INTRODUCTION

HER STORY

QUOTES

A fan once gushed, "You have the most beautiful eyes in the world." She would have none of it: "The most beautiful eye make-up, maybe."

Gregory Peck was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test for "Roman Holiday" that he insisted her billing equal his own.

Truman Capote was bitter when Audrey landed the part of Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."  "Marilyn Monroe wanted the part so badly that she worked up two whole scenes all by herself to play for me. She was terrifically good. Then Paramount double-crossed me and cast Audrey."

John F. Kennedy told a reporter that "Roman Holiday" was his favorite movie of all time, and Audrey Hepburn his favorite actress.

She made her first film, "Nederland in 7 Lessen (Dutch at the Double)", at the age of 19 while living in the Netherlands.

Besides an Oscar and a Tony, Audrey also won an Emmy and a Grammy too (best spoken album for children), one of only four performers to win all four major US entertainment awards.

Hepburn's defining role remains Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards' "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in 1961. "Moon River was written for her. No one else had ever understood it so completely," said composer Henry Mancini, referring to the film's poignant signature tune.

Audrey begged out of Hitchcock's "No Bail for the Judge" because she didn't want to perform the graphic rape scene, especially after her recent role in "The Nun's Story." Hitchcock's film was abandoned and he made "Psycho" instead.

During the 1940's occupation one of her half-brothers was taken away to a German labor camp while an uncle and a cousin were executed as enemies of the Third Reich.

Wanted to be a ballerina but because of the war-time deprivations she lacked the stamina to become a successful ballerina.

Had a romance with co-star Ben Gazzara while filming "They All Laughed" in 1981

In 1992 she was awarded "The Presidential Metal of Freedom," the nation's highest civilian honor for her ongoing work with UNICEF.

Among her final words on her death-bed were "Remember the children when I'm gone, please make sure those poor starving babies get enough to eat."

The perfume "L'Interdit" was created for her personal use by Hubert de Givenchy, and for a long while could ONLY be used by her.

She confessed to eating tulip bulbs and tried to bake grass into bread during World War II.

Whenever she traveled, she took with her as many personal belongings from home as she could.

Was a cosmopolitan from birth as her father was an English banker and her mother a Dutch baroness.

Broke her back during a horse-riding scene in John Huston's "The Unforgiven." (1959)

Was born in Brussels, Belgium.

Did a Garbo from the movies after "Robin and Marian" (1976), feeling they were obsessed with sex and violence, but Steven Spielberg persuaded her to do a gentle cameo in "Always." (1989)

Won an Oscar for her debut US movie "Roman Holiday." (1953)

Mother of two sons : Sean (with first husband, actor Mel Ferrer) and Luca (with second husband, psychiatrist Andrea Dotti).

Orson Welles described her as "the patron saint of the anorexics."

The sometime clotheshorse traded in her champagne-and-caviar lifestyle for a pair of jeans and a few T-shirts when she went on the road for UNICEF to war-ravaged countries like Somalia in the last few years of her life.

Was a dental assistant.

Cecil Beaton identified her gamine fringe as "rat-nibbled."

Fell in love with William Holden, her co-star in "Sabrina" but broke off the relationship on learning that Holden could not have children.

French couturier Hubert de Givenchy helped set her style, and became her closest friend and lifelong confidant.

Had her biggest success as Sister Luke in Fred Zinnemann's "The Nun's Story." It brought her an Oscar nomination - and a lifetime percentage of the profits.

Felt she was miscast as Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," though it was one of her most popular roles.

Audrey's marriage to Mel Ferrer was shaky while she was filming "Two for the Road" in 1967 with Albert Finney. The two of them reportedly had an affair.

Turned down the film "Gigi" after creating the character in the Broadway nonmusical play.

Her last companion was Robert Wolders, the Dutch-born former actor and widower of Merle Oberon.

The only home she owned was "La Paisible" (The Place of Peace) in the village of Tolochenaz, near Lausanne, Switzerland. To this manor house she came back to die in January 1993.

Everyone remembers when Marilyn Monroe serenaded President John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962. What is often forgotten is that Audrey Hepburn sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to JFK for his final birthday in 1963.