Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

(c) Copyright (2015) by Kathleen Spaltro

All Rights Reserved

She was lovely, unforgettably talented, and—simply—good.

Is that why people remember and still enjoy her relatively few films?

Each of these characteristics goes some way to explain Audrey Hepburn’s enduring appeal. Her facial loveliness, physical grace, and unrivaled ability to wear beautiful clothes attract both men and women. Without any overt sexuality, she nevertheless embodies an exquisite femininity.

Hepburn’s talent as an actress is obvious. It is hard to choose the most-loved performance of this much-loved performer. I like the older Hepburn in "Charade" (1963) and "Two for the Road" (1967), but her special qualities shine through the most in her films of the Fifties. 

My own favorite might be Billy Wilder's "Love in the Afternoon" (1957), in which she plays an incurable romantic who outwits her philandering roué by pretending to be a female roué herself. My husband loves watching "Roman Holiday" (1953) so that, as he puts it, "Every few months, I can renew my crush on Audrey Hepburn." John has added "Sabrina" (1954) to his list of crush-enhancing Hepburn movies.

Excellent as Hepburn is in these romantic comedies of the Fifties, she excels as well in dramas such as "The Nun's Story," Fred Zinnemann's 1959 film that beautifully probes the process of entering an order. Playing a young and brilliant Belgian woman, the scientist daughter of a famous physician, Hepburn enters the convent between the world wars to fulfill her vocation of being a nursing sister in tropical missions. Gabrielle becomes Sister Luke but also remains Gabrielle, determined by iron will to subject herself to the discipline of her order but at the same time thwarted by that same iron will. Peter Finch plays the physician in the missions who stresses to Gabrielle her intrinsic inability to surrender her will in unquestioning obedience. Throughout the film, Hepburn convincingly conveys Gabrielle’s intelligence, dedication, self-discipline, and anguish.

Besides being beautiful and gifted, Hepburn was a good person. Many people remember her work for the United Nations as an ambassador for UNICEF and her dedicated immersion in the cause of ending hunger in poor countries.

But some quality of hers that sets her apart itself stands apart even from beauty, talent, and compassion. Maybe this is simply charm, the undefinable, mysterious ability to attract spontaneous liking from many types of people and from both women and men.

She was truly an enchanter.

first published in The Woodstock Independent