10 Rare photographs of Audrey Hepburn
These ten rare and elegant photographs capture the iconic Audrey Hepburn during significant moments in her life and career.
1. Downtime
(C) Lawrence Fried / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
Starring in her first Broadway production—Gigi—Audrey Hepburn is just 22 in this magnetic candid moment, which shows her relaxing in between the demanding stage role, and exploring her new home, New York City.
2. Animal lover
(C) The Norman Parkinson Archive / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
In this photograph from 1955, Hepburn poses at the farmhouse she rented in the Alban Hills, Cecchina, Italy with her then partner Mel Ferrer, during the filming of War and Peace.
Glamour magazine reported that “The remodelled farmhouse villa sits in the middle of the vine groves of the Castelli region—complete with two dogs, eight cats, three families of rabbits, two white fantail doves, two baby doves, and a donkey named Biba.”
3. Hepburn in Malibu
(C) Milton H. Greene / ACC Art Books
Look magazine sent photographer Milton H Greene to Malibu in September 1953 to photograph Audrey while she was filming Sabrina.
The impromptu series of images featured Audrey on the beach and at her Malibu bungalow.
4. The ingénue
(C) The Norman Parkinson Archive / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
A black and white image from this photoshoot ran in Vogue in 1952. I
t showcased Hepburn—who wore a costume from the production of Gigi—as an up-and-coming star of Hollywood and teased at her new paramount pictures contract. That contract would later take the form of one of her most famous films, Roman Holiday.
5. Off duty beauty
(C) Terry O’Neil / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
This unplanned moment was captured by Terry O’Neil during downtime on a shoot in St Tropez. “During breaks between scenes, someone set up a beach cricket game,” he explained.
“Audrey jumped right in, picked up the bat and started to play. These are just great shots of not only a beautiful woman, but I hope these portray what she was like off-camera. She was one of the most kind and generous people I’ve ever worked with. She lit up a room and never took a bad picture.”
“My job was easy—I just had to be there and press the button. I can’t say enough good things about Audrey. I was lucky to be there.”
6. Playing the fool
(C) Terry O’Neil / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
Of this moment, photographer Terry O’Neil said, “I wanted to capture some of the more candid moments of working on a film set. While waiting for the director to yell ‘Action!’, there’s a lot of sitting around. She was scrubbing floors in one scene [of the movie, How to Steal a Million] and assistants would bring around ice-packs for her to wear while waiting for the next scene to be set up.”
7. Professional and poised
(C) Douglas Kirkland / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
Speaking about working with Audrey Hepburn, who he shot twice over his career, photographer Douglas Kirkland said, “The atmosphere on a shoot was always very good with Audrey. She was very professional and wanted to do what she could for the photographer. It meant that we were working very much in sync. She was always working for the camera.”
“She was superb in every way. Truthfully, I wish there were more Audrey Hepburns today.”
8. Posing in Givenchy
(C) The Norman Parkinson Archive / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
This mesmerising shot, in which Hepburn poses in a Givenchy dress in the Alban Hills of Cecchina, Italy, was captured just two years after her breakout performance in Roman Holiday and was to become perhaps the most iconic photoshoot of her career.
9. Lounging around
(C) The Norman Parkinson Archive / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
This image is part of a column dress series taken around the same time as the shoot at the Italian farmhouse. A deliberately colour-enhanced version of Audrey standing up appeared on the cover of Glamour.
10. An ageing icon
(C) Eva Sereny / Iconic Images / ACC Art Books
Eva Sereny captured the iconic actress on set for her final film role, Steven Spielberg’s Always.
“It was very strange in a way. When she is sitting between the two trees and looking down, I can see that she is really thinking. I am not there. She’s with herself only. In that moment everything seemed to fall into place naturally and I can’t remember saying much at all beyond asking her to stand up.”
