Acknowledgments
D URING THE COURSE of my research, many people who knew, worked with and had professional and personal connections to Audrey Hepburn shared their memories and impressions with me. Among them, I am grateful most of all to Jacqueline Bisset, Patricia Bosworth, Karen Cadle, Christa Roth, Marian Seldes, Michael Tilson Thomas, Frederica von Stade, Robert Wagner, Martha Hyer Wallis, John Waxman, Arthur Wilde, Audrey Wilder and Roger Young.
Andrew Lownie kindly put me in contact with Adrian Weale, one of Englands experts in the field of military intelligence, who enabled me to clarify important details about Audreys father.
Not for the first time in my career, the personnel at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, provided me with expert help and guidance. Stacey Behlmer, Coordinator of Special Projects and Research Assistance, pointed me to many items I might otherwise have overlooked; at every stage of this project, she offered the most generous, enthusiastic and friendly support. Her colleagues were similarly gracious, each offering particular contributions: Barbara Hall, Research Archivist; Sandra Archer, Head of Reference Services; Faye Thompson, Photograph Department Coordinator; Kristine Krueger, of the National Film Information Service at the Herrick; Jonathan Wahl, Library Page Supervisor; and staff members Matthew Severson and Kevin Wilkerson.
At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, I was fortunate once again to have the invaluable aid of Ned Comstock, Archivist in the Doheny Memorial Library; and of Haden Guest, Curator of the Warner Bros. Archives.
In the last years of her life, Audrey Hepburn gave herself tirelessly to the causes of UNICEF, the United Nations International Childrens Fund. In Denmark, Anne Tennant helped me to contact the right colleagues at UNICEFs New York offices. There, I met a remarkable team of dedicated people who made available to me documents of singular significance detailing Audreys years of service to UNICEF. I offer deep thanks to Adhiratha Keefe, John Manfredi, Fran Silverberg and Upasana Young. UNICEF also granted me permission to publish important photos; in this regard, I received very kind assistance from Ellen Tolmie and Nicole Toutounji. Also in the New York office, I must acknowledge Gloria Adwutum, Margaret Majuk, Patricia Moccia, Edwin Ramirez, Sharad Sapra, Veronica Theodoro and Maria Zanca.
Thanks to the kindness of Library Supervisor Gary Browning at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills, I was able to view Audrey Hepburns early television performances.
Simone Potter, Senior Picture Researcher at the British Film Institute, cleared my way to finding some of the telling photos in the book.
Rose Puntillo, Business Center Representative at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, provided helpful and generous office assistance.
T HOMAS S MITH was my research assistant in London; I acknowledge him with my thanks and admiration. He tracked down obscure texts, scoured archives and libraries for rare articles and essays and applied his first-rate scholarship at every stage. In the United States, I was fortunate to have the help of Destiny Leake, who helped me locate important letters in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Frank Turner, Library Director of the Beinecke, supervises an admirable staffamong them Naomi Saito, Public Services Assistant.
Debra Campbell, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, graciously provided me with a copy of her elegantly written and scholarly paper, The Nun and the Crocodile, which clarified several fine points in the life of the novelist Kathryn Hulme, one of Audreys closest friends.
Bernard Dick, author and scholar, pointed out to me important aspects of Lillian Hellmans play The Childrens Hour and its film version.
The esteemed playwright and screenwriter Robert Anderson has been a devoted friend and an advocate of my writing for more than thirty years. During many long conversations, he confided his relationship with Audrey, entrusting the details without restriction. I am grateful for his trust.
My brother-in-law, John Mller, is a talented graphic designer and a superb technician with a fund of creative ideas: he performed miracles as he transferred dozens of Audrey Hepburn photographs onto disks. This painstaking task, requiring an artists eye and many arduous days, John dispatched with a cheerful, generous dedication of his time.
For various kindnesses extended to me during the course of my work, I express my warm thanks to Mary-Kelly Busch; Mart Crowley; Mary Evans; Lewis Falb and Gerald Pinciss; Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares; Joshua Robison; and Erica Wagner. As always, Mona and Karl Malden have a special claim on my gratitude for their loving endorsement of me and my work.
For almost thirty years, I have been represented by my incomparable friend, Elaine Markson, who has guided my career so judiciously and with such wise affection. She and her colleaguesGary Johnson, Geri Thoma and Julia Kennyare, each and all, very dear to me indeed.
From day one of this project, I was fortunate to have the enthusiastic and warm support of Shaye Areheart, a generous, discerning and perceptive publisher. To my editor, Julia Pastore, I offer very many thanks for her constant friendliness, her alacrity, her astute comments on the manuscript, and her shrewd suggestions where improvement was indicated. In Julias office, Kate Kennedy dispatched numerous tasks cheerfully and efficiently, and Janet Biehl was my meticulous and attentive copy editor.
A UDREY H EPBURN would have admired and loved Ole Flemming Larsen, whose name appears on the dedication page. A respected academic and a gifted artist, he spent many evenings watching and discussing her films with me. All during the course of my research, he contributed valuable ideas, and then he listened patiently as I read aloud parts of the manuscript. Most of all, Ole has blessed my life with very great serenity and happiness, the consequence of devotion deep and true. For that and for so much, I am grateful every day, far beyond my ability to express. I share this book with him, as I do my life.
It was the coming true that was the proof of the enchantment.
H ENRY J AMES, The Sacred Fount (1901)
Part One
FIRSTSTEPS
[ 19291950 ]
At school in England, 1938.
Chapter One
19291939