page_title: Audrey Hepburn
section_title: Breakfast at Tiffany's and continued success (1961–1967)
hierarchical_section_title: Audrey Hepburn / Entertainment career / Breakfast at Tiffany's and continued success (1961–1967)
caption_attribution_description: Català&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Audrey Hepburn a Esmorzar amb diamants.English&#x3a;&#32; Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.Español&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Audrey Hepburn en Desayuno con Diamantes.
context_page_description: Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood, and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
  Born in Ixelles, Brussels, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945 and with Marie Rambert in London starting in 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based.
  She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy Roman Holiday, alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance. That same year Hepburn won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine.
context_section_description: Hepburn next starred as New Yorker Holly Golightly, in Blake Edwards's Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a film loosely based on the Truman Capote novella of the same name. Capote disapproved of many changes that were made to sanitise the story for the film adaptation, and would have preferred Marilyn Monroe to have been cast in the role, although he also stated that Hepburn "did a terrific job". The character is considered one of the best-known in American cinema, and a defining role for Hepburn. The dress she wears during the opening credits has been considered an icon of the twentieth century, and perhaps the most famous "little black dress" of all time. Hepburn stated that the role was "the jazziest of my career" yet admitted: "I'm an introvert. Playing the extroverted girl was the hardest thing I ever did." She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.
  The same year, Hepburn also starred in William Wyler's drama The Children's Hour (1961), in which she and Shirley MacLaine played teachers whose lives become troubled after two pupils accuse them of being lesbians. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was of the opinion that the film "is not too well acted", with the exception of Hepburn, who "gives the impression of being sensitive and pure" of its "muted theme". Variety magazine also complimented Hepburn's "soft sensitivity, marvelous projection and emotional understatement", adding that Hepburn and MacLaine "beautifully complement each other".
  Hepburn next appeared opposite Cary Grant in the comic thriller Charade (1963), playing a young widow pursued by several men who chase the fortune stolen by her murdered husband. The 59-year-old Grant, who had previously withdrawn from the starring male lead roles in Roman Holiday and Sabrina, was sensitive about his age difference with 34-year-old Hepburn, and was uncomfortable about the romantic interplay. To satisfy his concerns, the filmmakers agreed to alter the screenplay so that Hepburn's character was pursuing him. The film turned out to be a positive experience for him; he said, "All I want for Christmas is another picture with Audrey Hepburn." The role earned Hepburn her third, and final, competitive BAFTA Award, and another Golden Globe nomination. Critic Bosley Crowther was less kind to her performance, stating that, "Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes."
  Hepburn reunited with her Sabrina co-star William Holden in Paris When It Sizzles (1964), a screwball comedy in which she played the young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter, who aids his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots. Its production was troubled by several problems. Holden unsuccessfully tried to rekindle a romance with the now-married Hepburn, and his alcoholism was beginning to affect his work. After principal photography began, she demanded the dismissal of cinematographer Claude Renoir after seeing what she felt were unflattering dailies. Superstitious, she also insisted on dressing room 55 because that was her lucky number and required that Hubert de Givenchy, her long-time designer, be given a credit in the film for her perfume. Dubbed "marshmallow-weight hokum" by Variety upon its release in April, the film was "uniformly panned" but critics were kinder to Hepburn's performance, describing her as "a refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve".
  Hepburn's second film released in 1964 was George Cukor's film adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady, which premiered in October. Soundstage wrote that "not since Gone with the Wind has a motion picture created such universal excitement as My Fair Lady", although Hepburn's casting in the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle was a source of dispute. Julie Andrews, who had originated the role on stage, was not offered the part because producer Jack L. Warner thought Hepburn was a more "bankable" proposition. Hepburn initially asked Warner to give the role to Andrews but w
caption: Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's
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