative life she had built in 00:26:38.309 --> 00:26:40.670 Switzerland. This transition from one of the 00:26:40.670 --> 00:26:42.670 world's most glamorous film celebrities to a 00:26:42.670 --> 00:26:45.190 full -time, dedicated humanitarian is truly the 00:26:45.190 --> 00:26:47.869 capstone of her life story. It directly and powerfully 00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:50.089 connects back to the extreme survival we discussed 00:26:50.089 --> 00:26:52.529 in Part 1. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.119 Her motivation for becoming a UNICEF Goodwill 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:59.099 Ambassador in 1989 was explicitly about repaying 00:26:59.099 --> 00:27:01.819 a debt of gratitude. She made it absolutely clear 00:27:01.819 --> 00:27:04.240 that she wanted to show profound thanks for the 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.859 international aid she received as a child during 00:27:06.859 --> 00:27:09.559 the German occupation and the famine. She often 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:12.119 noted that during the famine, UNICEF and organizations 00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:14.299 like it were literally the difference between 00:27:14.299 --> 00:27:16.140 life and death for children in the Netherlands. 00:27:16.440 --> 00:27:18.839 She had actually contributed to UNICEF efforts 00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:22.400 quietly beginning in 1954, narrating radio programs, 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:24.500 telling children stories of war and recovery. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:28.140 But in 1989, she truly dedicated herself to the 00:27:28.140 --> 00:27:30.720 grueling fieldwork, traveling to the world's 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.259 most desperate places. Her impact was immediate 00:27:33.259 --> 00:27:35.420 and raw, starting with her first major mission 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:38.259 to Ethiopia in 1988, which was is suffering from 00:27:38.259 --> 00:27:41.200 catastrophic famine. She traveled to McHale and 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.819 visited an orphanage housing 500 starving children. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:46.720 She saw the full scale of human suffering up 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.180 close, and her reaction was heartbreakingly honest 00:27:49.180 --> 00:27:51.339 and unvarnished. She spoke about it with immense 00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:54.039 feeling, saying, I have a broken heart. I feel 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:56.420 desperate. The third world is a term I don't 00:27:56.420 --> 00:27:59.059 like very much because we're all one world. I 00:27:59.059 --> 00:28:00.819 want people to know that the largest part of 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:03.720 humanity is suffering. She wasn't an actress 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:06.019 playing a role. She was a witness speaking truth. 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:08.599 She described mothers and children walking for 00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:10.880 weeks, settling into makeshift camps where they 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:13.279 might simply die waiting. She was particularly 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:16.000 enraged by the geopolitical barriers, emphasizing 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:18.339 that essential food aid was often sitting in 00:28:18.339 --> 00:28:20.920 northern ports, unable to be distributed because 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:24.039 of raging civil wars. She quickly understood 00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:26.380 that the logistics of aid were often the most 00:28:26.380 --> 00:28:29.500 frustrating barrier. That same year, she went 00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:31.740 to Turkey on an immunization campaign, and this 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:34.339 became a surprising example of successful mobilization 00:28:34.339 --> 00:28:36.940 that she loved to highlight. She hailed this 00:28:36.940 --> 00:28:39.960 mission as the loveliest example of UNICEF's 00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:42.380 capabilities because it showed human cooperation 00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:45.789 at its best. she detailed the logistics saying 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:47.950 that the turkish army provided trucks for transport 00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:51.529 and incredibly local fishmongers gave their wagons 00:28:51.529 --> 00:28:53.569 for the necessary cool storage of the vaccines 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.299 Once the date was set, this massive coordinated 00:28:57.299 --> 00:28:59.940 effort took just 10 days to vaccinate the entire 00:28:59.940 --> 00:29:02.579 country. For her, it was tangible proof of what 00:29:02.579 --> 00:29:04.440 humanity could do when it chose to cooperate, 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:06.880 a beacon of hope against the backdrop of war 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:09.440 and famine she usually encountered. She continued 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.759 her rigorous touring schedule, visiting Central 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.200 America and then going to Sudan in 1989 during 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.299 a highly sensitive mission called Operation Lifeline, 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.500 ferrying food to the rebel -held South amidst 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:24.450 a brutal civil war. Her powerful conclusion following 00:29:24.450 --> 00:29:26.250 that experience offered a crucial distinction 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:28.930 about the nature of global suffering. She recognized 00:29:28.930 --> 00:29:31.029 that most of the suffering she saw wasn't natural, 00:29:31.130 --> 00:29:34.390 it was political. She stated, I saw but one glaring 00:29:34.390 --> 00:29:37.309 truth. These are not natural disasters, but man 00:29:37.309 --> 00:29:39.569 -made tragedies for which there is only one man 00:29:39.569 --> 00:29:42.750 -made solution, peace. It was a condemnation 00:29:42.750 --> 00:29:44.829 rooted in the experience of a wartime survivor. 00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.240 In 1990, she was in Vietnam to collaborate on 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:51.000 immunization and clean water programs, traveling 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:54.440 extensively and speaking out tirelessly. But 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:56.619 perhaps her most traumatic experience was her 00:29:56.619 --> 00:29:59.640 final trip in September 1992, just four months 00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:02.700 before she died, to Somalia. She called the conditions 00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:06.029 in Somalia apocalyptic. The famine and the violence 00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:08.309 were at unprecedented levels. She gave a chilling 00:30:08.309 --> 00:30:10.849 description. I walked into a nightmare. I have 00:30:10.849 --> 00:30:13.549 seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I 00:30:13.549 --> 00:30:15.950 have seen nothing like this so much worse than 00:30:15.950 --> 00:30:17.890 I could possibly have imagined. And even though 00:30:17.890 --> 00:30:20.190 she was visibly frail and had been secretly diagnosed 00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:22.690 with cancer before this final trip, her dedication 00:30:22.690 --> 00:30:25.559 never wavered. She was scarred by what she saw, 00:30:25.700 --> 00:30:28.380 but she still held on to a fierce hope, stating 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:30.519 that as we move into the 21st century, we still 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:32.859 see children with enlarged bellies, their sad 00:30:32.859 --> 00:30:34.900 eyes, their wise faces that show the suffering 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:37.440 and that the world had a moral obligation to 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.140 act. Her humanitarian work earned her recognition 00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:43.349 that finally transcended her film career. recognizing 00:30:43.349 --> 00:30:46.269 her ultimate purpose. She received the U .S. 00:30:46.289 --> 00:30:48.930 Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, just months 00:30:48.930 --> 00:30:51.809 before her death, and the Jean Herschel Humanitarian 00:30:51.809 --> 00:30:55.069 Award posthumously in 1993 for her sustained 00:30:55.069 --> 00:30:57.950 commitment to charity. UNICEF later unveiled 00:30:57.950 --> 00:31:00.869 the Spirit of Audrey statue in her honor in 2002 00:31:00.869 --> 00:31:03.849 at their New York headquarters. The child saved 00:31:03.849 --> 00:31:06.529 by aid became the global figure fighting to save 00:31:06.529 --> 00:31:08.650 other children. Audrey Hepburn died peacefully 00:31:08.650 --> 00:31:12.150 in her sleep on 20 January 1993 at the age of 00:31:12.150 --> 00:31:15.710 63 in her beloved Swiss home. The cause was a 00:31:15.710 --> 00:31:18.450 rare form of abdominal cancer known as pseudomyxoma 00:31:18.450 --> 00:31:21.109 peritonei. The final weeks of her life offer 00:31:21.109 --> 00:31:23.690 a genuinely touching moment of friendship, bridging 00:31:23.690 --> 00:31:25.910 her final humanitarian act to her elegant public 00:31:25.910 --> 00:31:28.569 life. She had been in Los Angeles but was unable 00:31:28.569 --> 00:31:30.710 to fly on commercial aircraft after her surgery. 00:31:31.069 --> 00:31:33.869 Our longtime friend, the collaborator and designer 00:31:33.869 --> 00:31:36.609 Hubert G. Venshi, arranged for a private jet. 00:31:36.970 --> 00:31:38.609 which she had filled entirely with flowers to 00:31:38.609 --> 00:31:40.609 bring her home to Switzerland for her last Christmas. 00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:43.309 She was interred at the small Toloshinoz Cemetery, 00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:46.269 achieving the peace and privacy she had sought 00:31:46.269 --> 00:31:49.250 for so long. Though her on -screen image remains 00:31:49.250 --> 00:31:51.650 pristine, her legacy hasn't been without complex 00:31:51.650 --> 00:31:55.049 management. After her death, her two sons, Sean 00:31:55.049 --> 00:31:58.069 Hepburn Fair and Luca Andrea Dotti, became involved 00:31:58.069 --> 00:32:00.390 in legal challenges regarding her estate and 00:32:00.390 --> 00:32:02.609 the use of her likeness, particularly involving 00:32:02.609 --> 00:32:05.190 the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. And this 00:32:05.190 --> 00:32:07.750 ongoing legal effort just highlights the immense 00:32:07.750 --> 00:32:10.269 and enduring value of the Audrey Hepburn brand 00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:12.869 she created. And this brings us back to the heart 00:32:12.869 --> 00:32:15.529 of her incredible life journey. Hepburn achieved 00:32:15.529 --> 00:32:17.890 the pinnacle of controlled perfection as a style 00:32:17.890 --> 00:32:20.650 icon and performer. She was, by all accounts, 00:32:20.710 --> 00:32:23.609 an intense introvert playing extroverts, projecting 00:32:23.609 --> 00:32:26.609 a serene, almost detached elegance despite enduring 00:32:26.609 --> 00:32:29.490 immense childhood trauma and privately confessing 00:32:29.490 --> 00:32:31.839 to profound self -doubt. The sources repeatedly 00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:34.079 show us the discipline and the intense drive 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:36.339 she had to adopt just to function in the public 00:32:36.339 --> 00:32:38.779 sphere. And this raises an important question 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:41.160 for all of us, connecting the art of her life 00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:43.480 to the purpose of her life. Did the deliberate, 00:32:43.579 --> 00:32:46.400 beautiful artifice of Audrey Hepburn, the controlled 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:49.220 image, the elegant mask she perfected to overcome 00:32:49.220 --> 00:32:51.440 her own insecurities, did it function as the 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.569 necessary shield? Was that mask the mechanism 00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:57.369 that allowed the truly vulnerable, trauma -scarred 00:32:57.369 --> 00:32:59.650 person beneath to later perform her most vital 00:32:59.650 --> 00:33:02.369 and meaningful role? The raw, compassionate, 00:33:02.490 --> 00:33:05.450 and brave humanitarian we saw working tirelessly 00:33:05.450 --> 00:33:07.829 in the world's most desperate communities. What 00:33:07.829 --> 00:33:10.150 balance of self -creation, performance, and painful 00:33:10.150 --> 00:33:12.690 authenticity does her remarkable life teach us 00:33:12.690 --> 00:33:14.950 about finding our ultimate purpose? Something 00:33:14.950 --> 00:33:16.509 to mull over until our next deep dive.