Working with you and knowing you has been a gentle and rare experience

Following her role in Green Mansions (1959), Audrey Hepburn was cast as a Native American girl in John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960), the only western of her career. The film, in which Audrey co-stars with Burt Lancaster, Lillian Gish and Audie Murphy, was plagued with problems. While shooting a scene Audrey was thrown from her horse, breaking several vertebrae in her back and causing production to be suspended for a number of weeks. Audrey recovered —nursed back to health by Marie Louise Habets, the Belgian nun Audrey had portrayed in The Nun's Story (1959)— and eventually completed the film. (Audrey later suffered a miscarriage, due to her fall.) Besides Hepburn, co-star Audie Murphy was also in an accident, which occurred during a break in filming. On a duck-hunting trip Murphy's boat capsized and, unable to swim due to a war injury, the actor nearly drowned and had to be rescued. 

There were also problems on the artistic front. Director John Huston was in constant disagreement with Burt Lancaster, whose production company Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions financed the film. Huston wanted the picture to be a bold commentary on racism in America, while Lancaster wanted it to be less controversial and more commercial. In the end, The Unforgiven failed both commercially and critically. Unhappy with his film, Huston later said, "Some pictures I don't care for, but The Unforgiven is the only one I actually dislike...". (For the plot of the film, go here.)

Above (left to right): Burt Lancaster, Lillian Gish, Audrey Hepburn, Doug McClure and Audie Murphy as the Zachary family in John Huston's The Unforgiven. Below: The cast is getting directions from Huston whose back is turned to the camera.

The Unforgiven was shot on location in Durango, Mexico. Audrey Hepburn had her horse riding accident in late January 1959 and, as said, it took several weeks before she recovered and started filming again (wearing an orthopaedic brace). Probably in March, after she had returned to the set, Audrey wrote the following two letters to Lillian Gish (on The Unforgiven horse-themed stationery). The women got along quite well, The Unforgiven being the only film they made together. In the first letter Audrey tells the veteran actress how "working with [her] and knowing [her] has been a gentle and rare experience" and also talks about the gift she made for Gish. In the next letter Audrey thanks Gish for always being there for her. The film Audrey refers to here is Green Mansions, which premiered in March 1959 and was directed by Audrey's then-husband Mel Ferrer. Despite Audrey's hopes for Green Mansions, it was a disaster at the box-office.

Source: Bonhams

Transcript:

Friday

Dearest Lillian

I made this for you for chilly rehearsal halls or stages, drafty sets etc. In each stitch all my love — the wool comes from Finland and is soft but warm. Working with you and knowing you has been a gentle and rare experience — you are even more than what Herbie said you were. My gratitude and hugs

Audrey

P.T.O.

P.S. It was hard to buy something for you in Durango — hence the home-made

You wear it this way

[drawing]

See you tomorrow— or else shall find out when you leave.

About the tips— 50 pesos maximum should cover any one person— or a handbag for instance for Georgina— 25 pesos is fine for those you have been tipping as you went along.

Lillian Gish and Audrey Hepburn as resp. Ma Zachary and her adopted daughter Rachel in The Unforgiven. I think that Audrey was miscast as the Kiowa Indian girl and agree with Bosley Crowther when he wrote for the NY Times in April 1960: "As the girl, Audrey Hepburn is a bit too polished, too fragile and civilized among such tough and stubborn types as Burt Lancaster as the man of the family, Lillian Gish as the thin-lipped frontier mother and Audie Murphy as a redskin-hating son."

Audrey Hepburn knitting on the set of The Unforgiven

Source: Bonhams

Transcript:

Friday

Durango

Darling Mother Lillian

How good, how very good you always are to me — how like you to know just how I felt yesterday and bring me yourself a bouquet of love and warmth and understanding — all my hearts thanks and love.

Mel is HAPPY, terribly so, over the results— notices were mixed so far— most argue with the advisability of telling the story— Bosley Crowther said very nice things— N.Y. Daily News gave it 3½ stars!!! Motion Picture Daily excellent— O Lillian! and lovely ones for me— how deeply happy I am for Mel's sake— and how proud I am of him. [hearts drawing] Your completely devoted Audrey

Audrey Hepburn recovering in the hospital following her horse riding accident, with husband Mel Ferrer by her side.

Director John Huston with Lillian Gish behind the scenes of The Unforgiven

Lillian Gish on the set of The Unforgiven. Gish was an expert shot. For the film John Huston and leading man Burt Lancaster wanted to teach her how to shoot, but Gish turned out to be a better marksman than either Huston or Lancaster. Early in her career she had been taught how to shoot by ex-bank robber Al J. Jennings, who had become an actor and had played in one of her films.

How dear of you to write with such warmth and affection

Audrey Hepburn and Merle Oberon were friends and, at different points in time, both romantically linked to the same man, Dutch actor Robert Wolders. In 1973, Merle met Wolders during production of the film Interval and they fell in love (Wolders being 25 years younger than Merle). At the time Merle was still married to Italian industrialist Bruno Pagliai, whom she divorced that same year. Merle and Wolders tied the knot in 1975, their marriage lasting until Merle's death from a stroke in 1979, at age 68. 

Audrey was still officially married to Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti when she and Wolders entered into a relationship in 1980. The two had met the year before at a dinner party while Wolders was still grieving over Merle's death. Audrey and Wolders were together for 13 years when Audrey died from cancer in 1993 (aged 63). In 1989, she described her years with Wolders as the happiest of her life. Following Audrey's death, Wolders briefly dated Leslie Caron before starting a long-term relationship with Henry Fonda's widow Shirlee (from 1995 until Wolder's own death in 2018). About the women in his life Wolders said in a 2012 interview: "The odd thing is that Shirlee was a great friend of Audrey, and a great friend of Merle. In the same circle. Maybe it sounds odd. They were friends, each one, and I knew that Merle would have approved of me being with Audrey certainly ... And Audrey would have approved of Shirlee."

Robert Wolders with Merle Oberon (above) and Audrey Hepburn (below)

Rewind to the spring of 1969, long before Robert Wolders would enter the picture. Merle was married to Bruno Pagliai (and living with him in Mexico) and Audrey had just married Andrea Dotti a few months earlier. In the letter below from Audrey to Merle, Audrey talks about her new-found happiness with Dotti. Sean, whom Audrey mentioned, was her son by first husband Mel Ferrer.

Audrey Hepburn and Andrea Dotti, who were married from 1969 until 1982. They had one son, Luca (born 1970).

Source: liveauctioneers

Transcript:

11 April 69

tel. 655.370

Dearest Merle,

Returned last night from a snowy lovely holiday with Doris [Brynner] in St. Moritz to find your adorable letter here.

How dear of you to write with such warmth and affection.

Yes I am so happy and relaxed and every moment of the day has become so marvellous. 

I have the dearest most wonderful most loving husband and he's bright and funny, and dear with Sean and ... and... and I am so blessed and know it every second which is so good. 

Would love to come and see you one day ... it sounds so romantic.

Thank you, thank you and a huge HUG.

Till soon -

Audrey

Oscar For Sale

For those artists lucky enough to win an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has strict rules in case winners should ever wish to part with their golden prize. In 1951, the Academy included in the regulations that winners are not allowed to sell their Oscar without first offering it to the Academy for $10 (today the sum is a mere $1). This rule also applies to those who inherited or were gifted an Oscar.

A number of times the Academy has taken legal action when an Oscar was being offered for sale. For instance, in 2014 the Academy found their 1951 rule had been violated when an Oscar was sold at auction by the heirs of art director Joseph Wright, who had won the award for his work on My Gal Sal (1942). Joseph Tutalo, Wright's nephew, had consigned the statuette to Briarbrook Auctions and auction house Nate D. Sanders then bought the Oscar from Briarbrook for $79,200. The Academy subsequently went to court, arguing that although Wright had won the Oscar before 1951 he had kept his Academy membership until his death in 1985, which made the sale illegal. Eventually the judge ruled in the Academy's favour and the Academy reclaimed Wright's Oscar for $10.

Spencer Tracy with his Best Actor Oscar for Boys Town (1938) and Bette Davis with her Best Actress Oscar for Jezebel (1938), the latter Oscar sold at auction in 2001 to an anonymous bidder (who turned out to be Steven Spielberg).

Oscars have been sold succesfully in the past, though. For instance, in 1999 David Selznick's Best Picture statuette for Gone with the Wind (1939) was sold to Michael Jackson for a whopping $1.5 million, a trophy that unfortunately went missing years after Jackson's death (I couldn't find information whether it's turned up yet). Magician David Copperfield bought Michael Curtiz's 1943 Casablanca Oscar for $232,000 in 2003 and made a huge profit when he sold it at auction for more than $2 million ten years later. And director Steven Spielberg purchased several Oscars, including Clark Gable's 1934 Oscar for It Happened One Night (for $607,500 in 1996) and Bette Davis' 1938 Best Actress trophy for Jezebel (for $578,000 in 2001). However, Spielberg didn't buy these trophies for himself but, for the sake of preserving film history, returned them to the Academy instead.

Since 1951 Oscar winners are obliged to sign a document saying they won't sell their trophy without offering it to the Academy first. Here is the "Receipt for Academy Award Statuette" signed by Audrey Hepburn in May 1954, after she had won her Best Actress Oscar for Roman Holiday.

Via: Rare Audrey Hepburn (original source: The Audrey Hepburn Treasures)

Audrey Hepburn with the only Oscar of her career

It is a tremendous thrill for me to make this offer

In 1989, director Steven Spielberg made the romantic fantasy drama Always, a film that is generally considered a lesser entry in his filmography. Like Spielberg's recently released West Side Story, Always is a remake of a classic Hollywood film, i.e. Victor Fleming's A Guy Named Joe (1943), which was one of Spielberg's childhood favourites and one of the films that had inspired him to become a film director. A Guy Named Joe is about an airforce pilot (Spencer Tracy) who is killed in combat during World War II and is sent back to earth by a Heavenly "General" (Lionel Barrymore) on a new mission. For his remake Spielberg changed the setting of World War II to a modern setting of aerial firefighting. Richard Dreyfuss was cast in Tracy's role and in Barrymore's role Spielberg wanted Sean O'Connory but he was unavailable. The director then decided to replace the "General" with a female angel ("Hap") and approached Audrey Hepburn to play her.

Seen below is the letter Spielberg wrote to Audrey on 14 July 1989, offering her the part of "Hap". In his book Audrey at Home (2015), Luca Dotti recalled his mother's reaction after receiving the letter: "Years before, watching E.T. at a movie theater in Rome, my mother, extremely moved and squeezing my hand, whispered to me, "Luca, this man is a genius." Now that genius was offering her a role. When I asked her what the part was, she replied, "But it doesn't matter! Do you realize he actually wants me?" (Audrey was given a small role, making a cameo appearance.)

Probably best remembered for being Audrey's last film, Always was neither a critical nor commercial success. Still, it was a film both Spielberg and Audrey had enjoyed making. Spielberg said that one of the greatest thrills of his life was working with Audrey, while Audrey commented in an interview with Larry King: "I loved it, and I wouldn’t mind if he asked me again, like next summer. I’d be right back. I had really one of the best times of my life." 

At the time Audrey was quite busy with her work as Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef and her $1 million salary for the film she donated to the organisation.

Source: Christie's

Audrey Hepburn is fabulous! Truly!

In a film career that spanned forty years during which she starred in such classics as Roman Holiday (1953), Sabrina (1954), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and My Fair Lady (1964), Audrey Hepburn had declined many a film role. One of the roles she turned down was that of spinster Alma Winemiller in Summer and Smoke (1961), a film based on the 1948 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. Both Williams and producer Hal Wallis had wanted Audrey to play the role of Alma and visited her at her home in Switzerland in 1955 to discuss the project. In the end, Audrey declined the role, which (years later) went to Geraldine Page who had also played it on stage. 

In the summer of 1955, Tennessee Williams wrote a letter to his agent Audrey Wood, part of the letter concerning Summer and Smoke and Audrey Hepburn. Here is the part that deals with Hepburn, who was 26 years old at the time and married to her first husband Mel Ferrer.

 

Wallis is here and we were at the Ferrers for dinner last night because Hal wants to sign Audrey Hepburn for Summer and Smoke. I think it's an excellent choice ...

Audrey Hepburn is fabulous! Truly! She was Miss Alma in the flesh! I can't think of better casting for this part. She has long thin arms, a long thin neck, long thin body and long thin legs - and eyes that break your heart with their youth and sweetness. No accent: exquisite grace. I almost found myself admiring Hal Wallis for thinking of her for it. Her price is $350,000 and he is willing to pay it! The deal is not yet completed but I had a distinct feeling that both she and Mel were very favorable to it. We discussed directors. Do you think the man who directed "Marty" [1955, Delbert Mann] would be right for it? Another one mentioned was William Wyler who directed her in "Roman Holiday". 

[The 1961 film Summer and Smoke was directed by English director Peter Glenville.]

Source: The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 2: 1945-1957, edited by Albert J. Devlin and Nancy M. Tischler (2004).

Playwright Tennessee Williams (above) and Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey in the 1961 film Summer and Smoke (below).

Audrey and Holly are both such wonderful girls

In one of the interviews Lawrence Grobel conducted with writer Truman Capote between July 1982 and August 1984, as recorded in Grobel's book Conversations with Capote (1985), Capote said that Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) was "the most miscast film [he had] ever seen." Capote, who had written the 1958 novella on which the film is loosely based, further said:

It made me want to throw up… And although I’m very fond of Audrey Hepburn, she’s an extremely good friend of mine, I was shocked and terribly annoyed when she was cast in that part. It was high treachery on the part of the producers. They didn’t do a single thing they promised. I had lots of offers for that book, from practically everybody, and I sold it to this group at Paramount because they promised things, they made a list of everything, and they didn’t keep a single one. The day I signed the contract they turned around and did exactly the reverse. They got a lousy director like Blake Edwards, who I could spit on!

Capote's choice for the part of Holly Golightly had always been Marilyn Monroe, who was also a good friend of his ("Holly had to have something touching about her... unfinished. Marilyn had that."). Capote said that Marilyn had really wanted the role, so much even "that she worked up two whole scenes all by herself and did them for [him]."

While Capote felt betrayed by the studio's decision to give the role to Audrey, it must be noted that the role had been offered to Marilyn first. Marilyn's drama coach Paula Strasberg, however, felt the part of a call girl was wrong for Marilyn and thus Marilyn declined. When Audrey was asked for the role, she wasn't eager to play it initially, also considering herself unsuited for it. It was director Blake Edwards who eventually convinced her to accept. (In the end, it proved to be Audrey's most iconic performance, for which she also received an Oscar nomination.)

Photo booth pictures of Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer in New York City, taken around 1956.

In the spring of 1960, it was announced that Audrey had been cast as Holly Golightly, with the shooting of Breakfast At Tiffany's to start in September of that year. On 17 July Audrey gave birth to her first child, son Sean by her first husband Mel Ferrer. To congratulate her on the birth of her son, Capote wrote Audrey the following letter from Spain where he was working on a new book. In the letter he also told her how pleased he was that she was going to do Tiffany's. Capote's words are in sharp contrast to his later statements about Audrey being totally wrong for the part. It's unclear whether his remark in the letter was a white lie (not wishing to burst his friend's happy bubble after she just had a baby?) or if he was simply less opposed to Audrey playing Holly than he would later claim. At any rate, this is not the only instance when Capote had expressed himself positively about Audrey regarding Tiffany's. At one point he had also said: "Audrey was not what I had in mind when I wrote that part, although she did a terrific job." (Indeed she did!)

Incidentally, Capote closes his letter with "Mille Tendresse", the last words Holly wrote to Fred in the novella. 

Source: Christie's

Transcript:

"AZ-ZAHARA"

PLAYA DE ARO

COSTA BRAVA,

Spain

23 July 1960

Dearest Audrey,

With two such parents, I'm sure it must be a most beautiful little boy, wicked-eyed but kindly natured. My life-long blessings on the three of you.

May I say, too, how pleased I am that you are doing "B.ATT." I have no opinion of the film script [written by George Axelrod], never having had the opportunity to read it. But since Audrey and Holly are both such wonderful girls, I feel nothing can defeat either of them.

I am spending the summer here (until end of Oct.), and then going somewhere in Switzerland- the point being that I am working on a new book, and plan to stay abroad until I've finished it.

Please give my love to Mel.

Mille Tendresse, 

Truman

Audrey, call us!

Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins starred together in Stanley Kramer's On The Beach (1959) and during production of the film they realised they had all been leading men to Audrey Hepburn. Peck was Audrey's romantic lead in Roman Holiday (1953), Astaire in Funny Face (1957) and Perkins in Green Mansions (1959). While filming on location in Australia, the men decided to send Audrey a message ("Dear Audrey. If you need any help call us!") via this fun picture, autographed by the three of them. I'm sure Audrey must have been thrilled to receive this.

Source: Christie's

Am all excited by the idea of "Oliver"

At one time Audrey Hepburn considered playing the role of Nancy in Oliver!, the film version of Lionel Bart's stage musical of the same name. Having enjoyed working with director George Cukor on My Fair Lady (1964), Audrey very much wanted to make another film with him. The project she had in mind for the two of them was Oliver! which enjoyed a successful run on Broadway from January 1963 until November 1964. Audrey went to see the show and wrote Cukor a letter on 6 January 1964, telling him what she thought of it.

Audrey Hepburn and George Cukor photographed on the set of My Fair Lady, 1963.

Transcribed below is part of Audrey's letter to Cukor, i.e. the part that deals with Oliver!. It's interesting that Audrey was even considering the role of Nancy, seeing that the part was not a leading role but a relatively small one. (Apparently Audrey's wish to do another film with Cukor was so strong that she was willing to settle for a supporting role.) In her letter Audrey makes a few suggestions on how to improve the role by making Nancy "more human" with "more spirit and much more humor". She also suggests that the film version should not be a musical but a story "where the music and songs are incidental". Having just finished My Fair Lady with her voice not deemed good enough (her songs were dubbed by Marni Nixon) Audrey understandably wasn't eager to do another full-blown musical. In the end, Audrey never played Nancy and never worked with Cukor again. The film version of Oliver! (a British production) was eventually released in 1968 with Shari Wallis in the role of Nancy. Directed by Carol Reed, the film became a big hit, winning six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.

Source: icollector.com

Transcript:

Dear dear George

[.....] 

Am all excited by the idea of ‘Oliver’ if you were to do it. As you know Harold asked me to see it explaining that the girl was no great shakes as a part but that it could be rewritten. I went to it to enjoy the show but with a skeptical view of doing it—as usually a part ‘isn't there’ for a good reason, there is none. Watching the show I found the performance in general stale, they all seemed to have done it too often, with the exception of ‘Fagan’ [sic] played by Clive Revill whom I thought was brilliant and highly entertaining. In all I felt much much more can be made of the piece. The girl I find could be more human, have far more warmth for and relationship with the Boys—and be more one of them, the ‘pickpocket with heart of gold’ so to speak. I think she could have more spirit and much more humor, the girl ‘yammered’ a bit too much for my liking. The Bumbles and Bill Sykes [sic] are badly cast—the first could be jollier less sinister and Sykes [sic] should be a brute but physically more attractive. You may wonder why I want to play the girl as the boy and Fagan [sic] are the whole cheese. But she could be fascinating if you see it too, if you and Mel [Ferrer] don’t then I am wrong about the possibilities. The movie should be Hogarthian, Dickensian, sepia, moody and real. The score is not superb … it should be a story, where the music and songs are incidental, not a MUSICAL as such… I know how frantically busy you are and I may kill myself if I have wasted your time. The prospect of doing another with you is what may have persuaded and coloured my reaction! We’ll see!

[....]
xx

Above: Shari Wallis in Carol Reed's Oliver! was the perfect Nancy. Here she is pictured with Ron Moody (Fagin) and Oliver Reed (Bill Sikes) in a scene from the film.

The Oscar thing has deteriorated into a sickening mess

This summer I saw My Fair Lady (1964) on the big screen for the first time which was an absolute joy. Rewatching the film, however, I still found it hard to believe that Audrey Hepburn wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for her delightful portrayal of Eliza Doolittle. The snub is one of the biggest nomination snubs of all time and I can imagine how devastated Audrey must have been.

Someone who was outraged by the Academy's failure to nominate Audrey was Deborah Kerr. Deborah was a friend of Audrey's and, according to Audrey biographer Barry Paris, one of the very few friends Audrey had in the film industry. Both women lived in Switzerland, not very far from each other. About her friendship with Audrey, Deborah said in later years: "To the world it may not have seemed that constant or deep an association, but we became very close even though we didn't see each other much. I couldn't say, 'She was my best friend in my whole life'. Yet in a way, perhaps she was." 

When Deborah learned about Audrey not being nominated for My Fair Lady, she wrote Audrey the following letter expressing her shock and anger at the injustice of the Oscar snub. Calling the Oscars a "sham", "hypocritical" and a "sickening mess", I'm sure Deborah conveyed the feelings of many of Audrey's colleagues and friends. In her letter Deborah also mentions Patricia Neal who had just suffered three strokes while pregnant; Audrey would replace Patricia as one of the presenters at the Oscar ceremony to be held a month later (read more about that here). 

Source: Christie's

Transcript:

Friday March 5th [1965]

My darling Aud-

Our life was such a hectic and horrible rush before leaving Klosters a week ago, that I did not have time to write and tell you how positively stunned amazed and shocked and disgusted and 'you name it', we* both were at your not being nominated. If I started to go into all that I feel - all the resentment and boiling anger I entertain for the whole sham - hypocritical - sickening mess the Oscar thing has deteriorated into in these last years, I would take pages, and bore the hell out of you as well!! It is enough to say darling that we feel for you so very much, because however philosophical one is, however one says one doesn't really care, ONE DOES!! And it hurts. But then one starts to think of that tragic Pat Neal, and all her children + her poor husband [Roald Dahl], and one knows that the Oscar is an eye-drop in this world of pain and madness.

Darling one - we send very very much love, and Pedro Amarillo Sucio is no longer Amarillo but still Sucio!

Fondly + affectionately

Deborah

* "We" undoubtedly refers to writer Peter Viertel whom Deborah married in July 1960 and with whom she lived in Klosters, Switzerland.

Above: Audrey and Deborah with Deborah's husband Peter Viertel, ca. 1965. Below: Audrey and Deborah were jointly voted "Best Actress of the Broadway Season 1953-1954" in a poll of the New York Drama Critics, i.e. Audrey for her role in Ondine and Deborah for Tea and Sympathy; here Deborah visits Audrey backstage during the run of Ondine.

There is only one you

In his 1996 biography on Audrey Hepburn, Barry Paris stated that Audrey was not only a biographer's dream but also a biographer's nightmare. A beloved actress and a passionate advocate for children's rights, Audrey was (and still is) só admired and revered that practically nobody had anything negative to say about her. Paris found that the worst thing Audrey seemingly did was her failure to mention Patricia Neal at the 1965 Oscars (read more about that here).

Audrey is and has been an inspiration to a lot of people, even long before she reached her icon status. One of the people she inspired in the early 1960s was Cherylin Sarkisian, an insecure teenage girl who became later known as Cher.

A teenager who didn't really fit in, Cher hated high school but loved to watch movies. In 1961 she saw Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn for the first time leaving her completely awestruck. At that time most of the female stars were blondes with whom Cher couldn't identify (e.g. Doris Day and Sandra Dee), but now seeing Audrey --a brunette portraying an eccentric, free spirit like she was herself-- she had found her role model. Cher became fascinated with Audrey, dressing herself and behaving like Audrey's character Holly Golightly and getting herself into trouble at school in the process.

It wasn't until many years later, after she had become an actress herself, that Cher finally got to meet her idol. The occasion was the 1988 Academy Awards Ceremony where Cher was awarded the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Moonstruck. Audrey loved Cher in Moonstruck and told Cher that night that she had wanted her to win. (Cher was in fact one of Audrey's favourite contemporary actresses and Audrey admired her for her "enormous scale of emotions and total lack of inhibition.")

Three years later, on 22 April 1991, Audrey herself was honoured at a gala tribute in New York. Seeing how much Audrey loved Moonstruck and the performance of leading lady Cher, Audrey's then-partner Robert Wolders suggested that Cher be a surprise guest at the tribute. Cher was invited but then two days before the event she got sick. Heartbroken that she wouldn't be able to attend and tell Audrey in person how much she meant to her, Cher took pen to paper and wrote Audrey the following letter.

Source: Christie's

Transcript:

April 20, 1991

Dearest Audrey,

This is a very hard letter for me to write, because what I had dreamt of doing all my life was to be able to tell you all of this in person- or at least in front of hundreds of people Monday night! I bought a new dress (something I thought you would love) and was completely ready to tell my innermost feelings about you because of the profound effect you have had on my life.

On the night I won the Oscar you touched my hand and said you were glad I'd won..... you can never imagine what that meant to me. Since I was a little girl you have been my idea of a "star" and it was partly because of you that I became an actress.

You were a brilliant light for me in a sometimes dark childhood. I so wanted to be like you in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" that I put my hair in 2 ponytails, bought huge sunglasses, and wore the closest thing to "you" that I could put together. I got suspended from school for the sunglasses but never mind- I was on my way to being just like you. But as I started to grow up I realized I couldn't be you because there is only one you.

(There is no better argument for being an individual than you, being you, living your life as you do on screen (I could never presume to know the private you by your image alone))

Someone once said to me that I was like a "3rd world Audrey Hepburn"- I'm not sure how they meant it, but it's one of my favorite comments regarding me. Your work is so beautiful that it has inspired me again and again.

I love you and respect you and you will never know how sad I am to miss this golden opportunity to say it in person. I send you my love,

Cher

This post is my contribution to the AUDREY AT 90: THE SALUTE TO AUDREY HEPBURN BLOGATHON hosted by SISTER CELLULOID. Be sure to check out all the other entries here!!

Dear Mr. Kubrick

A few days ago, my sister and I went to see the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition here in our hometown Barcelona. The exhibition has visited several cities worldwide since 2004 (including Los Angeles, Mexico City, Seoul and Paris) before coming to Barcelona with some added material. (I saw that the exhibition was also held in Amsterdam in 2012 when I still lived there, but I somehow missed it then.) While I am not a Kubrick fan --I do like his earlier work though, e.g. The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957)-- I enjoyed the exhibition a lot. It was very well laid out, each of Kubrick's films having its own dedicated space, with on display original props, costumes, storyboards, photos and lots of documents, including production documents, screenplays and correspondence. Attention was also paid to Kubrick's early days when he worked as a photographer and also his unrealised projects were presented in detail.

(Photo by me)

Of course I was glad to see a number of letters displayed at the exhibition. For this post I chose one letter concerning Kubrick's unrealised film about Napoleon Bonaparte. Kubrick was fascinated by Napoleon and had researched his subject meticulously, putting together a massive archive of research material. In 1969, Kubrick completed his script and also drew up a detailed shooting plan. In the end, the film was never made since no studio was willing to take on the exorbitant production costs. (More about Kubrick's Napoleon can be found in the 2009 voluminous book by Alison Castle Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made.)

Lots of photos were on display at the exhibit, including this one of Kubrick and Kirk Douglas on the set of Paths of Glory. (Photo by me)

Kubrick's preferred choice for the role of Joséphine, Napoleon's first wife, had been Audrey Hepburn. Audrey, in semi-retirement at the time, wrote to Kubrick in November 1968, kindly declining his offer while asking him to keep her in mind for future assignments. (Whether Kubrick ever asked her again, I don't know.) The image shown below is a photo taken by me of a fascimile on display at the exhibit, the original letter being part of the Stanley Kubrick Archive at the University of the Arts London.

Source: Stanley Kubrick Archive

Transcript:

Sunday 
17 Nov '68

Dear Mr. Kubrick

Thank you for the kind letter you wrote me - I am flattered and happy you would like me to work with you. 

I still don't want to work for a while so cannot commit or involve myself in any project at this time. 

I hope you understand this..... and will think of me again someday?

Thank you again

Warmest wishes

Audrey Hepburn

NOTE: The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition in Barcelona will have its final day tomorrow. From 26 April until 15 September 2019, the exhibit can be visited at the Design Museum in London (more info here).

I am only just emerging from a small nightmare....

If I hadn't come across the following note from Audrey Hepburn to George Cukor, I never would have known about this interesting bit of Oscar trivia. Audrey wrote to Cukor after the 37th Academy Award Ceremony (which took place in April 1965), where Cukor was presented with the Oscar for Best Director for My Fair Lady (1964). In her letter, Audrey first talks about Cukor's Oscar and then continues to say that she just woke up from a small nightmare: "... the idea that I might have hurt Pat.... is agonizing."

So what happened?

Patricia Neal ("Pat") had won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Hud the year before, and as the Oscar tradition goes, the previous year's winner of the Best Actress Oscar presents the Oscar to the current year's Best Actor. However, Patricia had suffered three strokes earlier that year (at age 39 while pregnant) and at the time of the Oscar ceremony was still recovering at home. To present the Best Actor award, Audrey was asked to replace Patricia. So when the time came for Audrey to give out the award to her My Fair Lady co-star Rex Harrison, Patricia, who was watching the Oscar ceremony on television with then-husband Roald Dahl, expected Audrey to say something about her. In her 1988 autobiography As I Am, Patricia recalled: "I had been told that Audrey Hepburn would bestow the honor in my place and I couldn't wait to hear all the nice things she would say about me. "There! There!" I pointed to the TV when Audrey was introduced. ... But suddenly she was handing Rex Harrison his award, and she hadn't said a thing about me. It had to be a mistake. I pounded on the table with my good hand. "God! God! Me! Not me!""

Audrey Hepburn and Patricia O'Neal on the set of Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), their only film together. During production of the film the two had gotten along well.

Patricia was very angry and upset about Audrey's failure to mention her. Husband Dahl later told the press: "She thought it bloody well stunk. She and Audrey have known each other for a long time. And Audrey didn't even call until the day after the ceremonies— and that was after I think someone told her Pat was hurt. Audrey had to leave on a one o'clock plane so she didn't have time to see Pat either. Had we not sent the telegram to Bob Hope from Pat at the awards, there probably would have been no mention of her at all." 

When she learned about Patricia being hurt, Audrey was naturally devastated. She called Patricia to apologise and also sent her a gift to make amends. According to Audrey biographer Barry Paris, Patricia said years later: "The incident at the Academy Awards occurred under enormous pressure and has long since been forgotten. Audrey sent me a fabulous porcelain rose, which was very good of her. I guess it just didn't occur to her that night. I suppose she was distracted. One never knows how these things happen." Audrey was indeed under a lot of pressure that night, handing out the Best Actor Award while being greatly upset about not having been nominated herself. She had been in doubt whether to go to the ceremony or not, but when asked to replace Patricia she simply couldn't refuse.

So here is Audrey's note to her dear friend George Cukor which made me aware of the incident in the first place. Audrey first expresses her happiness over Cukor's first and only Oscar win before briefly mentioning the incident with Patricia. (Incidentally, after having been nominated for an Oscar four times, i.e. for Little Women (1934), The Philadelphia Story (1941), A Double Life (1948) and Born Yesterday (1951), with My Fair Lady Cukor finally got his prize.)

Source: icollector

Transcript:

Dearest George,

Once again there are no words to discribe [sic] the joy of staying with you—and what made it really great is that you now have a permanent solid gold houseguest Oscar by name—I wonder if you know the happiness you gave all your friends by winning it. 

I must tell you that I am only just emerging from a small nightmare…. the idea that I might have hurt Pat…. is agonizing. Who was right or wrong did not seemed [sic] to matter, only she mattered to me. So…. I am sorry that I did not once again thank you during our last minute talk. Would you darling George give this note to Irene? I send you all my love. Audrey

This post is my contribution to the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon, hosted by ONCE UPON A SCREEN, OUTSPOKEN AND FRECKLED and PAULA'S CINEMA CLUB.  Be sure to check out all the other entries too!