I am a senior, and this week, I took my first and last Center for Constructive Alternatives lecture series ever — one featuring films inspired by the novels of Jane Austen.
One of my favorite pastimes is watching old films or those inspired by old books. Hillsdale’s film CCAs come in handy for those who are like me. After all the years of waiting for the CCA that is right for me, I have been disappointed that no one has thought of a CCA series to feature the films of one Belgian actress who made her way to the United States and became an American sweetheart of the cinema: Audrey Hepburn.
I’ve always had a slight obsession with the actress-turned-humanitarian who has embodied what it means to be “classy” for generations. I’ve read three biographies on her, watched a documentary, and over quarantine alone, watched 12 of her films.
According to biographer Pamela Keogh, when Hepburn came on the scene, she was a sheepish, doe-eyed waif who was insecure about her nose and large feet, yet spoke softly and eloquently, drawing directors in with her charm and receiving her first lead role in “Roman Holiday.”
But it’s not just Hepburn’s acting skills that make her an extraordinary icon worth watching and studying. Only a slight look into Hepburn’s childhood will tell you that the actress, originally from Brussels, lived through the tragedies of World War II and the German occupation of the Netherlands, where she eventually moved as a young child. The people of the city of Arnhem, where she lived during German occupation, suffered from starvation. Due to her malnourishment during this time, Hepburn suffered health complications throughout the remainder of her life.
During Hepburn’s childhood, her parents divorced and her father abandoned the family. In a biography by Hepburn’s son, Sean Ferrer, he says that this broken relationship caused grave emotional pain for his mother, even in her adult life. Nevertheless, the young Hepburn continued to develop herself into a cultured and well-read young woman.
As a child, Hepburn would create pencil drawings of her mother and scenes of her childhood. Due to her family’s regular moves across Europe, she learned six languages.
Hepburn also loved to dance, and hoped as a young girl to someday become a prima ballerina, but this was an impossibility due to the malnourishment she suffered during the war.
Hepburn’s shattered dreams of becoming a ballerina eventually guided her to become an actress, a job that would bring joy to the hearts and tears to the eyes of moviegoers everywhere.
Her first notable role as Princess Ann in “Roman Holiday” would christen Hepburn as movie magic royalty for the remainder of her life. The film tells of a young princess who is exhausted with her structured schedule and royal duties, only to run away for a day in Rome. She gets a short haircut, eats gelato, explores the Roman sites, rides around on a moped, and dances with strangers, all alongside a charming reporter played by Gregory Peck.
Hepburn’s character in the film is in search of her identity apart from her inherited position in life — a message that is prevalent in her films.
In “My Fair Lady,” Hepburn plays poor flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who learns from a phonetics professor how to properly speak and act like a lady. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” features Hepburn as a gold-digging and emotionally disrupted Holly Golightly, who is running away from her old life and constantly distancing herself from those who care about her in order to be what she believes is “free.” In “Two for the Road,” she plays Monica Mancini, a woman who relives her love story with her husband as they travel through Europe while preparing for a divorce.
The films featuring Hepburn also include those based on classic books that have impacted culture over the years, like “War and Peace” and “Green Mansions.”
A common theme among Hepburn’s films is the act of running away from one’s present identity or circumstances. It gives a perspective that was prevalent among those who suffered through the tragedies of World War II and searched for identity after the world they once knew had been marred by the tragedies under Nazi Germany.
Hepburn worked with some of the best in the business, whether it be Billy Wilder, who directed her film “Sabrina,” fashion designers, like her good friend, Hubert de Givenchy, and her leading men, like actors Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, and William Holden.
Hepburn’s influence as an actress didn’t end with movies. She believed in giving a future like hers to other young people. As Hepburn’s movie-making career came to a close, she committed herself to humanitarian work with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) by traveling to foreign countries to help those in underprivileged communities.
“Immediately after the war, an organization, which later became UNICEF, instantly came in with the Red Cross and brought relief for the people in the form of food, medication, and clothes,” she said, according to Ferrer’s biography. “All the local schools were turned into relief centers. I was one of the beneficiaries with the other children. I’ve known about UNICEF my whole life.”
The story of Audrey Hepburn is the American story. Her films explore the lives of many who struggle with everyday troubles and want to escape to a new reality. She has forever left a mark on Hollywood and what it means to “do it all” with style, class, and grace.
Audrey Hepburn deserves her own CCA film series at Hillsdale, because I don’t know who tells the American story in a more fantastic way.
Isabella Redjai is a senior George Washington Fellow studying political economy.
