Audrey Hepburn

Presque Isle District Library System has announced that the Audrey Hepburn Film Festival will be held Friday, Feb. 15, through Monday, Feb. 18, at Rogers City Theater.

“Roman Holiday” will be showing at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15. “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. “Funny Face” will play at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 17, and “Wait Until Dark” will be at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 18.

Free will donations will be accepted.

Rogers City Theater is located at 257 N. Third St. in Rogers City.

Hepburn’s career

Actress, fashion icon, and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. At age 22, she starred in the Broadway production of “Gigi.” Two years later, she starred in the film “Roman Holiday” (1953) with Gregory Peck. In 1961, she set new fashion standards as Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Hepburn is one of the few actresses to win an Emmy, Tony, Grammy, and Academy Award. In “Roman Holiday,” audiences and critics alike were wowed by her portrayal of Princess Ann, the royal who escapes the constrictions of her title for a short time. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance.

Showcasing her dancing abilities, Hepburn starred opposite Fred Astaire in the musical “Funny Face” (1957). This film featured Hepburn undergoing another transformation. This time, she played a beatnik bookstore clerk who gets discovered by a fashion photographer played by Astaire. Lured by a free trip to Paris, the clerk becomes a beautiful model. Hepburn’s clothes for the film were designed by Hubert de Givenchy, one of her close friends.

Hepburn starred in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” which was based on a novella by Truman Capote. She played a seemingly lighthearted, but ultimately troubled New York City party girl who gets involved with a struggling writer played by George Peppard. Hepburn received her fourth Academy Award nomination for her work on the film.

Taking on more dramatic fare, she starred a blind woman in the suspenseful tale “Wait Until Dark” (1967) opposite Alan Arkin. Her character used her wits to overcome the criminals that were harassing her. This film brought her a fifth Academy Award nomination.

Her humanitarian efforts

During much of World War II, Hepburn studied at the Arnhem Conservatory in The Netherlands. After the Nazis invaded the country, Hepburn and her mother struggled to survive. She reportedly helped the resistance movement by delivering messages, according to an article in The New York Times.

In her later years, acting took a back seat to her work on behalf of children. She became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in the late 1980s. Traveling the world, Hepburn tried to raise awareness about children in need. She understood too well what it was like to go hungry from her days in The Netherlands during the German Occupation. Making more than 50 trips, Hepburn visited UNICEF projects in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. She won a special Academy Award for her humanitarian work in 1993, but she did not live long enough to receive it.