All things Audrey !!

I feel like being repetitive, maybe I have said this before but I will tell you this again anyways. When I was in College, somewhere around my junior year, one of my very good friends used to talk very fondly about a movie called Roman Holiday(1953). Back then, I didn't even know there was a film by that name. She used to say that it is one of the loveliest movies she has ever seen and she is been trying to get hold of that movie but can't seem to find it anywhere. I was in the infancy of my film obsession or shall I say Hollywood obsession since most of my effort then was concentrated towards Indian Film Industry then. Even though I didn't know first thing about it then, that name left a mark on me. Few years later when I come to US, one of the first things I did was to try and find it. Out here, it was easy enough, I found it in the first library I looked - in my own university. I even went home and eagerly saw it. Now, to put the things in perspective, I am not the kind of person who goes head over heels for an actor or an actress. If you ask me, who is my favorite, I can give you a list but for life of me, I will not be able to order them. However, after watching Roman Holiday(1953) one thing changed, probably for the first and only time in my life, I had an absolute favorite Actress - Audrey Hepburn. This was almost 3 years ago. Since then, I have seen about a dozen movies she did and by now with every passing movie, my fondness of her has almost turned into a devotion.

Why do I bring all this up now, you ask ? because, the other day I stumbled upon something called The Audrey Hepburn Story(2000) on YouTube. To tell you the truth, I was looking for How to Break an egg scene in Sabrina(1954) - ohh, absolute bliss that scene is. I didn't find that but did see this. It's a made for TV movie with sort of biographical story of Audrey Hepburn, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, since early in her childhood till she goes to the top of Hollywood. I probably won't go too much into the details about the movie as I find it hard to fathom that every single person she met was as enamored, as devoted to her charm as I am - someone rightly used the term Lady Jesus on one of the IMDb forum discussions - even though that is exactly what I expected. But this is a first time I have seen something about Audrey Hepburn besides her movies and this gives me a chance to do something I have been meaning to do for long time - write about Her. Audrey Hepburn wasn't just beautiful, there was something soothing, something beatific in her beauty that would touch your soul. It might just be me but every time I see her on screen I take a deep breath, close my eyes for a second and it feels like all my worries just evaporate into thin air. As shown in the documentary, she always thought of herself as non-attractive person, she rather used to think of herself as scrawny, tall with long neck and big feet. But even then when it all came together, it made extraordinary impact on screen. Since this documentary, I have been watching a lot of interviews of and about her and almost unanimous opinion seems to be she wasn't conventionally attractive but the way she carried herself made a lot of difference. Well, that and how soft spoken and modest she was.

Off course, one of the major reasons behind this Audrey Hepburn fever is her films. What started, more appropriately floored me, with Roman Holiday has become a full fledged obsession after close to dozen films by now. Roman Holiday isn't a revolutionary movie in any sense but her enthusiasm, her innocence in it is extremely infectious. Will you believe me if I tell you that since then I have always tried to say 'Thank You' the way she says in this movie. Would you also believe that I saw Sabrina(1954) because of her and not because of either Billy Wilder or Humphrey Bogart. It was actually my first Wilder or Bogart movie. There are a lot of movies that become instantly better just because she is in it - Charade(1963), Love in the Afternoon(1957), How to Steal a Million(1967). There really isn't anything wrong with them at all but at the same time there also isn't much in them either; except Ms. Hepburn off course. It's almost as if she carries these movies with her charm and I am sure there might me few more that I haven't seen yet. I have even set through never-ending atrocity that was War and Peace(1956) because of her. And how can I forget My Fair Lady(1964). If I am not wrong, I believe I had seen this even before Roman Holiday because I remember borrowing it from the same friend that told me about Roman Holiday but all I could remember was one song. So, when I saw it again I really had to convince myself that this is the same Audrey Hepburn that I have been seeing all this time. She was almost unrecognizable in her role of that flower girl initially. I am well aware of all the controversy surrounding My Fair Lady and even I think Julie Andrews probably was more suitable for the role, but Audrey Hepburn does a fine job here as well and I will not hesitate a moment to say that she was criminally overlooked for an Oscar nomination for that role.

However, it isn't just her charm, innocence and charisma that has won me over every time. She may not be considered as one of the best actresses ever, but if you ask me she has definitely made enough movies to make a strong case for her. First movie that made me stop my fan-boyish ogling and take her seriously as an actress probably was Breakfast at Tiffany's(1962). Even what they say in The Audrey Hepburn Story above strengthens my belief. After watching Roman Holiday - which mind you is a great piece of acting in itself and she does have an Oscar to prove it - I actually went through her biography on her IMDb profile to look for some of the other essential movies in her career and Breakfast at Tiffany's was one of the most prominent in it. I was already adoring her but since that day, I started respecting her as an actress. If you need any more proof of her acting prowess, try and see The Nun's Story(1959) which is a great example of her restrained acting. Throughout the movie she is in Nun's costume, covered from head to toe with minimal make-up and off course no accessories to accentuate her beauty. By giving one of the finest performances of her career here, she proved to me that even though all these factors added to her screen persona, she was just fine without them. Or even better, go and watch World's Champion Blind Lady in Wait Until Dark(1967). Seriously, watch her pull off that role of a recently blinded lady and tell me that she is not a good actress, just a pretty face. Even The Children's Hour(1961) with her and Shirley MacLaine - This film is so criminally overlooked every time anyone talks about Audrey Hepburn's career that I think I will go ahead and right full review of it soon, just to do my part for it. Only thing that is left for me to watch now is Two For the Road(1967), Paris when it Sizzles(1964) and just because it was her last film Always(1989) maybe.

My adoration for her goes beyond her beauty, it also goes beyond her acting talent. What makes me admire her even more is she seems to be a genuinely nice and polite person. Only reason I say seems to be is I have extremely limited resources - this documentary, few videos here and there and IMDb Trivia section. But there isn't a single person who has one complaint about her. Well, according to the documentary, Truman Capote had something to something to say about her but by the end, she even won him over too. Now, as I have been saying, this documentary may not be the most reliable of the sources - after all, they released Sabrina before she won her Oscar. But even then the gist remains that she was a universally loved character. After being in the industry for almost 40 years, I do not know of any controversy she was involved in, neither do I see any blemish on her character. For someone who is considered to be one of the most famous actresses of all time with such a beautiful face and lot of fame very early in her career, she had every reason and a long history of colleagues to misbehave but this blue-blooded actress never did. In another scene in that documentary, very early in her movie career, she says that "Ohh, I would love to misbehave. But I wouldn't know how" and I can't help but think Isn't that the story of her life ?