Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers

by Sean Hepburn Ferrer

Overview

She dazzled millions as Gigi. Eliza Doolittle. Holly Golightly. But to her most adoring fan, Audrey Hepburn was best known for her role as "Mummy."

In this heartfelt tribute to his mother, Sean Hepburn Ferrer offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the life of one of Hollywood's brightest stars. Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit is a stunning compilation of nearly 300 photographs, many straight from the family album and never before published; archival documents, personal correspondence, and mementos; even paintings and illustrations from the actress herself.
Sean tells Audrey Hepburn's remarkable story, from her childhood in war-torn Holland to the height of her fame to her autumn years far from the camera and the crush of the paparazzi. Sean introduces us to someone whose grace, charm, and beauty were matched only by her insecurity about her appearance and talent, and who used her hard-won recognition as a means to help children less fortunate than her own. With this unique biography, Sean celebrates his mother's history and humanity--and continues her charitable work by donating proceeds from this book to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501112546
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	06/15/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	219 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Read an Excerpt

Preface: The Secret

I am writing this preface almost nine years after Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston left us. She was — or should I say, is — my mother. I started writing this little book on January 21, 1993, the day after she passed away. It took me roughly four years to put the first words to paper.

The actual writing took maybe a few months. It's what happened before and in between that took some time. I am quite sure by now that everyone who loses a parent, as we all do sooner or later, could write a book. As it did for me, it might feel like the only book you'll ever write. Weeks, months, years may pass between writing sessions. You too may experience something that can no longer be called writer's block. You see, it's not about you. It is about the one person in the world who is more than you! And in my case, it is about someone who was most dear to me, the very person who brought me here and saved me time and time again, when I needed her for my survival. Yet she was someone whom I couldn't help or save in the end. So I find myself endlessly rolling these few words like pebbles in the river of my story so that the smooth stones that emerge will be worthy of your time and her spirit. I want you to know...what truly counts, yet in a way that won't ripple her peace.

As one theory has it, our organs have varying life expectancies. For example, our lungs, the meekest and the most useful, have the shortest life span: roughly 60 years. Our brain, of which we use less than 10 percent and therefore the least useful of our organs, as well as our greatest liability, has an expected life span of somewhere over 150 years. In writing this book, I have discovered something new and exciting:

My memory will outlive all of them.

Long after I'm dead, and long after my brain dies — much later, of course (which is why I'm planning on being either cremated or buried with a chessboard), I will remember all this...and the scents. I close my eyes and remember, through the noise, her scent: powdery, elegant, safe, strong, the scent of unconditional love. I look down and see her delicate hands, their skin so thin I can faintly see their veins, her nails round, soft, and clear. Yet these are the hands that have held me, carried me, talked to me. They caressed me, they walked me to school, and I held on to them when I was scared. Oh, how I miss them! What I would give to feel them running through my hair...in my sleep, once more.

What happened? My head is still spinning. Wouldn't yours be if your mother was Audrey Hepburn? My mother died in 1993, and still...she's everywhere: on television all the time, at the video store, in magazines, in bookstores, on huge billboards in airports and on freeways, downtown on a bus stop shelter, in every conversation I have sooner or later with everyone, in my work and in my thoughts, especially since I started writing this book, and in my dreams...sometimes.

Talk about larger than life. She weighed 110 pounds and measured five feet seven.

How fortunate that our memories of her are good. They leave a gentle wake, like a sunny empty room that feels good. It's there, at times stronger, at times gentler — the perfect combination of sweet and sad. The sweetness of her, the sadness of her.

I have thought much about this book — endlessly agonized as to whether this should be revealed. After nine years I have come to terms with it. I am telling it to you because there is little to be ashamed of, and because it may be helpful to others.

My mother had a secret.

I don't think she would mind my saying it. We see things much more clearly...after. So here it is, the great secret.

She was sad.

Not that life treated her badly, and therefore she was sad. Life was tough but good. My mother was sad because of what she saw happening to the children of this world. I think we all made her a little bit sad. Yes, you did as well as I. Not because we were bad, but because we couldn't help. If she hadn't done the work for UNICEF at the end of her life, I wouldn't be so sure. I've now done some work for the children, and I'm sad too. So this book will have to be about this as well: sadness and children. Not a great combination, but there you have it. I think if you got the full picture, you would be sad too. So I'm not going to do that. I'll spare you the whole picture about sadness and children. But I'll give you a little bit of it, just enough.

Don't worry, you'll smile as well. A smile is the perfection of laughter. And you may cry a little too. But crying is good for your eyes and for your soul. It beautifies.

Copyright © 2003 by Sean Hepburn Ferrer

Table of Contents

	Preface: The Secret	IX
	Introduction: Kissed on the Cheek	XIII
Chapter 1.	Emotional Hunger	1
Chapter 2.	"I Can Recall ..."	29
Chapter 3.	Unforgettable	81
Chapter 4.	One of Them	143
Chapter 5.	The Silence of the Soul	177
Chapter 6.	Together There is Nothing We Cannot Do	188
Chapter 7.	The Price of Forever	205

Editorial Reviews

… Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit lives up to its title thanks to the obvious love of the author, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, for his mother. Family photos — like one of Hepburn lying on a gravel path, toes in the air and rollers in her hair, as she takes a snapshot of the family Yorkie — heighten this book's self-evident allure. —Janet Maslin

The New York Times

Hepburn's son (with actor Mel Ferrer) shows his mother as a compassionate, emotional woman who searched for and offered love above all. He traces the roots of his mother's longing in her experiences with her distant father and the destruction of her native Belgium during WWII. Via photos and stories, he notes how Hepburn (1929-1993) aimed to live an everyday family life of home, school and holidays. Rendering her husbands respectfully and without off-color stories, Ferrer doesn't offer lascivious behind-the-scenes dramas or quips about directorial injustices. Instead, he lets designers and composers who worked with Hepburn talk about the actor's inimitable talents. Composer Henry Mancini believes her "quality of wistfulness" inspired the songs he wrote for her, especially Breakfast at Tiffany's "Moon River." Designer Cecil Beaton calls her an "authentic existential Galatea" with a voice containing the "quality of heartbreak." Ferrer also details Hepburn's influential friendship with clothing designer Hubert de Givenchy, including the dressmaker's generosity in Hepburn's final days. Directors William Wyler and Billy Wilder also appear, as do actors Gary Cooper and Fred Astaire (the latter was Hepburn's co-star in her favorite movie, Funny Face). Movie-related photos abound, but the most memorable images are of Hepburn's family and the children she met in her work with UNICEF. Her 1989 speech to members of the United Nations staff on the millions of dying children in developing countries concludes the book. What began as a son's remembrance and selective movie survey becomes a call to action. In this way, the work differs greatly from standard self-important star bios. 300 full-color and b&w photos. (Oct. 28) Forecast: Town & Country recently featured Hepburn on its cover and presented a handful of the photos that appear in this book. If that didn't put Hepburn back into the minds of nostalgic baby boomers, seeing the stunning cover of Ferrer's book certainly will. Ferrer will contribute proceeds from the book to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Hepburn recalled by her son, with hundreds of photos (some of which will be new to you), plus examples of Hepburn's paintings. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal