Although she was the daughter of a Dutch baroness and a wealthy English banker, Audrey Hepburn (born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels, Belgium) had a difficult childhood. Her parents divorced when she was young and Audrey went to live with her mother in the Netherlands. Soon after, the German army invaded Holland. During the Nazi occupation, Audrey's uncle and a cousin were executed for supporting the Resistance and her brother was placed in a labor camp. Her family faced starvation and Audrey suffered from severe anemia, respiratory problems, and edema.
Audrey was sixteen when the occupation ended. She and her mother returned to London, where Audrey earned a ballet scholarship and began dancing in small revues, modeling, and playing bit parts in films. Her big break came when the French novelist Colette discovered her in a crowd and insisted that Hepburn be cast as Gigi in a Broadway adaptation of her novel. In spite of Hepburn's inexperience, audiences and critics alike were captivated by her performance. Subsequently, William Wyler chose her to be the lead in Roman Holiday, opposite Gregory Peck. For her role as Princess Ann, she won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Actress. She then returned to Broadway to star in Ondine with Mel Ferrer, who became her husband in 1960. Hepburn won a Tony for her performance.
From 1953 to 1967, Audrey Hepburn starred in a number of successful movies, receiving critical acclaim and establishing strong box-office appeal. Among her most memorable performances were Sabrina (1954, Hepburn's second Oscar nomination), Funny Face (1957), Love in the Afternoon (1957), The Nun's Story (1959, her third Oscar nomination), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, a fourth Oscar nomination), Charade (1964), My Fair Lady (1964), Two for the Road (1967), and Wait Until Dark (1967, the fifth Oscar nomination).
After 1967, Hepburn took leave from film-making to raise her son, Sean Ferrer. However, in 1968 she and Mel Ferrer divorced. She then married Andrea Dotti, an Italian psychologist, and had a son, Luca, with him. They separated in 1970, although their divorce was not finalized until 1980. Dutch actor Robbie Wolders was her companion until her death in 1993.
Audrey Hepburn became a goodwill ambassador and spokesperson for UNICEF in 1986. Traveling to areas afflicted by famine and devastation, Hepburn worked to raise public awareness of the plight faced by children in times of crises - for example in Ethiopia during the famine and in war-torn Somalia. Her commitment to improve the welfare of children across the world was intense and genuine. This commitment earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Humanitarian Award from the Congress on Racial Equality.
Soon after her trip to Somalia in 1991, Hepburn was diagnosed with colon cancer and was too ill to accept in person the Screen Actors Guild award for lifetime achievement in 1992. In 1993, Audrey Hepburn died at the age of 63. She was posthumously awarded the 1993 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Jean Hershold Humanitarian Award.
