Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers [Hardcover]

Sean Hepburn Ferrer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2003

To the world, Audrey Hepburn was the epitome of elegance and grace. With a fragile radiance and natural charm, she restyled the image of the Hollywood glamour girl, becoming an icon of dignity, charity, and goodness. But to her son, she was much more, a woman who invested her heart and soul into being a mother. Here in a personal reflection of a truly wonderful life, Sean Hepburn Ferrer's account illuminates not only his loving relationship with his mother, but the steadfast bond between an actress and the millions who admired her. It is the moving potrayal of a woman whose tireless devotion to those less fortunate made her one of the world's most respected humanitarians. Here is Audrey Hepburn, the forgiving daughter with a father she never knew; the insecure actress who attributed her extraordinary success to the talents of others; the selfless ambassador of UNICEF who devoted her last years of life to fighting for the rights of children around the world; and the mother whose boundless enthusiasm for the simple pleasures in life gave joy to everyone who shared them with her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hepburn's son (with actor Mel Ferrer) shows his mother as a compassionate, emotional woman who searched for and offered love above all. He traces the roots of his mother's longing in her experiences with her distant father and the destruction of her native Belgium during WWII. Via photos and stories, he notes how Hepburn (1929-1993) aimed to live an everyday family life of home, school and holidays. Rendering her husbands respectfully and without off-color stories, Ferrer doesn't offer lascivious behind-the-scenes dramas or quips about directorial injustices. Instead, he lets designers and composers who worked with Hepburn talk about the actor's inimitable talents. Composer Henry Mancini believes her "quality of wistfulness" inspired the songs he wrote for her, especially Breakfast at Tiffany's "Moon River." Designer Cecil Beaton calls her an "authentic existential Galatea" with a voice containing the "quality of heartbreak." Ferrer also details Hepburn's influential friendship with clothing designer Hubert de Givenchy, including the dressmaker's generosity in Hepburn's final days. Directors William Wyler and Billy Wilder also appear, as do actors Gary Cooper and Fred Astaire (the latter was Hepburn's co-star in her favorite movie, Funny Face). Movie-related photos abound, but the most memorable images are of Hepburn's family and the children she met in her work with UNICEF. Her 1989 speech to members of the United Nations staff on the millions of dying children in developing countries concludes the book. What began as a son's remembrance and selective movie survey becomes a call to action. In this way, the work differs greatly from standard self-important star bios. 300 full-color and b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A family memoir.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Atria; 1st Atria Books Hardcover Ed edition (October 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671024787
• ISBN-13: 978-0671024789
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hepburn, Audrey
  • #14 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Actors & Actresses
  • #69 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Biographies

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A loving-- and elegant-- tribute December 13, 2003

By Michelle B. Braverman

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a completely beautiful book, lovely to look at and to read. I was, in fact, in tears after the first page. No one could have written this but someone as close as Sean was to his mother. The fact that he did, and did it so well, is a wonder and a gift to all Audrey fans. Yes, it's not a true "bio", but I don't think loving Audrey requires "all the facts please". Hers has always been a spirit that glowed beyond the silver screen. And it truly radiates from his heartfelt words, gorgeous pictures and presentation. It's the one book I would recommend to anyone who says "Why Audrey?" and the one book those who love her already must have.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Talented,Caring,Elegant Woman and Mother April 28, 2004

By K. Hemmer

Format:Hardcover

Audrey Hepburn chose to never write her autobiography because
she was afraid of offending someone inadvertandly by
careless revelations.

Her son,Sean,writes a loving tribute of this lovely lady
whose beauty shines through on every page,as it did in her
films.Films such as "The Nun's Story",the musical "My Fair
Lady"and Truman Capote's "Breakfast At Tiffany's."

He also writes of how important his Mothers'work in UNICEF
became to her,in her later years,and in turn to himself.

Audrey was born in Holland and during World Warll she
suffered from malnutrition, brought on by a diet consisting
of tulip bulbs and water.She often went without food all
day.After the war ended,she was a beneficiary of UNICEF.
She understood the chidren of the Third World and their
suffering better than many celebrities.

In many ways,it is refreshing to read of Ms.Hepburn from
her eldest son's point of view.(Audrey had a younger son
she adored named Luca Dotti)from her second marriage.
This is a true love story.

For any woman who admired Audrey Hepburn,this is a
perfect Mother's Day Gift.For anyone,this is a
gift and the proceeds go to the "Audrey Hepburn
Children's Fund."

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Elegant Spirit, indeed November 13, 2003

By FabAudrey20

Format:Hardcover

Audrey Hepburn is the closest thing I'll ever have to an idol in my life. If you've seen her in a film you'll know that she could melt the hardest heart with a look, and she seemed to be an angel on Earth. If you've read a biography on her, you'll know that she was far more than a pretty face and really was an angel on Earth. Sean Hepburn Ferrer's book on his mother does nothing to dispel this notion.

This book is not so much a biography or even a memoir so much as a scrapbook of sorts. He writes about their everyday life and how she just wanted Sean and his brother Luca to be raised and loved right, and there are long sections of just pictures. Featuring never before seen pictures and some lovely personal stories, you walk away from this book feeling that you sat down to dinner with the family and were immediately embraced by Audrey herself. Sean writes from the heart, the best place to write about Audrey from. I don't want to give much away because I really feel this is a book everyone should peruse for themselves, but I will say that this book was worth the long wait.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Elegant Spirit -that she is... December 31, 2003

By Nadine

Format:Hardcover

The different accounts that Sean Hepburn-Ferrer's has shared with us are touching, private and intimate and give a true picture of the amazing person Audrey Hepburn was.

I began to read the book one evening before bed, I planned to read a few pages and then go to sleep. I couldn't put the book down. I read until I couldn't stay awake a moment longer, finishing the book when I woke up later that morning.

The 300+ photographs complimented the book perfecty. The addition of photographs from the family album only made the book more special.

Although I would have dearly loved to have been able to read Audreys autobiography, her premature death prevented that. I am so pleased that her son was able to write this book for her.

One point: If you re after a detailed biography, this is not what this book is. However after reading a biography, I would recomment this book.

Audrey Hepburn is certainly "An Elegant Spirit".

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to be a citizen of the world... November 25, 2003

By holly_o

Format:Hardcover

Sean Hepburn Ferrer was raised by an angel. "Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit" is a loving and fascinating tribute to the humanitarian and actress, written by one of the people who knew her best-her oldest son. Mr. Hepburn Ferrer generously shares stories and images of Audrey's humor, charm, grace, empathetic world outlook and incredibly caring nature. I've read several Audrey biographies, and this book is by far the best, but it functions more as a poem than a traditional bio. We see Audrey's life filtered through the primary modes of 20th century pictorial representation (bureaucratic, celebrity photography, family snapshots), then refracted back through her son's recollections and impressions.

Within the book's pages are Audrey's lifetime of passports-these "papers" can be a chilling reminder of the obsession for national identification within the Europe she was born into, but they also optimistically mark her transformation into a citizen of the world. Family photographs reveal a woman consistent with her onscreen persona, and Audrey's elegant, delicate lines cut straight through the intimate and public realms. In pictures of her gorgeous garden in Switzerland and in images of her work for UNICEF, we witness her mission to imagine the world as it could be, and her tireless efforts to make it so.