在银幕上，她是《罗马假日》里高贵可爱的公主，《蒂凡尼的早餐》中追逐名利的虚荣女子，《窈窕淑女》里身份卑微的卖花女，是好莱坞各路导演争相邀约的明星；在现实生活中，她被称为“落入人间的天使”，姣好的面容、优雅的气质，连同她对冥冥众生的悲悯情怀，征服了万千影迷。她就是影迷心中永远的窈窕淑女——奥黛丽·赫本。本文原文发表于1993年赫本去世后不久，在21年后的今天我们再来重温赫本曾经的一颦一笑，感怀斯人已逝，风采犹存。
most of our images of her came out of Africa where， as a shirtsleeved1） ambassador for UNICEF2赫本的资料）， she walked in a ravaged Somalia， giving solace with that radiant smile—and focusing the world’s attention on a starving land. Last September she asked to be taken to the famine’s epicenter， a feeding camp in the town of Baidoa. As she arrived， she saw hundreds of small lifeless bodies being loaded onto trucks. The worst of it， she would later say， eyes welling with tears， was “the terrible silence.”
Life was a brave journey for Audrey Hepburn. She was， after all， a woman who spent much of her girlhood in Nazi-occupied Holland， subsisting for a time on flour made from tulip bulbs. Along with her starving grandparents， she received food from a relief agency—UNICEF’s precursor. “Your soul is nourished by all your experiences，” she once said. “It gives you baggage for the future—and ammunition3）， if you like.”
Hepburn’s journey ended last Wednesday in Tolochenaz， Switzerland， where， at 63， she succumbed to the colon4） cancer that had been diagnosed just two months before. Death found her in a merciful setting： on a mild springlike night at her beloved 18th-century stone farmhouse on Lake Geneva. “She was able to make only one trip in the last days，” says journalist Henry Gris， one of her oldest friends. “She went out into the garden. It’s very gray this time of year， but she wanted to see her flowers.” At the end she was surrounded by those she cherished most， including her companion of 12 years， Robert Wolders， 55. “He was very dedicated to her，” says Gris. Also at Hepburn’s bedside were her sons， Sean Ferrer， 33， and Luca Dotti， 22， and her beloved Jack Russell terriers.
For a time last week， as people recalled the luminous images of Hepburn in her 25 films， it seemed as if the whole world were in mourning. “You looked at her， and all you could think was that nothing bad should ever happen to her，” said actress Arlene Dahl. “If there was a cross between the salt of the earth5） and a regal queen.” said Shirley MacLaine， her costar in The Children’s Hour （1961）， “then she was it.”
Hepburn saw herself a bit differently. “I was born with an enormous need for affection，” she once said， “and a terrible need to give it.” Born Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston to an English-Irish banker father and a Dutch baroness6）， she had a near idyllic early childhood in Brussels. But her parents divorced when she was 9. Then came the war， and the baroness， seeking safe haven， moved with her daughter to her parents’ home in Arnhem. During Holland’s Nazi occupation， Hepburn carried messages for the Resistance in her ballet shoes. In time， as she would later recall， “the rationing started， and then， little by little， the reprisals7） began.” An uncle and cousin were shot； her elder half brother， Alexander， was conscripted to work in a Berlin factory. The once chubby girl became gaunt and frail. Certainly the memory of th
ose years never left her： More than a decade later she would turn down director George Stevens’ offer to make The Diary of Anne Frank because， she explained， “I could not deal with it.”
In 1948 the resilient teenager left for England to study ballet and landed a chorus girl’s part in a London production of High Button Shoes. Three years later， in Monte Carlo for a movie bit8）， she was spotted9） by the novelist Colette， who instantly realized that she had found the girl to play her Gigi10） on Broadway. That role won Hepburn a Theatre World Award in 1952， and then-after she kept a photo of Colette on her dressing table， inscribed， “To Audrey Hepburn， the treasure I found on the beach.”
After seeing her screen test， director William Wyler cast Hepburn in his 1953 film， Roman Holiday. “She’s not beautiful，” said the crusty11） Wyler after Audrey picked up an Oscar for the part， “but she gets to12） you.”
Over the years， of course， she didn’t get to everyone. Humphrey Bogart， perhaps nettled13） by her romance with their costar William Holden in 1954’s Sabrina， said she
was “OK if you like doing 36 takes.” And a film magazine she long outlasted called her “this weird hybrid with butchered14） hair.” But the movie-going public worshiped her， and eventually even Bogie recanted. “You take the Monroes and the Terry Moores，” he said， “and you know just what you’re going to get every time. With Audrey it’s kind of unpredictable. She’s like a good tennis player—she varies her shots.”
That she did—through a career that spanned divergent roles in which she somehow always maintained her ineffable15） aura of class. Though she had doubts about herself （“Oh， I’d like to be not so flat-chested，” she once said； “I’d like not to have such angular16） shoulders， such big feet， such a big nose”）， few other women saw these as flaws. A rail-thin gamine during the zaftig17） Zeitgeist18） of the 1950s， she created a new ideal of beauty and with the help of her friend designer Hubert de Givenchy， established an impeccable—and frenetically imitated—look predicated on simplicity.
Hepburn was chronically， hopelessly civilized. On locations the world over， she made it a priority to establish a sense of home， especially after her 1954 marriage to acto
r Mel Ferrer， whom she had met when they costarred in Broadway’s Ondine， a play that won her a Tony. Hepburn would clear hotel suites of standard-issue items and replace them with silver candlesticks， matching salt-and-pepper shakers， her own sheets.
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