Audrey Hepburn

by Nick Yapp

Audrey Hepburn was the epitome of elegance and style. Her beauty, fragility, grace and warmth set her apart from her Hollywood contemporaries. She spent World War II in poverty in Holland, then moved to London where she trained as a ballerina. After making her stage debut on Broadway in Gigi she became one of the world's best-loved screen actresses. Her performances in Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's are unforgettable. For many, her extensive humanitarian work which marked her later life remains her greatest achievement.

As well as photos by the likes of Richard Avedon and Slim Aarons, this unusually candid and intimate volume features less well-known works such as Bert Hardy's very early shots for Picture Post from the 1950s and photos from the Time/Life archive by Leonard McCombe and Ralph Morse.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

176 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2009

About the author

Nicholas Yapp 1938-

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audrey Hepburn was one of my all time favorite stars this book shared many interesting facts about a truly remarkable woman. I will always admire the severity she went through as a young child and the inner strength she showed us until her death. To me she is an Icon. She was shy in her way yet fought for what was important to her.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love oversized coffee table books, and this one was just gorgeous! The photos were breathtaking, and Audrey is timeless and elegant! I felt like I went through a journey of her life and career. I’m obsessed now!

[living1000lives · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, sad, tragic, admirable... and she had class through it all
...beautiful pictures

[Viv · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4 stars are ONLY for the glorious and copious pictures in this large hardback, including some rare and candid shots. If I could give a separate rating for the accompanying text, it would get 1 star. It is both poorly written and poorly researched, especially for a publication of 2009, by which time much of the record had been set straight about Audrey. The author would have done well to pay more attention to Sean Hepburn Ferrer's biography of 2003, for instance. Yapp's text is careless and not even properly proof-read. One would do better to just look at the photos and the captions but go elsewhere for information about Audrey's life.

To summarise: this book is a mixed pleasure. Fab pics, shame about the text.