Audrey Hepburn: Roman Holiday
Rachel Schwarz
Dr. Meredith
Western Civilization
4 February 2013 Audrey Hepburn Audrey was born on May 4, 1929 in Belgium to an English father and a Dutch mother. In 1939 Hepburn moved to the Netherlands to avoid Nazi invasion but this move proved pointless. In 1940 the Netherlands was overrun by the Nazis until the liberation in 1945. Audrey spent the next years seeing her family members shot in the streets by Germans and Jewish children being loaded off trains and on to deportation trucks. Seeing these poor children suffer lead Hepburn to make a commitment to UNICEF children’s charity. After the war, Audrey went to London where she continued to practice ballet. She had great talent but her height and malnutrition during the war meant that she was unable to become a really great ballerina, and so decided to seek work as an actress. Audrey went on to perform in many plays before landing the role as an English Princess in Gregory Peck’s, “Roman Holiday”. This film allowed Hepburn to make her way to Hollywood. From 1967, after 15 years in film, she acted only occasionally. She spent more time with her family and also working with UNICEF. She was appointed as a special ambassador to UNICEF and became actively involved in campaigns to improve conditions for children around the world. In 1988 she visited Ethiopia at a camp for children. She was an eye witness of the poverty and starvation these children faced. She went on to visit other countries in South Africa. After returning from Somalia in 1992 Audrey Hepburn developed cancer of the colon. The disease proved to be untreatable in January 1993 she died in Switzerland at age 63.
Source:
Dr. Meredith
Western Civilization
4 February 2013 Audrey Hepburn Audrey was born on May 4, 1929 in Belgium to an English father and a Dutch mother. In 1939 Hepburn moved to the Netherlands to avoid Nazi invasion but this move proved pointless. In 1940 the Netherlands was overrun by the Nazis until the liberation in 1945. Audrey spent the next years seeing her family members shot in the streets by Germans and Jewish children being loaded off trains and on to deportation trucks. Seeing these poor children suffer lead Hepburn to make a commitment to UNICEF children’s charity. After the war, Audrey went to London where she continued to practice ballet. She had great talent but her height and malnutrition during the war meant that she was unable to become a really great ballerina, and so decided to seek work as an actress. Audrey went on to perform in many plays before landing the role as an English Princess in Gregory Peck’s, “Roman Holiday”. This film allowed Hepburn to make her way to Hollywood. From 1967, after 15 years in film, she acted only occasionally. She spent more time with her family and also working with UNICEF. She was appointed as a special ambassador to UNICEF and became actively involved in campaigns to improve conditions for children around the world. In 1988 she visited Ethiopia at a camp for children. She was an eye witness of the poverty and starvation these children faced. She went on to visit other countries in South Africa. After returning from Somalia in 1992 Audrey Hepburn developed cancer of the colon. The disease proved to be untreatable in January 1993 she died in Switzerland at age 63.
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