The Ever-Fashionable Audrey Hepburn

[ClassyCo]

Audrey Hepburn is one of those old Hollywood stars that's been cemented in popular culture. Her likeness is everywhere, from posters, to pillowcases, from shot glasses to knick-knacks. She was a popular star on the silver screen for close to two decades. Her star-making and Oscar-winning role in Roman Holiday (1953) marked one of the best-remembered film debuts in cinema history. Hepburn had a host of other successful pictures, among them Sabrina (1954), Funny Face (1957), My Fair Lady (1964), and Wait Until Dark (1967), all which have solidified their status as classics.

Hepburn is probably best-known today for her film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a classic romantic comedy that positioned her as one of the crown jewels of the fashion industry. She is often accredited for "inventing" the little black dress fashion statement. The success of that film in 1961 and in popular culture continues to strengthen Hepburn's reputation as both a film and fashion icon.

Any fans?

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[Alexis]

She is one of three iconic actresses that I had somehow discounted as an actress and thought of them more for how they looked. I think sort of more movie star than actress. The other two would be Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. However I have since changed my opinion on all three after looking at more of their work. I now think all three are fantastic actresses. Hepburn did play a lot of the same type of role, but then so did many many actors and actresses of the time. It's just how images and careers were made then. She had a charm though and a likeability and of course was stunning to look at. I think I prefer her 1960s stuff to her more early stuff, you can really see a progression in her talent. Favourite films of hers would be, The Children's Hour, Wait Until Dark, Charade, How To Steal a Million, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Two For The Road, Roman Holiday and Funny Face.

 

[ClassyCo]

She is one of three iconic actresses that I had somehow discounted as an actress and thought of them more for how they looked. I think sort more movie star than actress. The other two would be Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. However I have since changed my opinion on all three after looking at more more if their work. I now think all three are fantastic actresses. Hepburn did play a lot of the same type of role, but then so did many many actors and actresses of the time. It's just how images and careers were made then. She had a charm though and a likeability and of course was stunning to look at. I think I prefer her 1960s stuff to her more early stuff, you can really see a progression in her talent. Favourite films of hers would be, The Children's Hour, Wait Until Dark, Charade, How To Steal a Million, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Two For The Road, Roman Holiday and Funny Face.

I agree with what you've said here. Only Marilyn and Liz are in the same category. Everyone else seems to be waiting in the shadows.

Of her work in the 1960s, my favorite would have to be Paris When It Sizzles (1964), co-starring William Holden. She plays a typist whose hired by a screenwriter to type up his latest screenplay. It's a cute and enjoyable film, and I love it.

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[ClassyCo]

The newest addition to the Be Kind Rewind YouTube channel. This segment focuses on Audrey's Oscar win in 1954 for her mainstream debut in Roman Holiday.

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Here's another BKR video that centers around Audrey's casting as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. The role had been perfected on the stage by Julie Andrews, and this video dives into the controversy surrounding Audrey's casting and Andrews's eventual Oscar win for Mary Poppins.

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[Crimson]

I feel a bit about Audrey Hepburn as I do about Grace Kelly; I can't say I'm too fond of either, but that has less to do with the actresses themselves than the roles they played and the films they made. Grace, at least, has the Hitchcock movies to her credit. I don't think there's a single film Audrey made that I really like. A beautiful, talented and iconic actress; just not my cup o' tea.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Funny, but BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's hasn't aged very well --- the best things about it are "Moon River" and period shots of the brownstones and the opening credits at pre-dawn as Audrey, in that little black dress, gets out of the cab and literally has her breakfast at Tiffany's.

But the rest of it.... ugh .... it tries to be too hip in a "this is what the 60s are going to be" sort of way.... and then there's Mickey Rooney!!

Despite the Oscar she didn't feel she deserved, Elizabeth Taylor's BUTTERFIELD 8 was considered a downmarket version of TIFFANY'S, the lesser of two NYC hooker tales. But today, nearly everybody says that TIFFANY'S is much harder to sit through.

 

[ClassyCo]

Funny, but BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's hasn't aged very well --- the best things about it are "Moon River" and period shots of the brownstones and the opening credits at pre-dawn as Audrey, in that little black dress, gets out of the cab and literally has her breakfast at Tiffany's.

But the rest of it.... ugh .... it tries to be too hip in a "this is what the 60s are going to be" sort of way.... and then there's Mickey Rooney!!

Despite the Oscar she didn't feel she deserved, Elizabeth Taylor's BUTTERFIELD 8 was considered a downmarket version of TIFFANY'S, the lesser of two NYC hooker tales. But today, nearly everybody says that TIFFANY'S is much harder to sit through.

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I love the movie! But I like BUtterfield 8 also.

 

[ClassyCo]

Has anyone seen this?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

In my alternative DYNASTIER world, she's cuzzin Virginia's high-class prostitute mother from Akron (apparently, Audrey really liked DYNASTY)...

 

[Alexis]

In my alternative DYNASTIER world, she's cuzzin Virginia's high-class prostitute mother from Akron (apparently, Audrey really liked DYNASTY)...

She should have been Lady Ashley Mitchell. Then if she wouldn't do it, they should have got Jaqueline Bissett, and if she wouldn't do it then Jaclyn Smith, and if she wouldn't do then anyone but Ali McGraw!

 

[Grant Jennings]

In my alternative DYNASTIER world, she's cuzzin Virginia's high-class prostitute mother from Akron (apparently, Audrey really liked DYNASTY)...

I remember there being talk at the time that Audrey would appear as Kirby's mother.

I watched Breakfast At Tiffany's again a few weeks ago, if not for Audrey, Givenchy and Henry Mancini it would have been unwatchable. I wish they had used Audrey's own vocals in My Fair Lady, though clearly not in the same league as Julie Andrews (who is?) what I have heard is charming.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

She should have been Lady Ashley Mitchell. Then if she wouldn't do it, they should have got Jaqueline Bissett, and if she wouldn't do it then Jaclyn Smith, and if she wouldn't do then anyone but Ali McGraw!

Yes, although I would never give her the name "Mitchell" -- "Ashley Mitchell" is just too adorably GWTW. I'd give her a French name, like Foch.

I watched Breakfast At Tiffany's again a few weeks ago, if not for Audrey, Givenchy and Henry Mancini it would have been unwatchable..

Isn't it though...? Better to slut it out with Elizabeth in BUTTERFIELD 8; at least it has no pretensions

 

[ClassyCo]

She should have been Lady Ashley Mitchell. Then if she wouldn't do it, they should have got Jaqueline Bissett, and if she wouldn't do it then Jaclyn Smith, and if she wouldn't do then anyone but Ali McGraw!

I think I would have taken almost anyone over Ali MacGraw as Lady Ashley Mitchell. Her name does have that GONE WITH THE WIND vibe, but that I tolerated well enough.

Of the ones you have mentioned, I probably would have liked Audrey Hepburn in the role, but I can easily seeing her turning the offer down. Jaclyn Smith would have been a perfect fit, and one thinks Aaron Spelling would've jumped at the opportunity to bring the only female Angel he retained for the entire CHARLIE'S ANGELS run.​

 

[Willie Oleson]

In a perfect world, Lady Ashley (renamed as Utah Hitchcock) would have been played by Charlotte Rampling.

The perfect choice for a thinking man's diva.

My second choice would be Julie Christie, however, when all is said and done, Ali definitely looked the part of the worldly and Studio 54 Lady Ashley.


I haven't seen much of Audrey Hepburn because I don't like romantic comedies, therefore I can't rate her as an actress.
Yes she's pretty but too cute to be interesting.
I prefer the cool ones, and the divas with a touch of the masculine, or the ones who look like they grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.


And of course the befurred and bejeweled, chain-smoking old bitches.
But the Audreys and the Marilyns do absolutely nothing for me.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The best part of the movie -- the song, Audrey in the empty streets of NYC at pre-dawn, the period shots of the brownstones, that poignant JFK era of collective doom...

A much better ride:

 

[Grant Jennings]

"Moon River" is one of those songs (like "The Girl from Ipanema") that I thought of as "elevator music" while growing up but have come to appreciate as an adult. Pedro Almodovar used it very effectively in Bad Education. You have to see this within the context of the film to really appreciate it. Bad Education is a masterpiece; while it is very stylized it isn't camp like most of Almodovar's other films.

 

[ClassyCo]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]