Audrey Hepburn: 15 Facts About The Hollywood Legend

Check out 15 moving, exciting and interesting facts about the exceptional beautiful Audrey. Especially picture number 10 will make you laugh - stay curious!

Audrey Hepburn was not only Hollywood royalty, but blue blood actually flowed through her veins. Her mother was the Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra. Her father, Anthony Ruston, only assumed to be noble. Since he believed to be a descendant of Duke James Hepburn, the third husband of Queen Maria Stuart, he changed his surname to Hepburn-Ruston.

Previous to her big breakthrough, Audrey successfully completed her apprenticeship to become a dental assistant. Fortunately, Audrey then decided to prefer a life on stage though.

Audrey Hepburn started training to become a professional ballet-dancer. Due to subsequent damages based on undernourishment whilst the Second World War, Audrey couldn't keep up with the other dancers. Therefore, Audrey featured in just two musicals, My Fair Lady and Funny Face later on.

In an interview with the "People Magazine", Hepburn revealed that her large feet (size 41) have always been a huge problem for her. In addition, Audrey swore herself to never weigh more than 47 kilos at a size of 170 cm. With the exception of her two pregnancies, she even managed that!

Hubert de Givenchy designed the famous black dress Audrey wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The gorgeous piece was auctioned for not any less than $920.000 in 2006. The designer outfitted Audrey Hepburn in many more movies, such as Funny Face and Charade.

Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's, thought Hepburn was a "complete miscast" for the film adaptation of his novel. In his opinion, Marilyn Monroe would have been perfect for the role of "Holly Golightly". Later on, Audrey herself admitted that the part had not been her masterpiece: "I'm very introverted. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I've ever done."

With her part of "Eliza Doolittle" in My Fair Lady Audrey had problems in hindsight as well. Had she known that her singing would be dubbed over with the voice of Marni Nixon, Audrey would have never accepted the part.

Her favorite part was the one in Roman Holiday, in which she played a princess alongside Gregory Peck. The movies‘ director William Wyler originally wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the part but changed his mind in favor of Audrey. He wanted a counterpart to the Italian, more curvy archetype, and Audrey seemed to the perfect match – and she was gorgeous, just in another way.

For her performance in Roman Holiday, Audrey received the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress in 1954. Audrey received the Award by the Academy of Motion Pictures‘ president Jean Hersholt. What was special about that you ask? As she was handed the Award, the actress accidentally kissed him on his lips instead of his cheek. Concerning her huge excitement Miss Hepburn even almost forgot her prize in the lady's restroom. Not until the photographers wanted her to pose with her prize she noticed that she had left it.