Audrey Hepburn, Queen of Our Hearts By The Northern Rose

When it comes to classic Hollywood stars, none is more magnificent than Audrey Hepburn. Born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels Belgium, this Queen of the World was given two names. She was first given the name Audrey Kathleen Ruston. Yet, after a case of mistaken identity on her fathers part, she was also given the name Edda Kathleen Hepburn-Ruston. It seems that Hepburn's father had, for a short time, believed that he was a descendant of James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell and Mary, Queen of Scots husband (that in itself is another eventful and potentially scary story). Nevertheless, Audrey's father had been born with the surname Ruston and hyphenated his name to adopt the Hepburn lineage. He was, in fact, not related to the Earl of Bothwell.


On the other hand, Audrey's mother was a Dutch Baroness. Being a multi-ethnic child, it did not take the future star long to speak English, Dutch, Spanish, French, and Italian. They traveled alot in her early days, but her main home was in Brussels. Unfortunately, in 1935 her father up and left Hepburn and her mother. He moved to London, on his own, where he became deeply involved in Fascist behavior. She and her father would never be close again. He disappeared from her life for many years but she finally tracked him down after World War II, he would be cold to her but she still supported him financially throughout his final years.

During World War II Audrey and her mother lived in the Netherlands. They had at first held out some hope that the Netherlands would stay neutral, as they did in World War I; this was not the case. The Netherlands were invaded in 1940. War was declared. At this point in time Audrey Hepburn began going by the name Edda van Heemstra because her English name put her too much at risk.

Hepburn's everyday life was filled with fear. In 1942 she seen her uncle executed. There had been a
resistance growing and he had been declared to have been the head of an act of sabotage. He had truly had nothing to do with it, he had been targeted by the Nazi's because of his prominence in Dutch society.

There has been some talk that Audrey Hepburn herself took part in raising money for the resistance. They say that she did it through performance. There is also talk that she was a allied spy, yet the truth of this remains unknown (although a certain someone now needs to know the truth). She did however, in her later years, go into great detail about her life during the war. She was one of the lucky ones... She most often spoke of seeing Dutch Jews being transported to concentration camps.

           "We saw young men put against the wall and shot, and they'd close the street and then open it               and you could pass by again... Don't discount anything awful you hear or read about the
           Nazis. It's worse than you could ever imagine."

It is odd to think that Audrey Hepburn's pre-Hollywood days are seldom remembered. The majority of our favorite Hollywood stars fought for the good of the allies, yet not many lived through the horrors of Nazism. When we think of this time we think of Anne Frank or Oskar Schindler, and for very good reasons. Yet, how often did you add the name Audrey Hepburn to that list. She may not have been put in a concentration camp, she was not persecuted because of her religion. Still, she lived her life in constant fear, fear caused by a hateful man. Every soul that lived through that ordeal was a hero.


Audrey Hepburn was a heroine long before she had Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a goddess even than.
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn's story cannot be told in a day...

By The Northern Rose

End note - Audrey Hepburn is the actress that everyone always speaks of lovingly. Our parents and grandparents sit us down and tell us of her greatness. Yet, she is also one of those people you can never truly love until you learn her story.
We often find our favorite heroines in the most unlikely of places...