Saturday, October 23, 2010

Girl in Pearls

Audrey...still magical after all these years.... To quote from The Lady:
Anyone who has watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s has seen the first line of his new tale emerge from Paul Varjak’s typewriter: ‘There was once a very lovely, very frightened girl…’ But the words meant for Holly Golightly could equally have done for the actress who was to play her. The 31-year-old star had spent her formative years during the war in the occupied Netherlands. In her later career there would be talk about how illogical it was to cast the elegant Hepburn as disadvantaged characters – Eliza Doolittle, Holly – but in fact she must have been one of the few Hollywood actresses of her generation who knew what it was like to go hungry.

‘I decided early on, just to accept life unconditionally,’ Audrey said. ‘I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without ever seeking it.’
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7 comments:

Julygirl said...

The one and only....and Capote wanted Marilyn for the role! She would have turned it into a paarody.

elena maria vidal said...

I know! I think it is interesting how most people forget how Audrey had an impoverished childhood and knew all about hard times.

Nancy Reyes said...

actually, Monroe's childhood was closer to Holly's in the story. Yes, Hepburne suffered poverty during the war, but she had a loving family. Marilyn's mother was mentally ill, she was raised in foster homes, and married young to escape from there.

The movie wouldn't have been so enchanting with Monroe, but it would have been more believable and realistic...

elena maria vidal said...

Audrey always had her mother; Marilyn had no one.

elena maria vidal said...

I did think Audrey made a great Holly, almost too realistic for me, since I have known a number of girls just like Audrey's Holly, who appeared to be living it up but were really very scared. Furthermore, it was a drama, not a documentary.

lara77 said...

Audrey Hepburn was truly one of the gems of the silver screen. I always loved her in this film because she brought such vulnerability. I guess you could not get more opposite physically than Marilyn Monroe. The BEST book ever on Audrey was in 2006 by Ellen Erwin and Jessica Diamond, "The Audrey Hepburn Treasures." It is as magical a book as Audrey was on screen.

Alexandra said...

Audrey may have been a bit too polished for the role, but I liked it. It was stylized and fun, rather than deeply dramatic. Tiffany's and Audrey just go together.

I loved her biography. She was a true optometrist. I don't think too much got her down for long...like you said, a bit like Holly Golightly.