Audrey Hepburn (91 page)

Zijpendaal now houses the Foundation of Friends of the Geldersche Castles, dedicated to preserving the province's twenty-one castles and their contents and gardens.

Native Indians and “Bush Negroes” (descendants of runaway slaves) inhabited the interior tropical rain forest, much of which has still not been explored. They were outnumbered by Creoles and Asians who came as plantation laborers from Java, India and Pakistan. The official language is Dutch, but the main Creole dialect—a pidgin English called Taki-Taki—is the lingua franca.

Ella and Heringa's parents alternated as regular readers. Arnhem's Christian Science Church was shut down early in the German occupation because of its “internationalism” and the suspected Jewish sympathies of its members.

The Sadler's Wells tale is tangential to our own, but balletomanes must not be denied its conclusion: The next morning, with Rotterdam in flames in the distance, the Germans dropped pamphlets proclaiming, “The Hague is surrounded, it is useless to resist.” The dancers were taken to a temporary refuge near Velsen; forty-eight hours later, they boarded a cattle ship at Ijmuiden, arriving at Harwich the next day. Left behind in their flight were all sets, costumes and music for the ballets “Rake's Progress,” “Checkmate,” “Dante Sonata,” “Façade,” “Les Patineurs” and “Horoscope”—lost forever in a van somewhere between Arnhem and Haarlem, where they were scheduled to perform the night after Audrey saw them.

The wartime account of this chapter owes much to Paul Vroemen, foremost Dutch military historian and author of seven books about Arnhem; and to
The Lion Rampant: The Srory of Holland's Resistance to the Nazis
, by L. de Jong and Joseph W. F. Stoppelman.

Among the Rotterdam survivors were four-year-old Robert Wolders and family (see Chapter 9).

The Deane-Drummond events, unlike most Hepburn-related war stories, are recounted in
A Bridge Too Far,
Cornelius Ryan's meticulously researched book on the Battle of Arnhem, and confirmed by Deane-Drummond in his own reliable book,
Return Ticket.

Sonia Gaskell (1904—1974), a Lithuanian Jew, danced with the Russian ballet of Serge Diaghilev from 1927—1929 and later had her own studio in Paris. In 1933, she followed her husband, Dutch interior architect Philip Aukens, to Amsterdam and taught ballet there until the German occupation, when she went into hiding. After the war, she immediately picked up where she left off.

Painful political baggage was attached to the Concertgebouw. In 1941, its famous conductor Willem Mengelberg had accepted a post on the Nazi “Culture Council” shunned by loyal Dutchmen. Throughout the war, many Dutch musicians displayed their anti-Nazi sentiment. The Nazi weekly
De Misthoorn
(The Foghorn) complained in 1942 that the Arnhem orchestra, for example, “took particular pleasure” in honoring Jewish musicians. After the war, Mengelberg was fired and exiled, and a cleansed Concertgebouw was under new management.

And it took another dozen years for the actual father-daughter reunion to take place. (See Chapter 5, p. 166.)

In the later fifties and sixties, Hanson, his brother, and their associate Gordon White gradually rebuilt the family businesses after the transport industry was
de
-nationalized by the second Churchill government. Today, more than half of Hanson PLC's interests are in North America and Lord Hanson spends five months a year in Palm Springs.

Aside from those sequences, there was no incidental music in the film. But a nightclub scene between the unhappy lovers Cortesa and Reggiani called for a tango with French lyrics. The song was written by none other than Marcel le Bon, Audrey's former boyfriend who had atmost—but not quite—disappeared forever from her life. He seems to have resurfaced once or twice in London, and she was evidently still kindly enough disposed to get him the job.

which she did. Sixteen years later, Young directed one of her finest films,
Wait Until Dark.

The two Hepburns may have been distantly related: Both had a great-grandfather called James Hepburn, but that was a common name in Scotland, and no one has proven the genealogical connection.

There was a lot of nighttime activity at the Fulton during
Gigi.
The set designer was Lila de Nobilli, whose Paris Opera designs would become legends. But the backstage unions opposed the hiring of foreigners. Gottlieb used a well-known ploy: “He engaged an American stooge, whose name was on the program as set designer,” said Loos, “and Lila herself painted the scenery, sneaking into the theater after dark, mounting a stepladder and painting all night.”

Among intersecting ironies is the fact that, when 20th Century-Fox finally decided to film the Gertrude Lawrence story, Star! (1968), the Lawrence role was played by Julie Andrews.

Throughout the careers of Audrey Hepburn's two most beloved directors, there was endless confusion between “Billy Wilder” and “Willie Wyler.” Wilder, who was slightly younger and more annoyed by the mistake, says Wyler “would put his arm around me and say, ‘Come on, now—Monet/Manet? What's the difference?'”

In later years, Hepburn always spoke affectionately of Hanson. In 1959, he married Geraldine Kaelin, with whom he has remained happily for thirty-seven years. They have two sons and a daughter.

Auric—with Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre and Louis Durey—was one of France's legendary “Les Six” composers. The brilliant Czech-born cameraman Franz Planer had recently filmed Max Ophuls's
Lerrer from an Unknown Woman
(1948) and
Death of a Salesman
(1951). He became Audrey's cinematographer of choice for many future films.

Ferrer played King Arthur opposite Ava Gardner's Guinevere. Merlin was old Felix Aylmer—Audrey's former acting coach.

José and Mel Ferrer are not related, though they have spent most of their professional lives being confused with one another. Further complicating the matter is that, in addition to his father, Mel's brother was also named José Ferrer and was also a leading surgeon in New York (and later Dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University).

Eight years later,
Lili
became the first film musical to be converted into a stage musical, instead of the other way around:
Carnival,
directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, had Anna Maria Alberghetti in Caron's role and Jerry Orbach in Ferrer's.

“I still get royalties from ‘Hi Lili,”' says Ferrer, “and I hope Leslie does, too.”

Zsa Zsa was the Miss Hungary of 1936.
Lili
is, far and away, the highlight of her filmography.

Charles Walters (1911-1982) choreographed such MGM musicals as Meet Me in
St. Louis
and was Judy Garland's favorite director. He made
Easter Parade
(1948),
The Barkleys of Broadway
(1949) and Joan Crawford's camp classic,
Torch Song.
“After a few days of shooting we all realized that Leslie was giving an extraordinary performance,” recalls Ferrer. Walters wanted to expand the numbers, increase the budget and make a typical MGM big musical, [but] Dore Schary ruled that the picture would stay in its small, modest, intimate form. How right he was.”

However shaky, the marriage of William and Ardis Holden lasted another twenty years, into the 1970s.

Exactly a decade later, she amazed filmgoers with the same trick in
My Fair Lady,
jumping from a stand-up posture to a perfect sitting position on the bed during “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

In addition to Hepburn, Kerr and Caron, the other nominees were Ava Gardner for
Mogambo
and Maggie McNamara for
The Moon Is Blue.
William Holden was named best actor for
Stalag 17.
Ian McLellan Hunter—Dalton Trumbo's front—won the story-writing award for
Roman Holiday.
Forty years later, a posthumous Oscar was presented to Trumbo's widow and children.

Ellen Burstyn would do so again in 1974 for
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Same Time Next Year.

For the record, here are the slight variances. From William Fields, her Playwrights Company publicist (1953): height: 5'6 ¾”; weight: 110; dress size: 8; hat size: 21; shoe size: 8; waist: 20”; glove size: 6½”. The
New York Post
(1956) said 32½-20-35.
Photoplay
(1954) said 32-20½-34.

Audiences are still casting their votes for
Sabrina,
remade in 1995 by Sidney Pollack, with Julia Ormond in Hepburn's role and Harrison Ford in Bogart's. Billy Wilder served as a consultant.

Hepburn was upset in later years by Fonda's disdain for
War and
Peace and refusal to include it in retrospectives of his work. One indirect tribute to Audrey was Sergei Bondarchuk's grand, eight-hour Soviet version of
War and Peace
(1966), in which he cast Ludmila Savetyeva—an Audrey Hepburn lookalike—as Natasha.

The final rundown of
Funny Face
tunes and their authors:

By George and Ira Gershwin: “Funny Face,” “He Loves and She Loves,” “Let's Kiss and Make Up” and “'S Wonderful” from the original
Funny Face
(1927); “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” written for
Funny Face
but not used until
Rosalie
(1928); and “Clap Yo' Hands” from
Oh, Kay!
(1926).

By Roger Edens and Leonard Gershe: “Think Pink,” “On How To Be Lovely,” and “Basal Metabolism.” With Ira Gershwin's permission, Edens and Gershe updated some of the Gershwin songs' lyrics.

Kay Thompson was also the creator of “Eloise,” that irrepressible little heroine of a whimsical book series on which millions of girls were raised in the fifties and sixties. In addition, Thompson was a vocal arranger for Judy Garland and the godmother of Liza Minnelli (one of the inspirations for Eloise), with whom the eighty-four-year-old Thompson now lives reclusively in New York.

Donen, then just thirty-one, made his Broadway dance debut at sixteen in
Pal Joey
which began his long collaboration with Gene Kelly. They codirected
On the Town
(1949) and
Singin' in the Rain
(1952). As solo director, Donen made such stunning film musicals as
Give a Girl a Break
(1953, with Marge and Gower Champion),
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
(1954), and later
Pajama Game
and
Damn Yankees.

Leslie Caron was then playing Gigi at the New Theatre in London “in order to warm myself up for the film.” One night she was visited in her dressing room by Baroness Ella van Heemstra. “She was very friendly,” Caron recalls, “and felt there was a tie between Audrey and me.” Aside from Gigi, Caron and Hepburn often vied for the same parts. After Audrey played
Ondine
on Broadway, Caron played it with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. “When I did
Fanny
(1961) with Josh Logan,” says Caron, “it was a toss-up between the two of us.” They met frequently “and always we had this sibling recognition. But I was in awe of her, and there was a great deal of shyness on both our parts.”

Ariane
had been filmed three times before—once as a French silent and twice with Elisabeth Bergner, whose gamine qualities were similar to Audrey's.

For more on the theory and practice of Hepburn's “old men” in films, see Molly Haskell's discussion in Chapter 5, pp. 165-66.

The persistent rumor that Audrey appeared as an extra in a
Ben-Hur
mob scene as a whimsical favor to director William Wyler is a myth, stemming from a visit that she and Patricia Bosworth made one day to watch the filming of the chariot scene. Hepburn took an interest in Bosworth, “maybe because it was my first big break in the movies [and] I was the youngest member of the cast,” she says. “During my big scenes, Audrey firmly advised me not to do anything—‘just react, don't act'—and that's what I did.”