Why Hepburn is still the fairest lady

To mark 31 years past her death anniversary, an ardent Hepburn fan pays a tribute to one of the most iconic actor

KARACHI:

I was introduced to Audrey Hepburn, courtesy her famous movie
“My Fair Lady' when I was nine. Puppy love might be
inappropriate to represent my growing fondness for her but it was
an innocent infatuation, but more of the the type that one feels for
a class teacher when one is in grade one, would be a more
accurate representation of what I felt.

My father to literally forced me to watch the movie three times. In
the film, Rex Harrison (Prof Higgins) is a teacher, who attempts to
teach proper English to a flower girl from the street, played by
Audrey Hepburn. Frustrated in his endeavours to groom her, Prof
Higgins in the process gets emotionally entangled with the much
younger flower girl, who drives him mad with her antics.
With three viewings soundly under the belt, I was expected to
remember and narrate, some choice dialogues that Father was
fond of, such as, "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain or the lyrics of the song sung in exasperation by Prof Higgins, based on Alan Jay Lerner poetry, the lyrics of which are most interesting,

“Women are irrational, that is all to them, their heads are full of
cotton hand rags, they are nothing but exasperating, irritating,
vacillating, calculating, arguing, maddening, infuriating and...why
can’t a woman be more like a man - men are so honest, so
thoroughly square, eternally noble, historically fair, when you win
will always give your back a pat, so why can’t a woman be more.”

In as much pain Audrey Hepburn had in saying the various
dialogues, I was no better… but to please him, I parroted these
lines, to deliver repeatedly, in the presence of my Father and his
coterie of friends who would arrive every Sunday morning for a
tête-à-tête over this, that and the other. Eventually, I grew up
asking, why can’t women be more like men…?

Audrey Kathleen Hepburn, a British actress was born on May
4th,1929, in the Belgian city of Ixelles. Eleven years ago, she died
in January 1993, of colon cancer, as peacefully and innocently, as
her face radiated through her life. She had married twice, the first
marriage to Andrea Doti lasted fourteen years; the second a year
less than the first.

In spite of an amazingly friendly relationship with Dad, I never
could muster courage to ask him in later years, why did he like
Audrey Hepburn so much and what for in particular? I could
conjure a million reasons, as per my understanding and
assessment, but I was never was able to discover what his views
were. I don’t think, he missed watching any film of hers.

In the film Charade, her co-star was Cary Grant, who in my view
resembled my dad a lot, and strangely enough, this made me
even more besotted by her beauty.
Hepburn was one of Hollywood’s most-loved actresses, who
nature had blessed with amazing beauty, youthful innocence, enticing sophistication and elegance. Regardless of the role she would be playing, all these virtues stood out prominently. In the
years 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1980, 1987 and 1991,

Hepburn appeared on the list of International Best Dressed Hall of
Fame List founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940. No
wonder, Audrey once remarked, “Life is a party, dress like it.”

Hepburn was globally recognised as a film and fashion icon. She
received rankings from the American Film Institute, as the third
greatest female screen legend. With an impressive height at 5’7,
she possessed amazing grace, elegance and poise. The
statement, elegance is an attitude, most suited her. “Elegance,”
she said, “is the only beauty that never fades.” Being confident of
her elegant stature, she never succumbed to making changes in
her style. Her reaction to change, was “Why change? Everyone
has their own style. When you have found it, you should stick to
it.” Hepburn was keenly focussed on the purpose of her
existence. “I don’t take my life seriously, but I do take what I do in
my life quite seriously.”

Hepburn and Gregory Peck bonded incredibly well on the screen,
in the most captivating film “The Roman Holiday” released in 1953
and shot entirely in Italy. At the time, she was only 24 years old,
while Peck was 37. Joe Bradley played by Peck, was a
photographer by profession who spends an entire day,
unbeknownst to himself, in the company of the runaway Princess
Anne played by Hepburn. Speaking about Hepburn, Peck had the
following to say:

“With Audrey it was very easy, under the circumstances, to fall in
love and have very tender feelings about her.” In spite of this
blanching comment, he and Hepburn always denied “romantic
entanglement.” While Hepburn had said, “Actually, you have to be
a little bit in love with your leading man and vice versa.”

If both were lying, it made little difference to their star-struck fans,
because on the celluloid screen, they looked so lovingly at each
other. Anyone would fall head over heels for either of them,
depending on the gender differentiation and preference.

As the duo had beautiful personalities, the imagination of their
admirers could run amok with the insistence of their “a little bit in
love” contention. For Hepburn, love probably meant, “They say
love is the best investment, the more you give, the more you get
in return.”

I watched The Roman Holiday on PTV, which being independent
and less controlled in my childhood years, regularly screened
classic Hollywood films. Hepburn received an Oscar Award for
Best Actress (1954) for the film, and in her glee and excitement,
left the trophy in the ladies’ room.

It is interesting to know that neither Hepburn, nor Peck were the
first choices for this film. Elizabeth Taylor was the original choice,
but couldn’t accommodate the shooting schedule. On the other
hand, Cary Grant declined to work with her on the plea and
pretext that she was too young for him to act with, just the way in
Bollywood, Dilip Kumar had also declined several films to act with
Saira Bano on the same basis, but he later married her, despite
the 22 years age difference. However, Grant didn’t marry Hepburn
ofcourse! In Funny Face, her co-star Fred Astaire, the dancing
miracle, was three decades older than her.

In “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” playing the 31-year-old Holly Golightly,
Hepburn stunned with her radiant, moonlit face and virtuous
grace. A tremendously popular picture of hers from this film
shows her dressed elegantly in black Givenchy dress smoking a
cigarette, with a long filter attached to it in a restaurant. Eternally
enamoured by Hepburn, some years ago, I asked my teenage sons to take a picture of me seated across Hepburn’s wax statue at Madam Tussaud.

In a piece on Hepburn, Claudia Moscovici, novelist and art/literary
critic, calls her the symbol of classic and classy femininity. “With
an unforgettable elfish, delicate and childlike beauty and her
extraordinary talents in acting, languages and dance, Hepburn is
also known as an avid humanitarian. In her later life, she
completely devoted herself to humanitarian work. She received a

Presidential Medal for her services. Her motto was, the best thing
to hold onto in life is each other.” Genuine compassion and steely
strength of character describes Hepburn the best. “I believe in
being strong when everything seems to be going wrong “, she
remarked.

Her 10 best films according to The Guardian are as follows:

10. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Truman Capote initially chose Marilyn Monroe as the heroine of
his novella, but the film role went to Hepburn, whom Photoplay
had called “altogether un-Marilyn Monroeish.” The film made her
an icon of timeless chic in her little black Givenchy dress.

9. Paris When It Sizzles (1964)

Hepburn plays a typist hired to help a screenwriter (William
Holden) meet his deadline and is surprisingly funny and foxy as a
comic femme fatale.

8. How to Steal a Million (1966)

What fun to see Hepburn hiding in a cupboard with an age-
appropriate leading man at last. Peter O’Toole plays the debonair
burglar she enlists to help her steal a fake Cellini statuette. More
ultra-mod Givenchy outfits and charlady disguise for Hepburn.

7. The Nun’s Story (1959)

Hepburn’s best performances are the ones where she doesn’t
appear to be acting. As a Belgian nun whose faith is variously
tested by nursing in the Congo, Peter Finch’s handsome but
agnostic doctor, and the Nazi occupation in Belgium.

6. Wait Until Dark (1967)

Hepburn plays a blind woman in this tense thriller.

5. Two for the Road (1967)

This time, Hepburn is seven years elder to Albert Finney as her
husband here. She swaps Givenchy for groovy Carnaby Street
gear in this relationship drama about an unhappily married couple
driving south through France, with flashbacks of same journey in
happier times.

4. Roman Holiday (1953)

Hepburn won her Oscar for the role that propelled her to stardom.
Fed up of her life as a princess, Ann gallivants around Rome with
American journalist Peck, rides a Vespa, and gets a pixie cut.

3. Robin and Marian (1976)

Almost the same age as Sean Connery, Hepburn’s love interest in
the film where Maid Marian is ticked off that Robin ditched her to
go globetrotting.

2. Funny Face (1957)

Hepburn plays an intellectual bookseller who gets a chic
makeover (even though she looks perfectly chic to begin with) in
this delightful musical. Fred Astaire, 30 years older than his
leading lady, plays a photographer who whisks her off to Paris for
a fashion shoot.

1. Charade (1963)

The best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made: Givenchy-
clad Hepburn at her most adorable, with 25-year-older Cary Grant

as the suave mystery man who saves her from MacGuffin-hunting
thugs. No one flees for their life quite as prettily as Audrey, and
Paris has never looked lovelier.

Happiness to Audrey Hepburn was, “I love people who make me
laugh. I honestly think it is the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a
multitude of Ills.” From this underlying philosophy stemmed, the
purpose of life, to her; “The most important thing is to enjoy your
life. To be happy. It’s all that matters.”

Hepburns’ black Givenchy dress from Breakfast At Tiffanys was
auctioned at Christie's in London in December 2006. The
estimated sale price was between £50,000 and £70,000, but it
was bought by an anonymous buyer by telephone for a record-
breaking £467,200. Clearly, we are all still obsessed with her and
my dilemma of why can’t a woman be more like a man remains
unresolved!

 

Sirajuddin Aziz is a freelance contributor
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer