TIMELINE

1950

Cecil Landeau's modeling bookings and audience interest in Audrey Hepburn saw her potential as a lead for his next "Sauce" project. To further her studies as a performer, he introduced her to coach Felix Aylmer.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

April

17th – At a preview performance of Sauce Piquante at the Palace Theatre in London, her costume is designed by Honoria Pleach and David De Bethell.

_{Source: In pictures: the 20th Century in Britain, November 7, 2008, The Telegraph; Alamy.}

Audrey modeling at her third dance revue in Sauce Piquante at the Cambridge Theater, London.

27th – Cecil Landeau’s Sauce Piquante show opened in Cambridge Theatre, London. Decor and Costumes designed by Honoria Plesch. Model Dresses and Evening Gowns by David de Bethell. Choreography by Buddy Bradley and Andree Howard.Part I’s Sauce Piquante, Audrey plays the chef’s assistant. Lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons.Part II’s Staff Abandon, Audrey plays one of the Page Staff. Music by Jack Nathan.Part II’s Lisette, Audrey partners with Marcel Le Bon as the First Couple. Lyric by J. Orban and Georges Korel. Music by Louis Master and Marcel Le Bon.Part II’s The Loveliest Thing, Audrey plays Champagne. Choreography by Konarski and Andree Howard.Part II’s Montmartre, Audrey is part of Les Girls. Lyrics by Douglas Byng. Music by Norman HackforthPart II’s Could We But Change Our Jobs, Audrey plays Golfer.

30th – While working as a chorus girl for Sauce Piquante in London’s West End, Audrey accepts modeling assignments, which include this photo session with photographer Bert Hardy for the Picture Post magazine, an established UK publication. The location was shot on a Sunday at the famous Kew Gardens and Richmond Park for the feature titled “We Take A Girl To Look For Spring.” Published on May 13th, 1950.

_{Source: Becky Pemberton, Before she was famous: Rare black-and-white images show a 21-year-old Audrey Hepburn exploring London's parks, May 17, 2016, DailyMail.com}

May

13th – The Picture Post magazine feature titled “We Take A Girl To Look For Spring" is published. Photographed by Bert Hardy.

_{Source: Becky Pemberton, Before she was famous: Rare black-and-white images show a 21-year-old Audrey Hepburn exploring London's parks, May 17, 2016, DailyMail.com}

25th – Audrey’s father, Joseph Hepburn-Ruston, remarried to an Irish native, Alice Fidelma Walshe, who is three years older than Audrey.

Autumn

Audrey is cast as Chiquita for the film The Lavender Hill Mob.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

October

30th – Audrey is interviewed for the possible role of Nora for The Secret People.Excerpt:
_{Interviews with Geoffrey Hibbert, possible Steenie; and Audrey Hepburn, possible Nora. With Padovani and Reggiani at least tentatively in mind for the leads, the height of potential members of the cast begins to assume importance. Neither of them is tall, so to a certain extent the rest of the cast must be scaled to them. This of course applies particularly to Nora — a slight discouragement to Audrey Hepburn. From now on all actors interviewed are sternly measured against the office wall.}

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

November

2nd – During lunchtime, Andree Howard discusses Nora’s part in the story and looks into the choreography with a dancer in mind to test for Nora.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

15th – The test must be postponed due to production shooting on The Lavender Hill Mob.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

TIMELINE

1951

January

24th – Attends the first night of the production play The Gay Invalid in the Festival Theatre (now known as Malvern Theatres) in London.

_{Source: Getty Images, Theatricalia, Wikipedia.}

February

22nd – Attends the 4th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) held at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn's "Portraits: Audrey Hepburn - Rare Footage" Youtube.}

23rd – Two girls are tested for the role of Nora: in the morning, a dancer; in the afternoon, Audrey Hepburn.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

“The moment I saw her I realized she was perfect for the part of Nora, my young ballerina sister in The Secret People, a British spy thriller directed by Thorold Dickinson. I was struck by the slender grace of her figure and the big doe eyes that gazed awestruck at everything around her. I didn't know her name - even less than one day she would be Audrey Hepburn - but I was aware that the willowy 23-year-old had a certain something that other teenagers who flocked to screen tests lacked. We bumped into each other at the studio cafe after the auditions were over. Dickinson had decided against her, but she didn't know that yet. She glanced at me and asked, 'Do you think I’ve got it?' I was embarrassed, then realized I had to do something. I hurried over to Dickinson to persuade him to change his mind. Because he adored me, he was prepared to listen to what I had to say. I insisted she was perfect for the part. The graceful way she moved, her elegant posture - how could he not see it? I even said there was a physical resemblance between us. There wasn't, but I didn't matter. In the end Dickinson came round and Audrey got the part.”“And I was proved right because she was perfect in the ballet scenes. She didn't look like an actress trying to play a ballerina. She was both. When I think of Audrey's dancing, I'm reminded of Carla Fracci. They share something of the same purity, the same lightness of movement, the same grace. The radiance that illuminated Audrey's face then illuminates Carla's now. On stage and off. During the making of the film, we became close friends. In fact, I treated her as if she really was my younger sister. The movie received wonderful reviews when it came out. We started going to gala dinners and evenings that were held in some of London's most exclusive clubs. At that time, it was fashionable for women to smoke cigarillos, so Audrey and I would make public appearances puffing cigarillos in long holders. We had great fun.”- Valentina Cortese, co-star from The Secret People

26th – Audrey wins the role of Nora from The Secret People.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

March

7th – Audrey tested for make-up, lighting, and costume for The Secret People.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

14th – Further makeup tests are shot on Audrey in her ballet costume.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

16th – Audrey, in attendance, for the ballet music to be recorded for playback at the Bedford; conducted by Ernest Irving with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

18th – Shooting the ballet’s last shot.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

19th – At 8:30am at the Bedford, the set is on the “arduous task of shooting the entire ballet in two days.” It is a very chilly day with 47 artistes—half of them in evening dresses.Excerpt:
_{The ladies shiver and draw their wraps around them: the exit doors are lodged open by the cables which carry power to the lamps from the Paxman generator in the alley outside.}At 9:00am, the audience sits waiting for their schedule and payment. By 9:30am, the Corps de Ballet are dressed and, in their stalls, waiting for their performance. By 12:30 pm, Audrey and John perform on stage.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

20th – The final close-up shot was of Audrey and John embracing excitedly after the curtain had descended.

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

April

9th – The Press have arrived on the set of Clark’s Rehearsal Rooms to interview stars and director of The Secret People. Valentina, who plays Maria and the sister of Audrey’s character, Nora, maintains that the publicity must be professional and not overstep personal boundaries:“Of course, I realize that if an actress is popular, it is more than just her acting... It's her personality too, and people want to know about her, to feel they are in touch with her. And sometimes that can be very touching. But we must be allowed to have our own lives. In Hollywood it is terrible; they expect you to be their slave; you have to be ready to do anything for them, at any time, not just when you're making a picture.”Valentina shudders, turns to Audrey, and advises her: “Think hard before you sign a long-term contract, liberty is the most wonderful thing of all.”Audrey has her concerns as well by the amount of publicity she received without the public seeing what she has to offer as an actress, “... And they'll get sick of it. I'd much rather wait until I have something to show — instead of risking a tremendous anti-climax when people finally do start seeing the first little bits I've done in films.”

_{Source: Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film: The Story of ‘Secret People’, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1952.}

"After The Secret People we went our different ways but kept in touch by phone. Audrey considered me a sort of big sister she could turn to every now and then for advice. I was the one who pushed her to accept a part in Jean Boyer's Monte Carlo Baby, for example, which she was reluctant to do because it was smaller than the part she'd had before. I did so because it was a prestigious production. Once again, my intervention was a fortunate one. While filming a scene at the Hotel de Paris, Audrey was spotted by Colette who immediately asked her to play the title role of Gigi when it transferred to Broadway. And that was a triumph. After this life took us on our separate ways. We met up a number of times in Rome and occasionally Paris. Then she exited the stage. Gracefully. Silently. Like a ballerina. Walking on her points."
- Valentina Cortese, co-star from The Secret People

Audrey accepts the offer to play a film in both dual languages; her role is Linda Farrel in Monte Carlo Baby in English and Melissa Walter in Nous irons à Monte-Carlo in French.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

May

26th – Finalizes her Monte Carlo Baby contract in Paris.

_{Source: Meghan Friedlander, Audrey Hepburn in Paris, February 13, 2024, Harvest.}

June

Filming Monte Carlo Baby in Monaco. While shooting inside the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, she caught the eye of French writer, Colette.

_{Source: Meghan Friedlander, Audrey Hepburn in Paris, February 13, 2024, Harvest.}

"It was in 1951 at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, while I was watching a rehearsal on the set of the film Monte Carlo Baby. I was shooting pictures right and left. Then I saw this girl. She was in a corner of the room discussing a step with one of the dancers. I was absolutely floored by her. She stood out like an orchid in a patch of weeds.""I approached her and asked her if it would be possible to go out on a photo session to some picturesque backgrounds. She accepted and we went out the following day in my small two-seater car, a 1930 Mathis.""After having made a few pictures in Monte Carlo, we drove to the medieval village of Eze, high up on the Corniche Road. The old car nearly did not make it up the hill and as I had practically no brakes, we were in danger of slipping backwards. We finally got to Eze safely, but when we wanted to go back to Monte Carlo the car would not start. So Audrey had to push it until we got to a steep hill leading down to the corniche. She couldn’t have been nicer about the whole thing. She obligingly changed costumes several times and drove from location to location."- Edward Quinn, photographer

_{Source: Edward Quinn, Audrey Hepburn, The Edward Quinn Archive.}

Photographs copyrighted to photographer Edward Quinn.

When Edward Quinn showed Audrey the prints, "she was very excited" and asked if they could send them to her agent in Hollywood. Of course, Quinn agreed.

_{Source: Edward Quinn, Audrey Hepburn, The Edward Quinn Archive.}

July

18th – She went with her agent, Jack Dunfee, to the Les Ambassadeurs club in London. There, she met Lord James Hanson:"We met at a cocktail party in Mayfair at Les Ambassadeurs, a very popular place, and we were attracted to each other right away. I invited her for lunch next day, we soon fell in love, became engaged a few months later.""We met at a party and was I lucky! I knew I wanted to marry him the first day I met him. It was love at first sight," Audrey once told reporter Earl Wilson.She also met and befriended columnist Radie Harris. Other guest at the private club were Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Huston, and Sam Spiegel.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster; Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group; Radie Harris, Audrey Hepburn-The Girl, The Gamin, And The Star, Photoplay March 1955; Earl Wilson, What She Doesn't Have – She Doesn't Need—Audrey Hepburn, Screen Magazine June 1954.}

19th – Audrey went on a lunch date with Lord James Hanson.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster; Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

Producer Gilbert Miller and Playwright Anita Loos arrived in London. Anita met Audrey first in her suite at the Savoy Hotel.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

September

1st – A photoshoot session for Paris Match at her South Audley Street apartment in Mayfair, London.

Audrey with Gigi producer Gilbert Miller in front of The St. James Theater during the Festival of Britain in London. The posters in the back: Caesar and Cleopatra and Anthony and Cleopatra stars Sir Laurence Oliver and Vivien Leigh, both projects also produced by Miller.

_{Source: Viv and Larry, IBDB.}

“Mr. Wyler came to London and I met him and his wife at his hotel. We talked about the picture and he agreed I could be tested for it. I made the test, which he arranged for me, as he wasn’t able to stay in London, and it wasn’t long before I heard the great news, I could do Roman Holiday and that I was under contract with Paramount.”
- Audrey Hepburn

_{Source: Jane Wilkie, Audrey Hepburn, Modern Screen November 1953.}

18th – Audrey’s screen test for Roman Holiday at the Pinewood Studios. Thorold Dickinson directing. Other players – Lionel Murton and Cathleen Nesbitt. Two scenes from Roman Holiday script and an interview.

_{Source: Ian Woodward, 1984, Audrey Hepburn, St Martins Press.}

Late September – Audrey starts packing her belongings to go to the United States to start the rehearsals for Gigi. Her mother, Ella, couldn’t go with her due to her job as building manager (and possibly due to visa issues), and her boyfriend, James Hanson, promised to take Ella with him on the opening night of Gigi.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

October

4th – Arriving in New York at daybreak on the Queen Mary liner, Audrey anticipates the sights of the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of Manhattan. Gigi's producer, George Miller, made sure she was booked in first class._{Original Caption: Lovely British actress Audrey Hepburn lights up with a charming smile as she leaves the Queen Mary, October 4, upon her arrival from England. Miss Hepburn is here to star in the forthcoming Anita Loos-Gilbert Miller play, Gigi, which will open on Broadway in November. Miss Hepburn, who is 22, was born in Brussels of Dutch and English parentage.}“I was twenty-two when I went to New York to do Gigi. I sailed, especially, as I wanted to approach America by sea for the first time, and was dying to see the New York skyline and the famous Statue of Liberty. Of course, it was my luck that we arrived about three o’clock in the morning. It was pitch dark, and I stood freezing in a nylon nightie in front of my porthole, and saw nothing.”“I had a great day, I was shown New York, and went to my first baseball game immediately. Within two hours of my arrival in New York, I was standing in the Yankee Stadium, cheering my head off at a great game which I knew nothing all about, but found very exciting.”

_{Note: The baseball game marked the start of the 1951 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. The Giants winning Game 1 at 5-1.}

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster, Getty Images; Jane Wilkie, Audrey Hepburn, Modern Screen November 1953.}

November

Audrey's brother, Ian Quarles van Ufford, marries Yvonne Scholtens.

_{Source: Robert Matzen, Ian Quarles van Ufford Audrey Hepburn, April 2021.}

24th – Gigi opens at the Fulton Theater on 46th street. Not only was Audrey nervous, she had influenza, “… And right at the climax I forgot my lines and everything stopped. A whole speech was missed out. But I managed to pull round and last out until the final curtain.”

_{Source: Ian Woodward, 1984, Audrey Hepburn, St Martins Press.}

28th – LIFE magazine assigned photographer Milton H. Greene to take publicity images of Audrey in a sailor outfit at the Barrymore Theater, New York City.

In the evening, Audrey and her boyfriend, James Hanson, attend the opening of I Am a Camera at the Empire Theater in New York City.

December

1st – At the El Morocco restaurant with her boyfriend, James Hanson, in New York City. He pulled a diamond ring out of his pocket and asked Audrey to marry him after her run at Gigi ends. She accepts his proposal.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn; Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

4th – The London Times announced the engagement of Audrey Hepburn and James Hanson. It is scheduled to be a September wedding at the Huddersfield Parish Church in Yorkshire, England.“Mr J. E. Hanson and Miss A. Hepburn: The engagement is announced between James, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Hanson, of Norwood Grange, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and Audrey Hepburn, daughter of Baroness Ella van Heemstra, of 65, South Audley Street, London, W.1.”
_{Source: The London Times.}

Audrey was a guest at the morning talk show, The Margaret Arlen Program, in New York City. Note: This is listed as one of the lost television episodes. Afterward, the newly engaged couple enjoyed the sights around Rockefeller.

Audrey's living was upgraded to a three-room suite in the Blackstone Hotel on 58th Street between Madison and Park Avenue. Pictured above, in the evening, she moved her belongings and congratulatory flowers from her old room to the new suite.

5th – Makes a guest appearance on the daytime talk show Tex and Jinx Show; she is photographed with actress and model Eugenia Lincoln ‘Jinx’ Falkenburg in the first photo and with Tex McCrary in the second.

Lawrence Fried photographs Audrey in and out of the Broadway theater, and in her apartment. The images were published for Esquire's June 1952 issue with the editorial titled Schooled to be Scandalous.

_{Source: Iconic Licensing}

6th – Photographed for the New York press. Caption: Audrey Hepburn star of Broadway play "Gigi" shows new waist nippers.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

_{Courtesy of CBS Sunday Morning.}

21st – Audrey appeared on the television show We, the People, on Season 4, Episode 16. Episode aired 21 Dec, 1951.

_{Source: IMDB.}

Audrey went to Gilbert Miller's Christmas party, Vivien Leigh also attended. Miller is a theater producer who worked on Gigi and Caesar and Cleopatra.Transcript from Rare Audrey Hepburn:“Lady Olivier, accompanied by Sir Laurence Olivier, wore a dress of grey tulle. The Oliviers are having a tremendous success in both Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra, which Mr. Gilbert Miller presented in New York just before Christmas, and which are undoubtedly the outstanding shows of the theatre world there this winter.“"Other theatrical people there were Mr. Cole Porter, whose tunes have kept so many shoes tapping during the past twenty years, Robert Helpmann and the young English actress Audrey Hepburn, who looked delightful in black tulle. She has made a tremendous hit in Gigi, another of Mr. Miller’s presentations on Broadway this winter, a comedy by Anita Loos from Colette’s novel.“

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn Website, Instagram.}

TIMELINE

1952

January

18th – Audrey's schedule on a Friday.○ 11:30am; an hour at the dentist
○ 1:30pm to 3:40pm; photoshoot for a national woman’s magazine
○ 3:45pm; dress-fitting for a March of Dimes fashion parade
○ 4:30pm; interview with Paramount who have her under contract
○ 5:30pm; a quick call on a friends’ cocktail party
○ 6:00pm; interviewed by a newspaperman at Sardi’s
○ 7:30pm; at the theater to get ready for the night’s performance

_{Source: Louis Sheaffer, Curtain Time, January 22, 1952, pg. 6, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.}

On Her Sudden Rush of Success
Audrey: "I'm enjoying myself more these days, but otherwise... Things around you change, but you don't, just because something wonderful has happened to you—you're still the same person."On Stage
Audrey: "It was a big effort for me on opening night to speak on a stage, to act on a stage. It calls for constant alertness and effort. I have no technique or experience to rely on. If I don't live the part and make everything genuine, there's nothing left. If I don't believe everything I'm saying or doing, it's so false."On Learning
Audrey: "Admittedly, I'm learning as I go along. I learn every moment, every day. I find out more about the part all the time. Dick Bender—he's the person I rely on completely. He's our stage manager, a wonderful person. I have to have a master I can go to and ask if my sums are correct. He keeps close watch on the show, since the director isn't around any more, and he'll say, 'This was good,' or 'You're starting to miss out there.' He'll say, 'It's strange, but for two nights you didn't do this, and it was so attractive before, but you're not doing it now.' And you know, I wasn't aware until he mentioned it that I had been doing it. I wasn't doing it technically. I could be doing a certain thing for weeks and still not be aware of it. That's the unfortunate thing about not having technique and experience."The Past
During the interview, she lets the reporter know that she doesn't like to talk about her wartime experiences.Status on fiancée James Hanson
Working in Canada and flying down during the weekends to be with Audrey.On Loneliness and Homesickness
Audrey: "No, I've never felt it, but then I'm never alone. It's been a constant rush ever since I came to this country. There's so much to do. America has so many newspapers and magazines to fill. There are photographs to be taken and interviews and charities, you know; appearances for organizations like the March of Dimes and the Heart Fund. I have a terrible lot of mail, which I haven't had time to answer. And there's the letter I write every day to Mother—she's in London, but I'm hoping she will come to visit me this spring."In Conclusion
Audrey: "Before the play opened, I thought it would be wonderful if I'm accepted as an actress, if I'm tolerated. It's the most fabulous thing ever—to me. It's a miracle that I should've had this success."

_{Source: Louis Sheaffer, Curtain Time, January 22, 1952, pg. 6, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.}

24th – Her first sitting session with Parkinson for British Vogue.

February

Audrey as Gigi for the cover of Theater Arts February 1952 issue.

10th – Audrey guest stars on Ed Sullivan's CBS weekly variety show "Toast of the Town." She performs in the Nine Days A Queen segment with Michael Evans in New York City. Later in the episode, Ed Sullivan interviews Audrey and producer Gilbert Miller about Gigi.Guests: Audrey Hepburn, Michael Evans, Roberta Peters, Bobby Thompson, Ralph Branca, Steve Evans, Evelyn ChandlerSeason 4, episode 191.

_{Source: Getty Images; CTVA; Timeless Audrey.}

March

23rd – Photographed in a violet evening dress for The American Magazine.

_{Source: Iconic Images Gallery.}

May

A photoshoot session photographed by Erwin Blumenfeld at his studio at 222 Central Park South, New York City.

20th – Author and critic Daniel Blum selected twelve Thespians as the "Most Promising Personalities of The Broadway Stage"—winners received their plaques at the Hotel Algonquin. Left to right are Julie Harris of I Am a Camera, Audrey Hepburn of Gigi, and Tony Bavaar of Paint Your Wagon.

_{Source: Getty Images}

24th – Hepburn is the guest of honor at a luncheon at the Twenty-One Club given by John McNamee Sullivan and Mrs. Samuel F. Pryor Jr., co-chairman of the Adjacent Hunts Racing Meeting at Purchase, New York.

On the same day, Gigi closes at the Fulton Theater, New York City. 217-performance run.

_{Source: Audrey Hepburn to Be Feted, May 13th, 1952, pg 19, New York Times; Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

25th – Audrey appears on Ed Sullivan's CBS weekly variety show "Toast of the Town." In the Anne of the Thousand Days segment, Audrey plays Anne Boleyn and her co-star Rex Harrison as Henry VIII of England.Guests: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Jack Smith, Alan and Blanche Lund, Ginny Smith / Ginny Simms, Elliot Reid, Norm Dygon, Elton HayesSeason 5, episode 206._{Note: Audrey reunites with Rex Harrison in the musical film My Fair Lady.}

_{Source: Getty Images; CTVA; Anne Boleyn Obsessed.}

June

4th – From New York, Audrey boards the Queen Elizabeth liner to the United Kingdom to have a leisure vacation before leaving to Rome to start filming Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Getty Images: Source 1, Source 2.}

Columnist and friend Radie Harris invited Audrey to come see Noël Coward's Quadrille play at the Phoenix Theater in London. The play was directed by the author, Coward; costumes and scenery were by Cecil Beaton; and it starred Coward's friends Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, with Griffith Jones, Marian Spencer, and Sylvia Coleridge. Harris took Hepburn to Lunt's dressing room, and she was flabbergasted when Lunt asked her about Roman Holiday.She later confided to Harris, "When I marry James, I want to give up at least a year to just being a wife to him. I can't do that now with the road tour of Gigi ahead of me and then the Roman Holiday film on location in Italy."_{Play Note: Quadrille opened on 12 September 1952 and ended on 27 June 1953. It was fairly successful and ran for 329 performances. Alfred Hunt would reunite with Audrey in directing the Broadway version of Ondine.}

_{Source: Radie Harris, Audrey Hepburn - The Girl, The Gamin And The Star, Photoplay March 1955; Wikipedia; Digital Collection NYPL.}

22nd – Audrey and her fiancé James Hanson attend Paramount’s cocktail party to celebrate the beginning production of Roman Holiday in Cinecittà Studios (in Italian for Cinema City) located in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Alamy.}

23rd – Roman Holiday's first day of production.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

25th – Audrey with co-star Gregory Peck sharing a laugh during the filming of Roman Holiday.

30th – Reporter Wanda Hale on meeting Audrey on Monday in Rome.

“I first met Audrey in Rome in 1952 when I visited the set in a grand castle of a Roman prince, where the ballroom scene from Roman Holiday was being shot. It was the last day of June. A heat wave hit the Continent, Italy hardest of it all. The temperature soared to 108 degrees. In this castle there was no air conditioning. No electric fans bellowing that would mar the photographer’s work. Candles dipped in ice water to prevent instant drooping lit up the vast ballroom, making the place hotter than hades. I was doing a feature piece on the ballroom scene, not interviewing Audrey. But I met the new young actress and was impressed by her soft, dark eyes, the winning smile and her easy manner in meeting strangers.""In a billowing white and silver ball gown and a diamond tiara, she looked as fragile as a Dresden figurine and every inch the princess she was playing in her first American movie. While everyone else was complaining of the stifling heat, she bore up like a West Pointer on parade under a July sun.""Few words were exchanged between us, but I do recall that she said, 'You shouldn’t be here in this awful heat. You should be sitting in some cool place with a nice cold drink in your hand.'”

_{Source: Wanda Hale, How Awful About Audrey!, Motion Picture May 1964.}

July

1st – Celebrating Roman Holiday director William Wyler's birthday. Photographed with Gregory Peck, Peck's wife Greta Kukkonen (divorced in 1955), and Eddie Albert.

August

25th – With her fiancé, British businessman James Hanson, on the terrace of her apartment in Rome.

_{Source: Alamy}

“I was able to spend time with her in the flat that the company found for her and her mother on the Via Boncompagni. They would do shots of Audrey, and Greg would be in a trailer waiting to do his stuff. He and I would go into the Caffé Greco on the Via Condotti and play gin rummy for hours. I enjoyed being there, encouraging her and watching her. We were going to be married as soon as Roman Holiday was finished. All the plans were made.”
- James Hanson, her fiancé

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

September

1st – Audrey with her co-stars Eddie Albert and Gregory Peck walking on the ancient Colosseum in Rome, Italy.

15th – Audrey and co-star Gregory Peck playing cards during a break in shooting Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

18th – Audrey on the set of final scene of Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

“The last scene in the picture was in fact the last scene we were shooting. It was done in sequence for once. And if you remember, Greg and I have to say goodbye. In the car. And that’s it. We have to separate. And clearly, I was supposed to cry. And it was late night and I was tired and I played the scene very nicely and everything, but tears didn’t come and I didn’t know how to make them come. I haven’t ever tried or learned unless they came perfectly naturally and nothing was happening.”“And Willie Wilder came over to our little car and gave me hell. Now, he’d always been so adorable and very gentle to me and, as I said, always bringing out the best in me and everything. He really let me have it. And I burst into tears, and he shot the scene. And that’s how he made me cry.”- Audrey Hepburn, 1990

_{Source: AFI Catalog; Richard Brown, Reflections on the Silver Screen, April 26th, 1990.}

23rd – Audrey fitting in her wedding gown designed by Zoe Fontana in Rome.“Audrey wanted complete discretion. She had lots of fittings. The dress was in white lace with a flowing train, and it had a long line of tiny buttons down the back. Audrey had a 21-in waist. She wanted to wear a crown of flowers,” reveals Micol Fontana, one of the three sisters who founded the couture house.“Two weeks before the wedding was due, she telephoned and said, ‘The wedding’s off, but I want my dress to be worn by another girl for her wedding, perhaps someone who could never afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful poor Italian girl you can find.’"

_{Source: Getty Images; Hello Magazine 2002.}

30th – Audrey reunites with her fiancé, James Hanson, at the Northolt Airport in London, England.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

October

1st – In London, Audrey was with her mother and fiancé at the hotel to prepare for her flight to New York to work on the Gigi road tour.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

2nd – Audrey and her fiancé, James Hanson, arrived from Rome at New York's Idlewild Airport.She prepares for the Gigi road tour; the booking schedule includes Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The tour runs eight months and ends in spring 1953.

_{Source: Getty Images; Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

11th – Roman Holiday's final day of production at Cinecittà Studios, Rome.

_{Source: AFI Catalog; Richard Brown.}

13th – Opened Gigi at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

December

James Hanson joins Audrey at the Chicago run so they can spend Christmas together.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

James Hanson returns to England.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

15th – The London Times announced that the engagement between Audrey and James Hanson has ended."It occurred to me while the play was in Cleveland and Jimmy in England that if we were finding it difficult to even arrange a wedding, what would it be like later on? I decided it would be unfair for Jimmy to marry him when I was also in love with, and tied to, my work. He agreed.”
- Audrey Hepburn“I got the impression Audrey had reflected upon it and wanted to take it up again that Christmas. But I believed she had made the right decision and that it wouldn’t be right to backtrack on it—not for any reasons of spite. You couldn’t be spiteful about Audrey. She was just too delightful. She tried to make a reconciliation but by that time, I felt I could not go back. We spent a happy Christmas together in Chicago, after which we parted as good friends.”
- James Hanson

_{Source: Ian Woodward, 1984, Audrey Hepburn, St Martins Press; Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster; Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

At 80 years old, James Hanson detailed his own account of what happened between him and Audrey.“It was a strange situation. My mother had got the 50 chickens ready for the wedding reception, and we had all the presents, but the fact was Audrey just did not want to get married at the time.”“Yes, I was upset. We were very much in love. I could show you home movies of Audrey and me in the dressing room at Gigi in New York making the sort of gestures that people in love make. We were a very happy couple. I would see her occasionally after that, but she soon took up with Mel Ferrer.”In 1959, James married an American divorcee, Geraldine Kaelin, with whom he had two children. “I am not disappointed I did not marry her [Audrey]. I have been with my wife for 43 years, which is good going.”Though he did not know that Audrey gave away her wedding dress:“It was just the sort of gesture she would have made, but I do not know how they found anyone with her figure. It’s just typical of Audrey, another example of her generosity.”James Hanson passed away in Newbury, England, on November 1st, 2004, at the age of 82. 🕊️

_{Source: Hello Magazine 2002.}

"James and I will always be good friends, but it wouldn't be fair to marry him because there can be no splitting yourself up in all directions. You have to work as hard at marriage as at a career and the two just don't go together."“I’m not afraid of marriage itself, I am afraid of marriage and a career. I would like to marry when I can give to my marriage the same complete devotion I give my career.”“Perhaps when I have four or five unreleased pictures and am established and can take off for a couple of years, I will get married. But when I get married, I want it to work, and marriage to Jimmy (Hanson) wouldn’t work as long as he would be in England on business, and I in Hollywood making films. I want to be with the man I love and I’m not one who believes absence makes the heart grow fonder.”- Audrey Hepburn

_{Source: Joe Hyams, Why Audrey Hepburn Was Afraid of Marriage, January 1954, Filmland.}

TIMELINE

1953

March

During the Gigi tour in Washington, Audrey visits John F. Kennedy's office."I remember Audrey Hepburn, and I remember how the whole office was impressed when she walked in. She was as graceful as a swan and carried a long, slim red umbrella."
- Mary Gallagher, secretary of John F. Kennedy"Audrey Hepburn was seen a couple of times leaving his place in Georgetown very late at night, but it seemed so improbable back in those days for a United States senator and a movie star to be involved–the worlds were just so different back then–that nobody thought much of it."
- Washington journalist

_{Source: Christopher Andersen, Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage, January 1, 1996, William Morrow & Co.}

31st – Audrey Hepburn staying at the Exeter Hotel in Seattle, Washington.

_{Source: Christie's.}

May

16th – The road tour of Gigi closes in San Francisco.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

21st – She arrives at London Airport (later known as Heathrow Airport) and attends a cocktail party in her honor for completing the filming of Roman Holiday at the Claridges Hotel in London, England. The cake spells out “Welcome Home.”

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn, Vintage Everyday}

A photo session at her London home for the Sunday Pictorial.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

Gregory Peck and Mel Ferrer were very close friends and business partners. In 1947, Ferrer co-founded The La Jolla Playhouse with Peck and Dorothy McGuire in San Diego, California, to put together theater productions.In the spring, Ferrer was scheduled to work in England for Knights of the Round Table and accepted Peck's offer to stay at his Elstree flat near London while filming.

30th – Gregory Peck ask his friend, Mel Ferrer, to call Audrey to confirm an invitation to his flat. From Mel's own words:"My life with Audrey started in London when Greg Peck introduced us at an afternoon reception given in Audrey's honor by her cousins. But, actually, I talked to her before we were introduced. Greg asked me to call and accept the invitation for both of us. I rang the number, said, 'Hello,' and that I would like to leave a message for Audrey Hepburn. Being a cautious individual, I added that I hoped it would reach her.""A cheery voice answered: 'It certainly will, this is Audrey.'""At the time, I was surprised at her being so direct. Almost everyone else would have pretended to be someone else, answering that they would deliver the message. Now, I know that this gesture was typical of Audrey.""We met the next day and talked very briefly. As I recall, the conversation centered on the theatre. Before it ended, we were talking of doing a play together in New York."

_{Source: Mel Ferrer, Audrey..., Modern Woman December 1959. Scan by Audrey's Own Words.}

31st – The first in-person meeting between Mel and Audrey. A columnist and friend of Audrey's, Radie Harris, is also invited to Gregory Peck's flat.“Our very first meeting was in London, at a film party, and it was very formal. I was enchanted by meeting him, very interested to meet him. I’d loved his performance in the film Lili. The thing I remember most about that first meeting was that I thought he was so serious. He didn’t smile. I liked him… but that was all. He’d seen me on Broadway, in Gigi, and we talked about doing a play together, the way actors and actresses do. And we said that if either of us found a play that would suit us, we’d send it to the other.”
- Audrey Hepburn"... Speaking of Mel Ferrer brings me to another flashback. The time is May 31, 1953, and the setting is again London – two days before the Coronation. Greg Peck, who had a charming duplex flat in Grosvenor Square, invited me to drop by for cocktails. When I arrived, I was delighted, but not the least surprised, to find two other chums – Audrey and Mel."
- Radie Harris, columnist

_{Source: Radie Harris, Audrey Hepburn - The Girl, The Gamin And The Star, Photoplay March 1955; David Stone, Audrey Hepburn Talks About ‘My Husband Mel Ferrer’, March 10th, 1956, Everybody’s Weekly.}

June

During Audrey’s stay in London, Mel had taken her to the theater a few times.

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

4th – Mel Ferrer's film Knights of the Round Table starts production.

July

11th – At New York’s Idlewild Airport (now known as JFK), Audrey boards the Swissair plane for a flight to Zürich, Switzerland. She told reporters that she would like to take a vacation and then go to England to make another film.

_{Source: Getty Image, Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

12th – Audrey arrives in Zürich, Switzerland.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

Around July, Paramount Studios made the appointment for Audrey to meet French designer Hubert de Givenchy in his atelier.“I was told that ‘Miss Hepburn’ was coming to look for clothes for her new movie, ‘Sabrina.’ Since I loved Katharine Hepburn’s style and look, I thought this was fantastic. But when the door of my studio opened, there stood a young woman, very slim, very tall, with doe eyes and short hair and wearing a pair of narrow pants, a little T-shirt, slippers and a gondolier’s hat with red ribbon that read ‘Venezia.’ I told her ‘Mademoiselle, I would love to help you, but I have very few sewers, I am in the middle of doing a collection, I can’t make you clothes.’ So she said, ‘Show me what you have already made for the collection.’ She tried on the dresses — ‘It’s exactly what I need!’ — and they fit her, too. We just changed the top of the evening dress when she dances with William Holden in the tennis court from black jersey to a white organza bustier since it was for a summer ball.”
- Hubert de Givenchy

_{Source: Meghan Friedlander, Audrey Hepburn in Paris, February 13, 2024, Harvest.}

23rd – On a Thursday, designer Cecil Beaton meets Audrey and her mother Ella van Heemstra for the first time. Mel is also in attendance at the party._{An excerpt from his diary:}

_{At seven o’clock I awoke, strangely anxious, depressed and dazed from ‘forty winks’ of a most debilitating, even quite sinister kind. With a cloud of vague apprehension still hanging over me I lay wondering why I should feel so low. Why had I not the strength to attempt to snap out of my introspection by jumping into a taxi and going for half an hour to meet, for the first time, Audrey Hepburn?Anita Loos and several other friends have told me how delightful a creature this young actress is, and how full of talent. Recently she has been given the leading part in a film called Roman Holiday which, it is said, will put her at the top of her profession. A small cocktail party had been arranged by Mel Ferrer who, it seems, is the forthcoming star’s boy-friend, and who has shown interest in directing my Gainsborough play if ever it comes on again.I’d thought I might possibly interest A.H. in the part of Margaret. Of course there’d be no chance of that, what with Hollywood clamouring for her; but it might be that by not going I’d miss a rare opportunity. But no, why make such a giant effort? Instead, I could relax quietly for an hour. The clock ticked on for fifteen minutes; still I hadn’t made up my mind. How silly always to be in such a rush! Even if I should go, by the time I got there I’d have to leave. Better remain on the bed. Then, quite suddenly, I decided to go. In the cab I chafed at the traffic congestion that always follows a rainstorm in London on a summer evening. I was the first to arrive at Miss Hepburn’s flat in South Audley Street; I would be the first to leave. I talked to the mother, Baroness Heemstra, a lady with a rather charming rolling accent, who told me that her daughter was dressing, was always late. Wouldn’t I have some hors-d’oeuvres, a martini? Signs of hospitality abounded. The Baroness said that she had found My Royal Past a tonic and relief from the gloom and terror of the starvation years of Occupation during the war in Belgium.I felt this made me no longer a stranger to this company. The guests, like all film people on social occasions, were unconscionably late. Mel Ferrer arrived: a charming, gangling man resembling a coarser Peter Watson, who, no doubt as a result of his theatrical career, has developed a slightly professional charm of manner. He described A.H. to me as ‘the biggest thing to come down the turnpike’. At last the daughter appeared — a new type of beauty: huge mouth, flat Mongolian features, heavily painted eyes, a coconut coiffeur, long nails without varnish, a wonderfully lithe figure, a long neck, but perhaps too scraggy. Today’s stars are brought from a different strata of life. A.H.’s enormous potential cinema success, with attendant salary, seems to have made little impression on this delightful human being. She appears to take wholesale adulation with a pinch of salt: gratitude rather than puffed-up pride. Everything very simple about and around her: no maid to help her dress, or to answer the door to the guests who had now started a slow trickle into the room. In a flash I discovered A.H. is chock-a-block with spritelike charm, and she has a sort of waifish, poignant sympathy. Without any of the preliminaries I felt that she cut through to a basic understanding that makes people friends. Nothing had to be explained: we liked one another. A chord had been struck and I knew that, next time we met, we would continue straight from here with no recapitulation of formalities. This was a unique occasion. But the point of this brief précis is to try and explain that, after half an hour, I had become completely immersed in such a very different and new atmosphere that, when I returned home a short while later, I was feeling entirely differently about life. The tempo had heightened again.}

_{Source: Cecil Beaton's The Strenuous Years: 1948-55, January 1, 1973, Weidenfeld and Ncolson.}

August

Returns to London to prepare for the British premiere of Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

21st – Audrey at the British opening premiere of Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

27th – The theater release of Roman Holiday in the United States.

Fun Fact: Actress Ingrid Bergman and her husband, Roberto Rossellini, watched Roman Holiday in theaters, and Bergman came out in tears.Roberto Rossellini: "What are you crying for? Was it a tragedy?"Ingrid Bergman: "No, it was a comedy."Roberto Rossellini: "What are you crying for then?"Ingrid Bergman: "I was so touched by Audrey Hepburn."When Audrey learned of this, the praise had practically "knocked her out," as she was a great admirer of Ingrid Bergman. Over the years, they became friends and were very supportive of one another. Bergman personally recommended Hepburn for the role in The Nun's Story to screenwriter Robert "Bob" Anderson, and Hepburn went out of her way to get tickets to see Bergman's performance of the play More Stately Mansions at the Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theater in 1967.Ingrid's daughter, Isabella Rosselini, remembered Audrey fondly, "She was lovely, warm, fun and kind. When I met her I thought she reminded me of my mother who was as charming."Learn more about Audrey getting tickets to see Ingrid Bergman in Glossary under Quaint Impression.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown; Susan Miller London, Memories of Hepburn, May 16, 1999, New York Times; Earl Wilson, What She Doesn't Have - She Doesn't Need—Audrey Hepburn, Modern Screen Magazine June 1954, Instagram.}

September

2nd – Mel Ferrer's film Knights of the Round Table last day of production.

5th – Audrey arrives in Los Angeles on a TWA plane.

_{Source: TESSA.}

7th – Audrey on the cover of TIME Sep. 7, 1953.

14th – Audrey attends a special benefit premiere of Roman Holiday at the Village Theater in Westwood, California. The proceeds went to charity. Actress Jane Russell and her husband, Bob Waterfield, also attended the event.

Late September – Sabrina’s production is between late September and late November of 1953 on Glen Cove, Long Island, from the estate of Paramount chairman Barney Balaban, sometimes shot in between Hollywood for retakes.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

21st – Sabrina’s costume test and fittings.

Romantic Pursuits: Bing Crosby is Audrey’s date to a dinner party at the home of Billy Wilder, the director of her second American film, Sabrina. Shortly after, Bing started to court Audrey by visiting the Paramount lot during the filming of Sabrina, where he is also filming White Christmas on a sound stage – next door over where Audrey works. For him to pursue a woman, even visiting one on-set, is out-of-character of Bing Crosby.

“But there was no romance between Bing and me,” Audrey says. “He is delightful company and I only had one real date with him. I like people who are light-hearted and witty because I had plenty of austerity in my life.”Producer, Michael Butler, attempt to court Audrey as well. She was very gracious to him, but “in her boundless tact she was able to make him understand that she could not entertain him socially.” Michael remembers her as “one of the loveliest human beings I have ever known in my life. She was great fun, very bright, [and] very intelligent."_{Note: Learn more about what Michael Butler said about Audrey from Rare Audrey Hepburn’s YouTube video, and learn more about the producer here.}

_{Source: Mark Flanders, Audrey Hepburn's True Love, Screenland Magazine April 1954.}

Fun Fact: Director Billy Wilder asked Audrey to fake an illness on the set so he had enough time to complete writing a scene that was about to be filmed.

_{Source: Sabrina Documentary, April 10, 2001, Paramount Studios.}

October

Sabrina's filming on 30 Broad Street in New York. Pictured here is director Billy Wilder and Audrey.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

Trouble on-set with Humphrey Bogart

An Affair with William "Bill" Holden

November

9th – An unfortunate accident of a child drowned in the swimming pool of Mel Ferrer and his wife, Frances Pilchard. It was reported that they were sued for $60,000 in damages, Mel and Frances were divorced by then.

_{Source: Audrey Hepburn Marries Mel Ferrer in Switzerland, September 26, 1954, Daily Press, Newport News.}

20th – The shooting time is set for 9am for Audrey Hepburn, Marcel Hillaire, Marcel Dahlio, and twelve selected students from the Int Paris Cooking School on Set 20 - Stage 6 - 7.

On the same day, Audrey writes to columnist and friend Radie Harris on an exciting new project.Darling Radie,Now that the play is all set, I'm able to give you the good news. It's 'Ondine,' and guess who is going to direct me—Alfred Lunt!Needless to say, I am happy beyond words, especially at being given the opportunity to work for and learn from him. How wonderful that you introduced me to him in London.Much love
Audrey

_{Source: Radie Harris, Audrey Hepburn - The Girl, The Gamin And The Star, Photoplay March 1955; Christie's.}

21st – A second day shooting the Int Paris Cooking School scene.

23rd – Filming the Int Chrysler scene at Set No. 12—Scene No. E103.

24th – Filming the Int Linus Office scene at Set No. 7—Location 9.

25th – Filming the Int Linus Office scene at Set No. 7—Location 9.

26th – Filming the Int Linus Office scene at Set No. 7—Location 9, the call sheet also noted Thanksgiving Holiday. Sabrina's filming production is completed.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

Audrey had two-weeks off between the end of Sabrina and the start of Ondine rehearsals.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

December

After the Long Island shooting of Sabrina, the production moves to Hollywood for retakes. Audrey rents a two-bedroom apartment on Wilshire Boulevard for $120 a month.“The greatest joy was to unlock my door and find the new record that the store down the street delivered during the afternoon, I would get into old, comfy clothes and then play the new music while I cooked," said Audrey.“She had records from Brahms and Beethoven to 'a mess of good jazz like Benny Goodman, Mel Powell, and Jerry Mulligan.'"

To promote Paramount’s newest star, they had LIFE magazine produce an editorial titled “Audrey Hepburn, Many sided Charmer.” Photographer Mark Shaw follows Audrey for a session of various sessions in her room, inside the studio, and outside the lot.“I have to be alone very often, I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.”In her free time, she reads classical drama like George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare and continues with her ballet activity with instructor Eugene Loring, where she attends three nights a week.The issue was published on December 7th, 1953.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group; Mark Shaw, Audrey Hepburn, Many sided Charmer, December 7th, 1953, LIFE.}

14th – Audrey moves to New York to start Ondine rehearsals.

_{Source: Pauline Swanson, Knee-Deep in Stardust, April 1954, Photoplay.}

17th – Audrey writes a letter to columnist Radie Harris on the anticipation of seeing her mother again."Mother arrives the 17 of December for her first visit to America. Imagine the excitement! I plan to spoil her as she's never been before!"Ella van Heemstra arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey, on the liner Nieuw Amsterdam, with Audrey greeting her warmly.

_{Source: Radie Harris, Audrey Hepburn - The Girl, The Gamin And The Star, Photoplay March 1955.}

18th – Photographed by Richard Avedon in New York.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

19th – Frances Gunby Pilchard, Mel's wife (second time remarried), officially obtained a divorce in Juarez, Mexico since they remarried there in 1943.In December 1954, Frances told a reporter, "He told me that he had fallen in love with Audrey Hepburn, so last December I went down to Juarez in Mexico and I got a divorce."Frances finds love again with an artist and professor named Howard Rafael Warshaw and marries him in April 1956 in Los Angeles, California. She passed away on January 20th, 1985, in Santa Barbara. 🕊️

_{Source: IMDB; Steve Cronin, It Just Happened—Audrey Hepburn, Modern Screen Magazine January 1955.}

21st – Interviewed by American journalist William Nathan Oatis, who was charged with espionage by communist Czechoslovakia in 1951 and released from jail in 1953. Audrey, along with Bing Crosby, Kirk Douglas, Deborah Kerr and Shirley Booth narrate a UNICEF documentary on children around the world, from orphans in Warsaw to sick children in the Philippines. You can listen to the full program here.

Original Caption: 12/21/1953-New York, NY- Audrey Hepburn, recently named the top movie star of 1953 by "Film Daily," gets a kiss from Santa Claus during ceremonies at the "Heart Thrift House," in New York Dec. 21. Miss Hepburn also tied the bow on New York's biggest Christmas package, "The Heart Thrift House," a model home exhibited for the benefit of the New York Heart Association.

_{Source: UN.org; Wikipedia.}

TIMELINE

1954

January

22nd – Appears on The Steve Allen Show, Season 1, episode 128.

_{Source: IMDB}

February

18th – Ondine opens at the 46th Street Theatre, New York City. Her mother, Ella, and her ex-fiancée, James Hanson, were among the attendees. Pictured here are Mel Ferrer, Alfred Lunt, and Audrey.Music by Virgil Thompson.
Set design by Peter Larkin.
Costume design by Richard Whorf.
Lighting design by Jean Rosenthal.
Music supervision by William Kraft.

_{Source: Heritage Auctions; Playbill.}

March

25th – Audrey won Best Actress for her performance in Roman Holiday at the 26th Annual Academy Awards. Presented by Donald O'Connor and Gary Cooper.Her Sabrina co-star, William Holden, won Best Actor for Stalag 17 as J. J. Sefton._{Note: Audrey worked on Ondine, and immediately change dresses for the ceremony. She still retained her costume makeup throughout the night.}

26th – Audrey holding a press conference in New York after winning Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

28th – Audrey photographed with actor David Wayne and television star Faye Emerson after receiving the American Theater Wing’s Eighth Annual Tony Awards at the Hotel Plaza in New York City. Audrey won for her performance in Ondine and David for The Teahouse of the August Moon.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

April

7th – https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/251459/

May

3rd – The Academy Award presentation held at the Hotel Pierre in Los Angeles was where William Holden returns the now inscribed Oscar-statue to Audrey for her performance in Roman Holiday.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

"While shooting a picture in the early '70s, William Holden told his costar (a good friend of mine at the time) that he and Hepburn had fallen very much in love during her second picture, Sabrina. But Holden was already long married and had had a vasectomy, and Audrey very much wanted children, so they bid each other a heavy-hearted adieu. Instead, in 1954, Hepburn married Mel Ferrer, the costar of her second Broadway show, Ondine.""He'd never gotten over Hepburn, he told my friend, and one night—in an angry fit of frustration at his fate—threw his Oscar into the Bay of Naples."- Peter Bogdanovich, director and writer of They All Laughed

_{Source: Peter Bogdanovich, The Last Innocent, Premiere November 1999.}

"Everyone was in love with Audrey, but no one more than Bill."
- Bob Willoughby, photographer

10th – Birth of her niece and goddaughter, Audrey Yvonne Quarles, in Jakarta, Java, Indonesia.Ian named his first child after his sister.

_{Source: Van Osnabrugge.}

19th – Actress Deborah Kerr visits Audrey backstage. Kerr starred in the Broadway play Tea and Sympathy from September 1953 to June 1955 in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Both actresses jointly voted as the "Best Actress of the Broadway Season 1953-1954" in the 13th annual poll of New York Drama critics conducted by Variety. They remain lifelong friends.

_{Source: Getty Images, Playbill.}

July

3rd – Ondine closed at the 46th Street Theater (now known as the Richard Rodgers). It ran for 157 performances.At night, Audrey and Mel threw a party for the cast and crew at Dinty Moore's—her go-to spot when she performed in Gigi.

_{Source: Playbill Staff, Look Back at Audrey Hepburn in Ondine on Broadway, May 4, 2020, Playbill.; Dick Kleiner, The Audrey Hepburn Story: Is She Real-Or Is She Half Sprite?, August 22, 1954, Georgia, Athens Banner-Herald.}

"Strangely enough, they're [Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn] quite similar in many ways. For one thing, they've both got that same forceful drive in relation to their careers. They know what they want, and they know how to go about getting it. Of course, Katie is much the more experienced and the most fun. Audrey is a little too serious now, but she'll get over that in time. Katie works like a demon when there's work to be done, but when she relaxes, she can be a whale of a lot of fun. Got a great sense of humor, that gal, and it certainly came in handy when we were making 'African Queen' together. But this Audrey, she's cute as a button. She's got it, that magical stuff from which true stars are made. I found that out while we were making 'Sabrina' at Paramount. This gal certainly proves the theory that a little talent in the hand is worth more than two in the bust!"
- Humphrey Bogart, 1954

_{Source: Screenland Magazine July 1954, He Knows About Women—Humphrey Bogart, Hank Kaufman.}

August

3rd – Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, author of Gigi, who discovered Audrey and pursued New York producers to accept her for the Broadway adaptation, passed away at 81. 🕊️

Mid August – While Mel was filming La Madre in Rome, he received a birthday package from Audrey—wrapped in black tissue paper—inside was a platinum Rolex watch inscribed 'Mad About the Boy.'

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group; Ian Woodward, 1984, Audrey Hepburn, St Martins Press.}

September

25th – Audrey and Mel Ferrer married in a private ceremony in a thirteenth-century Protestant chapel decorated with white carnations in Buochs, Bürgenstock, Switzerland. The intimate ceremony was performed by Pastor Maurice Endiguer. The dress was designed by Hubert de Givenchy and the flower crown by Jeanne-Marie.There were twenty-five guests, which included her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra; Mel's two children, Pepa and Mark; Terry Ferrer (Mel's sister); Paramount's London chief, Richard Mealand; and former British Ambassador to the Netherlands, Sir Neville Bland, who gave Audrey away. Mel's best man was supposed to be Gregory Peck but was replaced by Fritz Frey because he couldn't make the wedding.After the wedding, the newlyweds spent four days in Bürgenstock for their honeymoon.CROSS CHECK: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/253200/

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group; Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

"This is by far the happiest day of my life," Audrey wrote to her mother. "I have never been so excited before."

_{Source: Ian Woodward, 1984, Audrey Hepburn, St Martins Press.}

29th – The newly married couple arrives by an overnight train from Lucerne to Rome. They arrive to their honeymoon destination, the Villa Rolli at Albano.

Posing together outside their cottage in the garden for reporters. They asked, "How does it feel to be married?"Audrey's reply, "Well-I-I-I... it's fun, it's terrific, it's dreamy."

They spent a week together while Mel films La Madre.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn, Getty Images, Getty Images, Getty Images.}

October

"I had rented us a delightful farmhouse outside of Rome. We had to establish a cordon of security around the farm, so that she could continue to rest while I went off each day to the studio. It was a beautiful and peaceful spot."
- Mel Ferrer, her first husband

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

November

1st – At Amsterdam, thousands of teenagers storm into the department store, where Audrey sells photographs of herself to raise funds for Dutch War Invalids, who are Dutch citizens who suffered from injuries or became disabled as the result of the war.

_{Source: Dutch Mob Audrey Hepburn, November 3rd, 1954, pg. 33, New York Times.}

2nd – Modeling Givenchy gowns for a fashion benefit show at Amsterdam's Gerzon Kalverstraat.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

6th – https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/250966/

TIMELINE

1955

January

10th – Original Caption: LONDON: Actress Audrey Hepburn, her husband, Actor Mel Ferrer (LEFT), and British screen actor Jack Hawkins produce wide smiles as Miss Hepburn is presented with a British Film Academy Award by Hawkins during a television show in London. Awarded to Miss Hepburn for her performance in "ROMAN HOLIDAY," the prize was in Hawkins' possession for a long time.In the evening, The Ferrers pictured with actor Jack Hawkins for the premiere of The Bridges at Toko-Ri at the West End Cinema Theater in London.

_{Source: Getty Images: Source 1, Source 2; Bridgeman Images.}

February

21st – Boarding from London, Audrey and her husband, Mel Ferrer, arrive at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France. “We are still on our honeymoon,” says Audrey, despite being married in September 1954. It is a three-day visit in Paris until next week when Mel will fly to London to film Oh Rosalinda. Not seen in this photo, Audrey carries a basket purse.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org; Meghan Friedlander, Audrey Hepburn in Paris, February 13, 2024, Harvest.}

22nd – Pictured with Ray Ventura, a French conductor in Paris.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

23rd – At a fashion show...
https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/coruzzi/mel-ferrer-and-audrey-hepburn-at-givenchy-fashion-show-paris-23-february-1955-photo/photograph/asset/1552997?offline=1

March

Audrey had her first miscarriage. 🕊️

Mid March – The Ferrers were in Switzerland, and they were notified that director King Vidor signed on to direct War and Peace and "has his heart set on Audrey playing Natasha," and he wanted Mel "for a long time for the part of Prince Andrei."

_{Source: Alexander Walker, Audrey: Her Real Story, December 15, 1997, St. Martin's Griffin.}

Audrey having tea on the terrace of the Hammetschwand restaurant in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.
_{Note: Getty Images list the date as September 5th, 1955, but she was filming War and Peace in Italy at that time. Most likely this photo was taken in March or April when the Ferrers were in Switzerland.}

_{Source: Getty Images.}

April

Early April – The Ferrers met the War and Peace team at Lake Como, Italy: Dino De Laurentiis (producer), King Vidor (director), and Kurt Frings (Audrey's agent) to finalize the contract and salary agreement.Audrey would work for 12 weeks for a $350,000 paycheck, $500 a week of expenses, and $27,500 each week if she has to work beyond her agreed schedule. She has to have a chauffeur on a 24-hour call for the duration of the making of the film. She also has script, cast, lighting photographer, and makeup artist approval.Mel was paid a $200,000 salary and $250 a week for expenses.

_{Source: Alexander Walker, Audrey: Her Real Story, December 15, 1997, St. Martin's Griffin.}

5th – Dated on the 5th of April 1955, Audrey wrote to British actor, Anthony ‘Tony’ Quayle, on Villa Suvretta stationary (a hotel resort she often stayed in St. Moritz, Switzerland):

5 April 1955My Dear TonyAt last our plans are made and final. The relief is collassal and we are so happy. We are to play Natasha and Andrei in War & Peace this summer in Rome, they are such lovely (although difficult) parts and we are thrilled.Just one regret; I will not be able to play “Cordelia”! I really had hoped to be able to, it would have been such a wonderful opportunity for me. I am really sorry, and have also written so to Sir John.Dear Tony we are so grateful to you for a number of things, but even more Mel and I feel curiosly happy and invigorated by having met you, we find you rather rare.Please come and spend some time with us this summer, you’ll never see a place more heavenly, it’s yours anytime. Love from us both Audrey

May

12th – Original Caption: Film star Audrey Hepburn and husband Mel Ferrer, who had a tough time ducking photographers on their honeymoon recently, seem to have the same problem on the Isle of Capri. They're taking a short vacation on the romantic island before starting work together in a filming of Tolstoy's War and Peace in Rome. She will play Natasha Rostova and he'll portray Prince Andrei Bolkonski.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

June

Early June – Audrey and Mel in Madrid, Spain.

_{Source: Díganos la verdad, June 8th, 1955, Madrid, Pueblo.}

July

5th – First day of filming for War and Peace in Rome.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

11th – Filming the War and Peace's Interior Ballroom scene at the Cinecittà, Stage 15. Audrey's makeup time starts at 8am, and she has to be ready on set by 10am. The call sheet requires 10 large trays with glasses of champagne and playback with dance music. Scene Nos. 149 to 168-A (N).https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/film-director-king-vidor-directs-british-actors-jeremy-news-photo/1247859887

_{Source: Christie's.}

August

13th – Audrey as Natasha Rostova, Mel Ferrer as Andrei Bolkonsky, and director King Vidor relaxing during a break from filming War and Peace in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

26th – Photo Caption: Among the many talents put to use by actress Audrey Hepburn in her role in the Tolstoy Classic War and Peace, being filmed in Rome, is dancing, where in the sequence she does so with Don Little, of St. Louis, Missouri. The dance, something entirely new for Audrey, is the "Gavotte" a lively dance of French peasant origin. In order to get the sequence filmed in one week, Miss Hepburn and Little had to dance more than twelve hours a day. Little commented: "I came to Rome for a vacation...and I got one..dancing with Hepburn..about which all dancers dream." This sequence shows the actress going through the various phases of the Gavotte. 1) Pensively she takes the first step; 2) Now she has the swing of the dance; 3) Intricate? Miss Hepburn's expression says: "It's a cinch!"

_{Source: Getty Images.}

September

7th – Audrey and co-star Henry Fonda in 19th-century Russian regalia relaxing on the set of War and Peace in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

October

12th – Audrey holds the "Victory of Samothrace" award as readers of the French film magazine Cinémonde voted her as Best Actress of the Year.
_{(Note: The weekly magazine ran between from 1928 to 1971, it was one of the best selling magazines in the 1950s.)}

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

27th – At 19, Prince Albert of Belgium established himself as a navy lieutenant and toured around U.S. military bases since early October. Paramount Studios hosted Prince Albert with a walkthrough around their studios and a dinner among esteemed film stars. Right after, Prince Albert and the guest had a meet-and-greet, shaking hands and having small talk.

The exclusive event was attended by Audrey Hepburn, Mel Ferrer, Cecil B. DeMille, Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jerry Lewis, Donald O'Connor, Bob Hope, Frank Freeman, Bob Wagner, and Eva Marie Saint._{Note: This is the event where Audrey thought actor Marlon Brando shunned her. Read more about it here.}

_{Source: Getty Images; Press Photos.}

28th – Mel Ferrer and Audrey blowing out the candle on Edith Head's birthday cake at a Don Hartman party for the Ferrers located in the Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles, California.

_{Source: Getty Images, Facebook.}

CHECK – https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/belgian-born-actress-audrey-hepburn-pictured-wearing-a-news-photo/3163754

December

Mid December – Filming for War and Peace ends.

19th – Audrey and her husband Mel Ferrer at the Lido nightclub in Paris.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

Unknown Month/Days in 1955

Audrey and her husband, Mel Ferrer, attend the christening of her niece and godchild, Audrey Yvonne, the daughter of her brother Ian, in the Netherlands.

_{Source: Facebook.}

TIMELINE

1956

February

24th – Audrey and her husband Mel play with snow on the grounds of film director King Vidor’s villa in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

27th – Arriving from an overnight flight from Paris, Audrey landed on a late afternoon at the international airport in Los Angeles, California. When asked about Mel, she smiled, "But he'll be along in about three weeks. He's still in Europe making a picture with Ingrid Bergman."She was met by the Funny Face team: the composer, Roger Edens, and the director, Stanley Donen. She had to report to Paramount on the 28th for six weeks of dance rehearsal before the film went into production."Then we'll go all the way back to Paris to photograph a number in which Fred and I dance through the streets and past many famous landmarks," she said.

_{Source: TESSA.}

March

21st – The 28th Academy Awards was hosted by Jerry Lewis at the RKO Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, California. Audrey presented the Best Picture award to Harold Hecht for Marty.

30th – Frank Sinatra performed at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Pictured here: Audrey, Mel Ferrer, Frank Sinatra, and Prince Mike Romanoff.

March

6th – Audrey greets Mel from his flight from France. He returned to Hollywood to be with her during the filming of Funny Face at Paramount studios.

_{Source: TESSA.}

April

9th – The first day shooting for Funny Face at Paramount Studios, California.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

11th – Top fashion model and actress Madelon Hubbard poses with a photo of Audrey, for whom she acted as a stand-in during the filming of Funny Face.

_{Source: TESSA.}

24th – With photographer Richard Avedon during a photo session in Los Angeles, California.

May

10th – Audrey with her husband Mel Ferrer at the race course in France.

_{Source: Getty Images; Audrey Hepburn in Black and White.}

June

2nd – The Ferrers flew to Paris for the production of Funny Face, they arrived at the airport with a big welcome from tiny ballerinas of the Paris Opera.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

5th – The first day shooting for Funny Face in Paris, France.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

Audrey filmed at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris.

July

3rd – Supposed to be the final day of principal photography for Funny Face, but retakes are scheduled due to poor weather.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

17th – Reshoot begins for Funny Face.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

19th – The end of filming production of Funny Face.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

August

1st – War and Peace released in theaters (USA).

24th – Love in the Afternoon production begins at the Studios de Boulogne, Boulogne s/Seine, France. Photograph on the first day of shooting with Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier.Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer were staying at the Raphael Hotel, Paris.

_{Source: AFI Catalog; Christie's.}

30th – Audrey on the telephone during the filming for Love in the Afternoon.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

September

5th – Audrey playing the cello from Love in the Afternoon.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

7th – Scenes filmed and photographed during the production of Love in the Afternoon.

_{Source: Getty Images - Source 1, Source 2.}

12th – Celebrating Maurice Chevalier's 68th birthday on the set of Love in the Afternoon.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

November

16th – Audrey, with her husband Mel Ferrer, arrives in the morning at the London Airport (known as the Heathrow Airport since 1965) for the premiere of War and Peace in England. Both had traveled separately, Audrey from Paris due to working in Love in the Afternoon and Mel from Hollywood.

In the evening, both attended the War and Peace premiere at The Plaza Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, London.CROSS CHECK: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/61204/

_{Source: Getty Images; Imago Images; Rare Audrey Hepburn; The Fashion of Audrey.}

Courtesy of Gerard Henry soogen.

17th – Audrey interviewed at the London airport.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

30th – Gary Cooper was selected for the Exhibitors Laurel Award naming him "Top Name Power Star" in Paris.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

December

Audrey spent Christmas at La Quinta, a desert resort near Palm Springs, with Mel and his children, Pepa and Mark.

Playwright and screenwriter Robert Anderson’s wife, Phyllis, died from cancer on November 28th, 1956. The same year he worked on his French adaptation of Tea and Sympathy, starring Ingrid Bergman, they found comfort in each other from their heartaches and became lovers for a short period. “I realized very quickly that he was a man who couldn’t cope any longer with anything, and I did all I could to help him survive. He was very close to me in those days. Maybe I was in need, too,” Bergman recalled.During Christmas of 1956, Bob read The Nun’s Story with Ingrid Bergman; she thought of herself as too old to play Sister Luke and suggested Audrey to play the lead character instead.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

TIMELINE

1957

January

Early January – Warner Bros. was negotiating with Audrey Hepburn to play the lead role of Sister Luke in The Nun's Story.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

5th – Photograph caption dated January 5, 1957 reads, "Sometimes a newsman's job is dull. Other times it's very interesting. Like this week for instance when the beauteous June Blair dropped in on editors around town to remind them that Paramount had unveiled a bright new Easter package, 'Funny Face,' starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn - at the Hollywood Paramount. Studio decked June out in a pink dress, supplied her with a pink convertible car and gave her packages containing pink perfume and pink champagne to deliver to members of the fourth estate. Reason for the pink is that the musical features a lavish production number titled 'Think Pink.' As part of the stunt, the studio attached a unique gadget to the car which dispensed pink perfume bubbles into the air - by the thousands. Downtown Los Angeles never smelled so good."https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/127505/rec/27

14th – Humphrey Bogart passed away in Los Angeles, California. 🕊️The day before, he was visited by his good friends Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy."Spence patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Goodnight, Bogie.' Bogie turned his eyes to Spence very quietly, and with a sweet smile covered Spence's hand with his own and said, 'Goodbye, Spence.' Spence's heart stood still. He understood."
- Katharine Hepburn

Audrey and her husband Mel begin to work on the production an Mayerling episode for NBC's Producers' Showcase. A week of rehearsal, then two weeks of taping at the NBC studios.

February

4th – Mayerling airs on American television.

6th – Audrey Hepburn was at the Hotel Pierre, Fifth Avenue, New York.

_{Source: Christie's.}

March

27th – Audrey and her husband, Mel Ferrer, posing with their Yorkie, Mr. Famous, at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

28th – Audrey, Mel, and their Yorkie, Mr. Famous, departed the international airport via Mexicana-Pan American Airways for Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. Mel goes on a two-month location for filming The Sun Also Rises. When asked about the recent Oscar awards, he said the song "True Love" should have won.

_{Source: TESSA.}

Mel, Audrey, and Mr. Famous on the set of The Sun Also Rises. If you look at Mr. Famous closely, he see a little bow that Audrey had tied on his head. At this time, they are in Estudios Churubusco, Mexico City.

May

24th – Audrey with her husband Mel Ferrer at Ciro's nightclub in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

_{Source: Rare Audrey Hepburn.}

June

Early June – Filming ends for Mel Ferrer's The Sun Also Rises.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

16th – Audrey and her husband, Mel Ferrer, boarded the S.S. Queen Mary from New York to their second honeymoon in Switzerland.

25th – The Ferrers with their Yorkie, Mr. Famous, arrived at the Gare-Saint-Lazare train station in Paris, France._{Note: The station is the first railway station built in Paris, serving local and long-distance services, including the Normandy region.}

_{Source: Getty Images.}

30th – Love in the Afternoon released in theaters (USA).

July

8th – Audrey writes a letter, giving thanks to Rupert for the chocolate cake.Ferrer
Villa Bethania
The Burgenstock Estate
Lucerne, Switzerland8th July 1957.Dear Rupert,How very sadly the chocolate cake incident turned out, but how sweet of you to have even thought of it!I am sorry I did not call you while I was in Beverly Hills, but our stay was a very short one and more than hectic.We are now in Switzerland with Mel’s four children and several other members of my family, enjoying beautiful weather and lots of fun, plus plenty of solid rest.Hope you are well, I must say you sound it in your letters.Thanks ever so much again,
For the choc. cake
Fond wishes,
Audrey

August

30th – After a few weeks vacationing in Switzerland, Audrey boarded the American Airlines flight for Hollywood to prepare for The Nun's Story.

On the same day, Mel, who was in Berlin filming Fräulein, had invited more than 600 refugee children to the cinema to watch his 1953 hit Lili.

_{Source: Getty Images: Source 1, Source 2.}

September

11th – Wardrobe test for The Nun's Story.

28th – Celebrating Peter Finch's birthday on the pre-production of The Nun's Story in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

October

7th – Wardrobe test for The Nun's Story.

November

13th – The Ferrers visited the set of The Big Country, directed by William Wyler. One of the leading stars is Gregory Peck, a close friend to both Audrey and Mel. Photographed with two of the stars from the film: Jean Simmons and Burl Ives.

_{Source: Fine Art Storehouse.}

December

18th – The Ferrers attended the premiere of A Farewell to Arms at the Grauman's Chinese Theater. It was reported that Audrey collapsed in the powder room after watching a scene where Jennifer Jones' character goes through a painful childbirth.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

Actress Sophia Loren was neighbors with Audrey in Switzerland. This Christmas season, she visited Audrey. Read more about it in the Teatime and the Menu.

TIMELINE

1958

January

6th – Audrey held her beloved Yorkie, Mr. Famous, along with a book to board an SAS transpolar flight to Rome for the production of A Nun's Story.

_{Source: TESSA.}

11th – Rehearsal for The Nun’s Story at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

February

9th – Audrey writes a twelve-page letter to The Nun’s Story screenwriter, Robert Anderson. She discussed the presents she gave him, her study in ballet when she lived in London, and the Congo filming location, and she ended the letter with a tidbit on her Yorkshire terrier, Mr. Famous.“...bearing up very well...refuses to wear his pith helmet - so much fun I have with him (when) we go for walks at 6 A.M. - in the cool…”The letter includes a snapshot of the Congo where Audrey notes on the back, “Only one remained unturned.”

From the Congo, Audrey mailed a postcard to American playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist Leonard Gershe in Beverly Hills, California.

“I was terribly happy to do that [role of Sister Luke]. And there again, I worked with a great, great director: Fred Zimmerman. And he’s a very thorough man with great integrity, and he put me through months of preparation for that picture.”“He put me in a convent for two days and nights. And took me to see one operation after the other in hospitals. And, ah, you know, really, it was an indoctrination. But I appreciated that; I mean, it was part of a marvelous experience, and also being in Africa for the first time—that was a different kind of Africa than Ethiopia—the Congo—what was in the Congo is now Zaire, a very, very lush, green, jungle-like country. But um, that—that was a very deep, very emotional experience, that picture, especially as I knew and became close friends with Louise Habets, who the book was about.”- Audrey Hepburn, 1988

_{Source: Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Interview with Audrey Hepburn, April 15th, 1988.}

“I have never seen anyone more disciplined, more gracious or more dedicated to her work than Audrey. There was no ego, no asking for extra favors; there was the greatest consideration for her co-workers.“- Fred Zinnemann, director of The Nun’s Story

_{Source: Fred Zinnemann, Fred Zinnemann: An Autobiography, January 1, 1992, Trafalgar Square.}

March

8th – Audrey and Mel attends the premiere of Sayonara at the Sistina Theatre in Rome, Italy. Pictured here is Audrey with Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida and Japanese-American actress Miiko Taka at a cocktail party after viewing the film.

_{Source: Getty Images; Bridgeman Images; AKG Images.}

The filming for the Congo location of The Nun’s Story is completed.“Making movies is very hard, unglamorous work. My best memory of any film set was The Nun’s Story, because of our close community spirit, in the Congo. The rest entailed separations, hard work and sometimes, almost dangerous exhaustion.”
- Audrey Hepburn

_{Source: Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster; Audrey Hepburn: “Privacy is precious to me”, Photoplay October 1979.}

April

21st – The United Press Photo dated the 23rd, but the photo was taken on the 21st.

Original German Text:Audrey und FreundAudrey Hepburn, die jetzt in Rom an ihrem neuesten Film, "Geschichte einer Nonne", arbeitet, ist hier mit einem ihrer engeren Freude, dem Pariser Modenkunstler Givenchy zu sehen. Die beiden besuchten einen Nachtklub,als diese Aufnahme gemacht wurde.23.4.1958

English Translation:Audrey and FriendAudrey Hepburn, currently in Rome working on her latest film, "The Nun's Story," is seen here with one of her close friends, Parisian fashion designer Givenchy. The two were visiting a nightclub when this picture was taken.23.4.1958

They were at the Hostaria dell’ Orso restaurant."Between the Piazza Navona and Tevere and now totally restored, this former inn, hotel, restaurant and (in the Dolce Vita years of the ’50s and ’60s) night club was opened in 2002 by chef Gualtiero Marchesi and entrepreneur Vicenzo Nicastro. Its three floors contain, in ascending order, a piano bar, a restaurant and a discotheque."
- Bown's Best_{Note: She had the exact look, coat, and purse at a film premiere on December 22nd, 1959.}

_{Source: eBay, Bridgeman Images.}

May

4th – Audrey during the filming of The Nun's Story.https://www.instagram.com/thedottis/p/BTqYMmyj6F3/https://www.instagram.com/thedottis/p/BPfQ1nGgih0/https://www.instagram.com/thedottis/p/BPfQsxjAvl5/

_{Source: Luca Dotti, Instagram.}

29th – Audrey with her brother Ian Quarles van Ufford at the Hassler hotel in Rome.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

June

Early June – Audrey landed in Los Angeles to meet the creative team of The Nun's Story.Robert Anderson, screenwriter of the project, went to meet her at the airport, which shortly led to a complicated entanglement. Robert confirmed to biographer and friend Donald Spoto that, “My novel After [published in 1973] really tells the whole story of my affair with Audrey."

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

Late June – The Nun's Story filming production ends in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

July

2nd – Photograph shows actor Mel Ferrer giving his wife, Audrey Hepburn, a sweet kiss on the cheek as their pup waits patiently. Photograph dated July 2, 1958.https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/32814/rec/23

14th – Audrey was driving in Beverly Hills; she made a turn and hit actress Joan Lora’s car. Two years later, it was settled in court on October 26th-27th, 1960.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

15th – Green Mansion production begins.

_{Source: AFI Catalog; Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

29th –https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-actress-audrey-hepburn-leaving-from-ciampino-news-photo/1205980836

October

15th – Her niece, Sandra Claire Quarles, was born in Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. She is the daughter of her brother, Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford, and his wife, Yvonne Scholtens.

_{Source: Van Osnabrugge.}

24th – Audrey and Mel looking over miniatures at MGM studio. When asked about the love scenes between Anthony Perkins and his wife in directorial film Green Mansions, "It never disturbs me," says Mel.

_{Source: TESSA2.}

“[Green Mansions] was Mel’s first big directing job, and he didn’t have a clue about a lot of it. He would make suggestions and some people on the set would just roll their eyes. Audrey, by that point, had been directed by some of the great directors of the twentieth century… but she didn’t say a word. She didn’t make one comment. She did what she was told and, like any great actor, gave him what he wanted. But I thought that showed a good deal about her character – I mean, Liz Taylor would have screamed at him and told him to go to hell.”“She would do the scene exactly the way he had directed it. So, there is that loyalty, and that giving, in Audrey and I quite admired her for that.”- Bob Willoughby, photographer on-set of Green Mansions

_{Source: Pamela Keogh, January 1st, 2008, What Would Audrey Do?, Aurum Press.}

November

4th – Green Mansion's final day of filming.

_{Source: AFI Catalog.}

27th – Audrey and her husband Mel spent Thanksgiving with Mel's children in California.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

December

The Ferrers' Christmas card with their animal companions, Mr. Famous the Yorkshire terrier, and Pippin, the Green Mansions co-star.

The Ferrers flew to Bürgenstock for the Christmas holiday, where Audrey learned she was pregnant. More concerned than delighted since she will be filming The Unforgiven in January.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

TIMELINE

1959

January

28th – Audrey rejects a stand-in and is determined to ride the white stallion named Diablo herself for the filming of The Unforgiven.Even though she practices for hours around a corral that made director John Houston comfortable enough to make some preliminary shots, a terrible accident occurs: the horse she rides saw another horse coming towards it, and in anger, it stopped and threw its head down. Audrey had nothing to hold on to and fell over and landed on her back.Unable to move, Audrey is transported to a local hospital. Mel arranges for her physician, Dr. Howard Mendelson, and the real-life Sister Luke that Audrey portrayed in The Nun’s Story, Marie-Louise Habets, to fly to Durango.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

Aid Arrival – Her doctor confirms from her x-ray that she has four broken vertebrae, torn muscles in her lower back, and a badly sprained foot. Marie-Louise nurses her and persuades her to take an ambulance plane back to California to recover.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

February

2nd – Audrey and her husband, Mel Ferrer, arrive at the Los Angeles airport from a special ambulance plane from Durango, Mexico. The newsmen were informed that she fell off the horse and suffered two fractures and four lower vertebrae. “I think she’ll walk in three weeks," says Mel.

_{Source: Kathryn Bubien, 30 years since the death of Audrey Hepburn, January 13th, 2023, AP.org.}

Recovery Period – For weeks, she stays in bed in her rented Beverly Hills home while healing from her broken bones. An outpouring of get-well wishes was sent to her, and she responded to each one diligently. Her friends visit her as well, and one recalls:“She lay propped up in an immaculate bed in her immaculate bedroom, and I got the impression of white everywhere, I actually felt as if I were in the presence of a fairy-tale princess. She wore a snow-white Victorian high-necked nightgown. Her hair was pulled back mirror-smooth into a ponytail and tied with white ribbon to match the white ribbon on her beautifully groomed little Yorkshire terrier. Around the room stood white Limoges vases with white tulips and orchids.”Her friend is astounded by Audrey’s attitude toward Diablo, the white stallion: “She replaced the clean ashtray on her bedside table near the framed pictures of her husband, her four stepchildren, and—believe it or not—the horse that threw her. THAT picture, in a white leather frame, had the front position!”Marie-Louise tends to her needs for the first three weeks. “In thirty years of experience, I never before had a patient like her. She refused all narcotics and sedatives, and despite her pain, she never once complained. As a matter of fact, I never even saw her become irritated. She seemed more interested in other people’s problems than in her own, beginning on the ambulance plane flying back to California. There she lay on her stretcher, worrying not about herself but about her husband, her cook, her dog, me. And in the mornings at her home, she invariably asked how I’d slept, how I felt; I found I was talking about myself and forgetting to ask about the patient!”

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group; Eleanor Harris, Audrey Hepburn, Good Housekeeping August 1959.}

15th – Audrey begun to walk in baby steps.

_{Source: Hepburny}

26th – Mel helps Audrey walk slowly to their Ford Thunderbird for a x-ray checkup.

_{Source: Getty Images.}

March

5th – Flies back to Mexico to complete The Unforgiven.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

10th – She returns to the set of The Unforgiven on a stretcher. Director John Houston welcomes her with fireworks and a mariachi band.

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

11th – Mel leaves Mexico to fulfill a contractual obligation to promote Green Mansion.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

In between takes, she is knitting wool from Finland sitting next to husband Mel Ferrer. The gift most likely is for her co-star, Lillian Gish, who receives a letter and a package from Audrey.

Transcript by Stars and Letters:FridayDearest LillianI made this for you for chilly rehearsal halls or stages, drafty sets etc. In each stitch all my love — the wool comes from Finland and is soft but warm. Working with you and knowing you has been a gentle and rare experience — you are even more than what Herbie said you were. My gratitude and hugs
Audrey
P.T.O.P.S. It was hard to buy something for you in Durango — hence the home-made
You wear it this way
her sketchSee you tomorrow— or else shall find out when you leave.About the tips— 50 pesos maximum should cover any one person— or a handbag for instance for Georgina— 25 pesos is fine for those you have been tipping as you went along.

_{Source: An Audrey Hepburn Letter to Lillian Gish, December 8th, 2021, Bonhams.}

Audrey and her co-star Burt Lancaster play golf on-set.

Doug McClue, her co-star who played her younger brother in the film, has once played chess in her trailer. “She didn’t have makeup on, and I hadn’t seen her without makeup—but those eyes! We played chess, and she didn’t really know how. We talked about her war experience, and she opened up a lot.”

_{Source: Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

Photographer Inge Morath knew Director John Huston when she lived in London and worked on a few of his films. She took many behind-the-scenes photos of Audrey.

19th – Green Mansions released in theaters."Acting, at times, depresses Mel. Directing lifts him. He's so relaxed at it that I just know it is the job he loves."
- Audrey Hepburn

April

Production of The Unforgiven ends. Audrey and Mel reunite in New York, and return to Switzerland.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

May

2nd – A full transcript of Audrey and Mel discussing the production of Green Mansions from Picture Show and TV Mirror magazine:During the filming of Green Mansions, in which Audrey Hepburn is directed on the screen for the first time by her husband, Mel Ferrer, her concentration amazed even him.“Audrey is an instinctive, free-wheeling actress,” he observes. “And she works better when she can forget the mechanical and technical details of a set and can concentrate on the scene. When she finishes a scene, she goes to work on the next one. No outside phone calls or conversations to distract her.”Her lunch hours, when she is working, are spent alone in her dressing room.“In this way,” Audrey explains, “I spend half an hour eating and the other thirty minutes resting. When it is time for me to go to the set, I’m refreshed and eager to start work again.”But no matter how hard they work, the Ferrers can always find time to be together.“Working with one another on the same picture was marvelous,” she admits. “But even when I was in the Belgian Congo on The Nun’s Story and Mel was in South America scouting locations for Green Mansions, we managed to have a week together in Rome—managed it because Mel, by some kind of magic, booked passage on the planes that were almost unbookable.“Then we sandwiched in our holidays together in Switzerland, before Mel had to return to M.G.M. and I had to report to my new assignment in Mexico. We flew together to Mexico before we parted company.”“With all the travelling we’ve done since our marriage, we haven’t had a chance to settle in our own home, although we do have a lease on this little chalet on the Swiss mountainside.”When she mentions home, Audrey gets a definite gleam in her eyes.“My ideal home?” she muses. “We are both in love with the farm in Italy where we lived just after we were married. It’s in the Alban Hills, outside Rome, in the wine country. You see vineyards for miles, and when they spray the vines with a blue spray, the whole countryside has that blue-green look that you see in Italian paintings. Even our little Yorkshire terrier, Famous, enjoys it. He chases the goats, who are as playful as kittens. But this is only dreaming—the farm isn’t even for sale.”The next year will be a full one for the Ferrers. Is there a possibility of them again working together?“Only if it is right for us to play the characters in a property, or if it is a play that Mel feels he should direct. But we will never work together merely for the sake of working together. It was wonderful to play on the stage together in Ondine—War and Peace on the screen was another fine experience—and Green Mansions, to me, was an inspiration with Mel directing—but, you see, these are right, not merely for the sake of being together.”“As a matter of fact, Mel is intensely interested in directing Sigrid Undset’s great novel Kristin Lavransdatter. He also bought the rights to a new novel while we were abroad. He would like to make this into a film and photograph it in Norway. But,” with a wistful look, “neither is for me.”

_{Source: Audrey and Mel: Altough They Hate to Be Apart..., Picture Show and TV Mirror, May 2nd 1959.}

15th – It was reported that Paramount sent Audrey the draft of No Bail for the Judge, an Alfred Hitchcock picture. She turned down the role."Audrey didn't even like to watch Hitchcock films, she thought they were too cynical. When I asked her about this once, she said she had no recollection at all of any joint project. It seems to have been something her agent, Kurt Frings, was arranging on his own that got leaked prematurely."
- Robert Wolders, her partner

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown; Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, 1996, Penguin Publishing Group.}

Late May – Audrey went into labor and the child was stillborn. 🕊️"I know that the second loss—which was at six months—was very hard. It was a little girl, and she was going to be my older sister."
- Sean Hepburn Ferrer, her son

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown; Bethany Minelle, Audrey Hepburn: A Hollywood icon scarred by the loss of her father and baby girl, December 2, 2020, Sky News.}

June

"I still must spend much time in bed, but I am filled with gratitude that I can have others and for my husband, [a] gentle and tender nurse."
- Audrey wrote to Hedda Hopper, a Hollywood columnist

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

July

27th – Audrey and her husband, Mel, attend the London premiere of The Nun's Story at the Warner Theatre, Leicester Square.Other attendees include Sir Laurence Olivier, Leo Genn, Eva Bartok, Sir Donald Wolfit, Dame Edith Evans, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Jack Hawkins, John Fraser, Yvonne Mitchell, Sylvia Syms, Leslie Caron, and Margaret Leighton.

Behind the scenes, dressing up for the premiere.

_{Source: British Pathé.}

September

30th – The Ferrers arrived at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to promote Hepburn's film, The Nun's Story.

_{Source: Alamy.}

October

8th – Audrey with her mother and Yorkie Mr. Famous in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Getty Images, Getty Images.}

13th – A letter to Henry J. Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, signed by Audrey and her husband, Mel.13 October 1959Dear Mr. Ambassador:Just a brief word before we leave this Thursday for Brussels and then California to tell you once again how much we appreciate the great personal enthusiasm and encouragement which you injected into that Premiere on September 22.Have had nice letters from Mr. Chenard as well as Dr. Ludwig reporting the very real achievement of the evening, and we couldn't be happier.There is every possibility that we may back in Switzerland for Christmas, but until the pleasure of our next meeting we would like to send both you and Mrs. Taylor our best regards.Sincerely,
Audrey and Mel

15th – Audrey and Mel leave for Brussels.

After a doctor’s visit, Audrey learns she’s pregnant.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown., Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

November

The Ferrers return to Los Angeles in order for Mel to find films to direct.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown.}

December

1st –
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-british-actress-audrey-hepburn-walking-with-her-dog-in-news-photo/866655560

16th – The Ferrers are having dinner at the Hotel Hassler, located at Piazza Trinità dei Monti, in Rome, Italy.

_{Source: TESSA; The Fashion of Audrey.}

22nd – The Ferrers attends the premiere of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film Suddenly Last Summer.
_{Note: She had the exact look, coat, and purse back in April 23rd, 1958.}

_{Source: Getty Images, The Fashion of Audrey.}

For Christmas, the Ferrers stayed in Villa Bethania, Bürgenstock, Switzerland.

_{Source: Donald Spoto, Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, October 9, 2007, Crown., Warren G. Harris, Audrey Hepburn: A Biography, August 1, 1994, Simon & Schuster.}

28th – On Monday, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards officially announced that the recipient of Best Actress is Audrey Hepburn for her role as Sister Luke in The Nun’s Story.

29th – Audrey receives a telegram informing of her award. Photographed in her suite at the Hotel Hassler, Rome, Italy.

_{Source: Christie’s, Wikipedia}