Become innocent
princess,
The life of Audrey Hepburn
changed on the go
the streets of
Rome aboard a wasp. Of
the art of magic called cinema,
and a simple movie, Holidays
in Rome, that actress
unknown not only transformed,
Overnight,
in a big star with Oscar
in the pocket; its cinematic
walks through the dolce vita
Roman, by the hand of Grigore
Peck, they gave him the status
as a symbol of the Eternal City,
so indisputable for
The Romans themselves like the Colosseum
or the Trevi Fountain.
Audrey won her heart like that
of the Romans and maybe because of it
he came to make of his Rome
at home and in the shelter that allowed him
get rid of frivolity and
The superficiality of Hollywood
a place that has been revitalized with its glamor
and her innocent angel face,
but where you never felt
completely comfortable.
In Rome, however, it was felt
at ease from the first moment.
The spell was so strong
that, after he showed
to the world in that masterpiece
of William Wyler, Hepburn round
in the Italian capital two films
which add; in the fifties
bought an apartment at which
he often came with his first
husband, Mel Ferrer, and in 1969 was formed
a new family with their second
husband, Romanian doctor
Andrea Dotti, making the Eternal City his home until the middle of the year
the eighties.
His son Luca Dotti, the fruit of this
last marriage, it was decided
now helped by over 200 photos,
to tell in the book Audrey
in Rome how that relationship was linked
among the third largest female star
of all times -according to
American Film Institute, the other Hepburn,
Katherine, she’s the queen and Bette
Davis, second and Roma.
Rome: city of cinema
“In 1953, when Holidays was filmed
in Rome – says Dotti-,
the war was fresh in the memory
of the Romans, but
the film regained its spirit without worries
and the fun of the city
and suddenly my mother was
adopted as a new icon
after three years
that first contact
Romana, the British actress from
Belgian origins have returned to stardom
the monumental war and
peace, shot entirely in
Cinecitta studios. When you get off the
plane to Ciampino airport,
local, grateful press
because he returned the city to
map, received her as a daughter
favorite. And that’s how it all started. FiTíber ‘, from the splendor of Cinecitta,
of the rise of the fleeing paparazzi
looking for the indiscreet
at night to the stars that populated
local night. But for Hepburn,
beyond a sleepy face to height
night hours in a club,
She was never caught losing her papers.
“I saw thousands of photos
of my mother in the archives of
main photo agencies
-says his son- and he always came out great “
. On the one hand, his years as
ballet dancer provided
to the actress a calm
impeccable throughout his life. Of
another, photos, for that aura
its Roman symbol, they had
with her some respects that
they never awarded the rest of the stars
cinematic. “Rome is protected
Dotti points out my mother. Reporters
they always gave theirs
space and time ”.
In the late fifties,
the actress already had her own circle
of friends. “Henry Fonda [tercer
vértice del triángulo protagonista
de Guerra y paz] he married an italian woman,
Afdera Franchetti, in 1957, and
He moved to Rome, says Dotti. My filming is over, Hepburn and Ferrer,
her husband then and partner
cast in adaptation
from Tolstoy’s book, they bought
there an apartment they visited
frequently.
It was the years of “my mother’s Hollywood and Ferrer came out a lot
They. Afdera and her sister were
Lorian who made me my mother
a true novel.
Audrey Hepburn has always been happy
from town. “It simply came to our notice then
years my mother lived in Rome
-he continued-, people knew her too
almost all taxi drivers knew where
she lived. I know today. I wore
at school, in the park, at classes
swimming, I met my teachers,
I went shopping at the famous pizzicagnoli
[ultramarinos] Romans,
he cooked for us or his
friends, especially spaghetti al pomodoro,
his favorite dish and it was long
walks with their dogs. Sometimes,
a photographer followed her and immortalized her
next to my father in an alley
look for it in Campo dei Fiori,
waiting for Grandma to open them
the front door for lunch
Sunday”.
Audrey Hepburn, Account the Younger
of his two sons, he never understood
own call. “She is OK
nose too big, too
that legs [calzaba un 39]; that
she was excessively weak and lacking
Hepburn weighed 50 kilograms,
He was 1.70 and barely overweight
50 centimeters, but in a
it was dominated by voluptuous actresses
and round curves, Billy Wilder,
by hiring her for Sabrina II
consecutive nomination a
Oscar-winning actress, saw that young woman from
magnetic smile and clairvoyance
of the genius cast out: This young girl will convince
the world that great
breasts and sharp curves are a
the vestige of the past.
However, Hepburn never saw it so clearly. “She looked in the mirrors and said, ‘I don’t understand why people consider me pretty,'” her son reveals. His explanation was that he probably had a good mix of flaws. “His sense of humor was, in fact, a well-appreciated quality among his colleagues. It was not in vain that he was friends with many of his co-workers, such as Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison. , Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant, who even said: “All I Ask for Christmas is another movie with Audrey Hepburn.”
Grant’s wish was never granted. Four years after Charada [1963]The only thing they shot together turned their backs on the industry: “My mother never behaved like a star. He woke up early, was punctual, didn’t scream and didn’t throw diva attacks. Even so, he still holds the world record for magazine covers. 650 – reveals his son. All this exposure made her very famous and very charming, but if we add the time invested only in photo shoots, it adds two whole years of her life. There came a time when I needed something more. “
Hepburn decided to leave the cinema not once, but twice. First, in 1967, to take care of little Luca. Later, in the 1980s, after a return that tied three films, he retired altogether to dedicate himself to the cause of childhood at the hands of Unicef.
“My mother never knew my children,” says Dotti-. She would have been a wonderful grandmother, she baked cakes for them, she was with them whenever she could, she told them stories … She said that children should play and be happy because they need this joy as they grow. For her, aging was part of the life cycle. He did not understand women’s efforts to stay young. She enjoyed getting older because she had more time for herself, her family, and she was moving away from the superficial frenzy of Hollywood. “
Those who knew her well recognize in Hepburn a sadness that always accompanied her. ! “War,” Dotti- points out. He lost almost his whole family, his house … That remained latent in his soul, although behind the pain everything turned him into a discovery. When he talked about his career, he said it was like winning the lottery. And deep in her heart, she was always a farmer. He grew up in Belgium, Holland and England, in the country, and loved the rustic. That is why at the end of his life he chose Switzerland “.
He lived there until 1986, six years after his divorce from Luca’s father, when he moved to Switzerland to be close to his son, who was studying there, an intern, a high school student. In 1963, the actress had bought a farm in that country – “with her money”, she used to proudly say. Hepburn’s story with Rome is over.