The truth of it is this – Joseph Ruston, Audrey's father, believed he was descended from James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. If that name is familiar to you, it's because he was the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.
On June 29, 2003, Katharine Hepburn—a four-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress and one of the greatest screen legends of Hollywood's golden era—dies of natural causes at the age of 96, at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Katharine Hepburn opted out of motherhood because she wanted to focus on herself and her well-being. "I would have been a terrible mother, because I'm basically a very selfish human being," the Hollywood icon admitted.
I thought my neck was too scrawny so I covered it up with a turtleneck. I have a little face, and I didn't want a great big collar with a little face coming out of it, so I had little collars. Practical.
For those that don't know, Hepburn welcomed two sons: one named Sean Hepburn Ferrer, born July 1960, with her ex-husband Mel Ferrer, and another son named Luca Dotti, born Feb 1970, with her second husband Andrea Dotti.
Audrey Hepburn played a love interest many times throughout her Hollywood career. In her life away from the big screen, the Breakfast at Tiffany's actress was married two times and found lasting love before her death on January 20, 1993.
Nowadays, Luca Dotti continues his work in graphic design in Italy. A family man devoted to his wife and children, he also ensures his mother's humanitarian philosophy lives on, actively supporting the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.
How old was Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's?
Audrey Hepburn was 31 years old when playing Holly. Holly Golightly wears the same dresses all the way through the movie, simply changing the accessories to give each outfit a different look. Her black shift dress features through the movie at least four times.
Throughout World War II, Audrey endured hardships in Nazi-occupied Holland. She still managed to attend school and take ballet lessons, however. During this time her mother temporarily changed Audrey's name to Edda Van Heemstra, worried that her birth name would reveal her British heritage.
Who inherited Katharine Hepburn's money after she died?
This charitability continued after her death as she specified $10,000 (£8,200) for the Actors Fund of America in her will. For her remaining family, Hepburn gave $100,000 (£82,000) to her nephew and grandniece and requested that her homes in Connecticut and New York be sold.
She came from a wealthy and highly educated family. Her father, Thomas Hepburn, was a successful doctor. Her mother, Katharine Martha Houghton, was a great supporter of women's rights issues including the right to birth control.
What happened to Howard Hughes and Katharine Hepburn?
He proposed marriage to many of these women but was never faithful. He had a well-documented relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn, which eventually fizzled, but he helped her buy the rights to The Philadelphia Story, the film that would relaunch her career.
On May 4, 1929, Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston—who will one day be better known to legions of film fans as Audrey Hepburn—is born near Brussels, Belgium. The daughter of an English banker and a Dutch baroness, Hepburn was attending school in London when World War II erupted in Europe.
How old was Audrey Hepburn in the My Fair Lady movie?
Although playing a 21-year-old flower girl, Hepburn was actually 34 in real life. The opera that was playing the night Professor Higgins and Eliza meet in Covent Gardens was Faust. The inspiration for the library in Professor Henry Higgins' home was a room at the Château de Groussay, Montfort-l'Amaury, in France.
It introduced the world to the 24-year-old Audrey Hepburn, a Brussels-born ballet dancer who would win the best actress Academy Award in her first leading role.
"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."
As Hepburn's career flourished, the media controlled how her life was portrayed to the public, often overlooking the personal struggles she faced as wife and mother. During her first marriage, she suffered two miscarriages and a stillborn child before giving birth to her first son, Sean.
As you may know, Audrey Hepburn had two children — Sean Hepburn Ferrer, now 58 years old, and Luca Dotti, now 49. Although the devoted mom sadly suffered a few miscarriages throughout her life, the successful births of her two sons seemed to bring her more joy than she ever thought possible.
As the war came to an end, the number of people in the Netherlands dying of hunger had reached 22,000. Hepburn was weighing just 86 pounds as she survived by, for example, eating tulip bulbs. Suffering from malnutrition, anemia, jaundice and edema, Hepburn`s 5-foot-6-inch frame weighed just 99 pounds.
'Her waist was so tiny that she was able to wrap it all the way round so she could double it at the front and tie it at the back. She never wore overly asymmetrical designs, or risqué cuts or plunging backlines,' Emma continues. A large straw satchel, Circa 1960. Estimate: £800-1,200.
