Unforgettable Audrey

Audrey Hepburn will forever stay an icon for the whole world, a symbol of elegance combined with dignity, delicacy, intelligence, sweetness and true wellness. This is how I remember Audrey and how I will associate her persona.

She succeeded as an actress and model, though she always dreamt of a career of ballerina. She never became one, being too tall. She experienced many hard times during her lifetime. Her war memoirs, when she thought so bravely to live through war trauma, is somehow like Anne Frank's experiences. I will never forget the story about Audrey when she was a little girl who was a messenger in the conspiracy and while on her little mission she met Nazi officers. She used her charm and took some field flowers to give it to them, showing her sincere smile. And they did not suspect what she was carrying, letting her go with her message.

Audrey, as the actress I consider the greatest one, Vivien Leigh, won an Oscar for her debut in an American movie. Her performance in "Roman Holiday" may seem not the greatest one from all those she gave. But she showed unique charm there and I guess this was it. America was charmed by her grace, by her sincerity, her loveliness. She was forever lovely, though she never used it too much, it was never that she tended to be oversweet.

I remember seeing "Nun's Story" (1959) some years ago, while still in my very early teens. And I remember clearly that Audrey was great there, as an actress. The way she transformes from a girl to a woman, and then, in the end, when she leaves the convent, her hair gray. She showed she was mature. And I guess this was real ACTING. She should have won an Oscar for THIS. Because this surely was great.

I recently have Audrey as Holly Gollithly on my desktop. She looks wonderful and I think that her image from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is the thing she would be forever associated with. And she looks great there, simply gorgeous, and remember she played there being some months after giving birth to her first son!

Audrey married twice and I guess she was never happy in any of those unions. Mel Ferrer, her first husband, always felt and knew he was overshadowed by her talent and screen persona. While he outlived her (he is still alive, over 90 now), he never achieved stardom. The appeared together in "War and Peace", where Audrey gave an excellent, BAFTA-nominated graceful portrayal of Natasha, and also she played by the side of still excellent and handsome Henry Fonda. Ferrer stayed quite unnoticed. Also, he directed her in "Green Mansions" (1959) with Anthony Perkins, but the movie itself was a failure, though it never harmed Audrey star status.

She ended her movie career to go for Italy after their divorce, where she met a younger doctor, Andrea Dotti. He was to become her second husband, though his infidelities proved to be fatal for the marriage, as well as the fact that they could not get along, maybe due to age difference. They had one son.

Audrey found the best companion in few years younger Rob Wolders, Merle Oberon's widower. He was her dearest friend and love-interest, I guess she always dreamt of somebody like him. He never wanted to participate in her will after she died from colon cancer, and never wanted recognation from press, no publicity. He was the one to give and receive love. A wonderful thing we all are looking for, don't we?

Audrey was always differeing from Hollywood world. While she will be forever associated with it as its part, she in fact was not one. She was never involved in any sort of scandal. She did not seduce married leading men of hers. She did not have unwanted pregnancies ended with abortions. She never acted like a sweetheart being a false pretty face. She was REAL. And she is a symbol to me, more than anybody else, how we should live. To give, not to take. And she proved that giving might be receiving as well. I feel sorry knowing she passed away too soon. She was the essence of dignity, elegance and sincerity. Everything that was and still is GOOD.