Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn by Michele Botton and Dorilys Giacchetto from NBM Graphic Novels presents the varied life of one of the 20th century’s most popular figures, showing just how many facets a star can have. At first thought, some might remember Hepburn as the actress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or even Roman Holiday which earned her her first Best Actress Academy Award. With five Oscars, there are quite a few to choose from! Yet her acting career was just one of many unexpected turns in her life.
As Lucca Dotti, Hepburn’s son and the writer of the preface, states, “Everyone has their own Audrey, for some she is always 20 years old, for others she is in black and white and for others in color. Sometimes she is a European princess, a tipsy New Yorker or a UNICEF ambassador.” Everyone has different roles at various periods in their lives, and of course Hepburn is no different.
The graphic novel gives a snapshot of her early days as a 20-year-old giving up on a dream of being a professional ballerina and instead taking jobs where she could find them from babysitting, modeling in advertisements, and a little acting in stage musicals. It was in the latter where she was discovered by French author Colette, who declared, “She’ll be my Gigi!”
The role brought Hepburn to Broadway, where she caught the attention of William Wyler as he is working to cast Roman Holiday. The rest, as they say, is history, but this biography goes much farther.
Audrey Hepburn does more than just show the highlights of a glamorous life. Pulling from numerous sources, including firsthand accounts from Dotti, it shows Hepburn at her toughest spots too, such as struggling to have enough food to eat in war-torn Belgium as the child of a single mother, and realizing that she was too tall to be a great ballerina: “My strength and technique would’ve only guaranteed me secondary roles, at best.”
But every dark moment only brings out more light in the good times, as when the art in Audrey Hepburn pairs the struggles of a young dancer with an unexpected joy in dancing with the great Fred Astaire in Funny Face.
The Hepburn portrayed in Audrey Hepburn is a whole person. She struggles with relationships and self-doubt, despite international fame and piles of awards. Often work can be a distraction from real-life drama, but friendship proves to be the groundwork for a lasting marriage. As Hepburn left behind her screen acting, she moved into a new role as a UNICEF ambassador campaigning to bring attention to children struggling in South America and Africa, harking back to her own struggles and proclaiming, “We must do better!”
The outfits in Audrey Hepburn stand out in the art, just as in Hepburn’s life. It would be an incomplete picture to present a biography of Hepburn without displaying fashion, and this graphic biography does it well. The panels show her not only reflecting on clothes in the action, such as the famous black outfit from Funny Girl, but also some of her most iconic ensembles on each new chapter page. Even Hepburn enthusiasts will be surprised by what new angles we can see of her life.
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