AUDREY HEPBURN. Cont'd.

Photo: Mid 1950's. Photographer Unknown.  

In public, she could easily disguise herself and go anywhere. Under a scarf and big glasses, she was hard to recognise. But when she wanted to play Audrey Hepburn the star, she could stop everything around her. "When she came into a room, all eyes were on her. She could be silly and frivolous, but she had a strong sense of personal boundaries, and people just knew not to take advantage of her graciousness. I never saw anyone misbehave in her presence. It just wasn't done." But not everything went well at home. In 1968, she divorced Mel Ferrer - who is now 84 and living in retirement in Santa Barbara. A year later, she married Andrea Dotti, hoping to live quietly as a doctor's wife, but that marriage also failed. In the meantime, Sean tried to follow in his parents' footsteps, going to America and seeking a career in Hollywood. He met with only modest success, finding occasional work as an assistant director and associate producer. He is still hoping to produce a big film one day, and holds an option on an epic Australian story by novelist Tim Winton. But for now, he has his hands full looking after his mother's estate. "That's fine with me. I like what I'm doing, especially my work for the Fund. It was charming when I was 30 to be an aspiring filmmaker. But it's not so charming when you're in your forties, and it will be downright ridiculous when I'm 50. So if nothing happens to change things before then, I'll throw in the towel."

 

 

 

Photo: Audrey, Circa 1953.Photo credit: John Engstead /mptv.net

I have the sense that his mother's death left him rudderless. They were so close that he can't seem to get back on track without her. He married and divorced, and married again. Then Hepburn's last illness took him by surprise and left painfully vivid memories. "She was working in Somalia, caring for children during the war there, and the experience was devastating for her. The violence, the hunger, the terrible scenes of children dying. I remember her calling and telling me that she felt as though she had gone to hell and back. Then she fell ill and we thought it was only some stomach virus that she had picked up over there. But it was cancer. The pain was so bad she could barely stand." She was rushed to California for tests and an operation was hastily arranged when the cancer was found to be spreading through her abdomen. It was too late, however. The doctors found that her cancer was inoperable. "I went to her room to tell her the bad news. I'll never forget her response. She just looked out of the window and said: 'How disappointing'. And that was that. We took her back to Switzerland and she died a few weeks later." There was enough time for Audrey to say her farewells to her ex-husbands and various friends, including her last companion, Robert Wolders, who was with her to the end. Sean is grateful for the quiet time that he had with his mother in her last days, but he can't help feeling that a gaping hole was left in his life, and that she was denied something she richly deserved. What was that? I ask. Without hesitation, he replies: "A gentle old age."

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Photo, left: Audrey in 1954 Switzerland. Photographer unknown.  Photo, right: Audrey, Circa 1961, Breakfast at Tiffany's production still. Photo: Paramount Pictures