A Life Worth Knowing: Audrey Hepburn During The Golden Age Of Hollywood

A Life Worth Knowing: Audrey Hepburn In 1950-1960s Hollywood, the name Audrey Hepburn was synonymous with style and movie success. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, Hepburn was the leading actress in over twenty films, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Roman Holiday. After the end of her acting career, Audrey Hepburn’s name became synonymous with goodwill. In addition to being a world-famous actress and Academy Award winner, Audrey Hepburn was a UNICEF ambassador who worked tirelessly both abroad and domestically to create awareness of children’s needs. Audrey Hepburn was born in 1929 in Brussels, Belgium. Her mother was a Dutch baroness, and she moved back to the Netherlands, where she attended private school. She took ballet lessons throughout her education. This all came to a crashing halt then the Germans invaded Holland. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, many children were starving and malnourished, Hepburn among them. “As a starving child in Holland after World War II, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, forerunner of UNICEF, brought
While in China, she was an honored guest at their International Music Festival, which included a concert benefitting the United Nations Children’s Fund. At the festival, Hepburn made a brief speech about the organization, whose goal was to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged children in the world: “Due to my own early experiences, I can testify to what UNICEF means to children… I have kept a long-lasting gratitude to them…” (Spoto 291). She then traveled to Tokyo, where she became friends with Christa Roth, event coordinator for UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors. Hepburn told Roth that she wanted to do more on behalf of UNICEF. Early on, UNICEF officials wanted Hepburn to be a media symbol, but that was not what she wanted. She followed in the footsteps of Danny Kaye, the first UNICEF Goodwill