Hepburn, Audrey (1929-93), Belgian-born actor and humanitarian, who became one of Hollywood's best-known stars with her leading roles in films such as Roman Holiday (1953), Funny Face (1957), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). She was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels. Her father was a British banker and her mother a Dutch baroness, and Hepburn was educated at private schools in England and the Netherlands. In World War II (1939-45) she suffered opppression and malnutrition while living in the Netherlands with her family during the Nazi occupation of 1944 to 1945. She later worked as a model, and started acting in films in 1951.
Hepburn starred in many movies, including War and Peace (1956), The Unforgiven (1960), Charade (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964). She won an Academy Award as best acress for her role in Roman Holiday, and was nominated for best actress for her role in Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Wait Until Dark (1967). Hepburn made only a few pictures after 1967. Following her divorce from Ferrer, Hepburn married the prominent Italian psychiatrist Dr. Andrea Dotti with whom she had a second son, Luca, born February 8, 1970; but this marriage too ended in divorce in 1982. In 1988 Hepburn was invited to become a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and she traveled from Ethiopia to Thailand bringing attention to the plight of the world's starving children. President George Bush even presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work in 1992. Hepburn concentrated on her charitable works for UNICEF up to the end of her life when, on January 20, 1993, she died of colon cancer.
