Audrey Hepburn

Died Jan. 20, 1993 of colon¹ cancer in Tolochenaz, Switzerland

Audrey Hepburn was a slender, doe-eyed Oscar-winning actress who enchanted² moviegoers in such films as "Roman Holiday" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and in later years dedicated³ herself to feeding the world's hungry.

If Hepburn sometimes found herself in Cinderella roles, the shoe fit. The sickly, scrawny teenager who suffered from malnutrition⁴ during World War II in Nazi-occupied Holland emerged in the 1950s as one of Hollywood's premier⁶ leading ladies, known for a persona that somehow blended sleek⁷ European sophistication and a vulnerable, waif-like innocence⁸.

Her versatility⁹ as an actress was tested by such diverse roles as Natasha in "War and Peace" (1956), opposite then-husband Mel Ferrer; as Rima the Bird Girl in "Green Mansions¹⁰" (1959), an ethereal work directed by Ferrer; in the title role in "The Nun's Story" (1959), a true tale of a sister who renounces¹¹ her vows¹² while nursing in the Congo during World War II and returns to Belgium to work for the Resistance; as kooky female gigolo Holly⁵ Golightly in Blake Edwards' quirky "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961); and as a blind woman terrorized by criminals in the thriller¹³ "Wait Until Dark" (1967). After that film, she went into semi-retirement, taking only one leading part, opposite Sean Connery in "Robin¹⁴ and Marian" (1976), as the aging couple of the Robin Hood¹⁵ story.

Hepburn also distinguished¹⁶ herself from other actresses of her era by becoming an icon¹⁷ of haute couture and a regular on the best-dressed lists, modeling evening gowns by designer Hubert de Givenchy.