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2006.11.05
The biographer's dream and nightmare: Audrey Hepburn
The fall book parade brings two biographical works on the late, beloved Audrey Hepburn. Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, by Hollywood biographer Donald Spoto, covers her life, form her childhood under Nazi rule in Holland and Belgium to her inspiring work for UNICEF and her death from cancer in 1994. The Audrey Hepburn Treasures, by Ellen Irwin and Jessica Z. Diamond, is a hefty, beautifully designed volume with biographical sequence, 200 photographs and envelopes containing copies of letters contracts, clippings, snapshots, etc. Speaking from his home in Denmark, Donald Spoto said that four years ago he took “a hard look” at writings about Hepburn, including three or four biographies plus picture books and studies of her movies. Enchantment is the most moving in accounts of Hepburn’s war years when she and her family nearly starved to death and she witnessed random shooting s of civilians by German soldiers. Also dramatic are her last six years when she abandoned her career to tour the world on behalf of sick and starving children. Spoto delves into her personal life, including a fling with William Holden, a married man, when they starred in Sabrina in 1954. During her own marriages, to actor Mel Ferrer and to Rome psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, Spoto writes that she had passionate affairs with playwright Robert Anderson (who wrote the screenplay of 1959’s The Nun’s Story) and co-stars Albert Finney and Ben Gazzara. “She wanted desperately to beloved, and she didn’t choose her husbands wisely,” the author said. “Actresses often do not.” The Audrey Hepburn Treasures resembles in size and weight a big-city telephone book. It is indeed a trove of a remarkable life, with memorabilia dating from her Brussels birth through in London, New York and Hollywood years to her work with the children on African tribes. The book was assembled and written by Irwin and Diamond, officials of the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund. “They know my mother’s life better than anyone,” Sean Hepburn Ferrer, Hupburn’s first-born son and the instigator of the book, remarked from his Santa Monica office. Gathering all the material, including photographs never before printed, was a monumental task, helped by Hepburn herself. In the early stages of Enchantment, Sean was asked to participate. He declined. “My mother was a biographer’s dream and nightmare,” Sean said,quoting a previous biographer. “She was a dream because she was a classic to write about and everybody loves her. She was a nightmare because there are no scandals, quasi-cruelties, no really juicy stuff. How do you write a Hollywood biography without the juicy tidbits?” A question Sean is often asked: What was it like growing up as Audrey Hepburn’s son? “My answer is something people don’t expect: I have no idea,” he replied. “I grew up in the countryside of Switzerland, and she was a regular mom: only after she passed away did I fully comprehend to what extent she had truly touched everyone.” お気に入りの記事を「いいね！」で応援しよう
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