Become innocent
princess, the
Audrey Hepburn live
changed while walking
the streets of
Rome on board a vespa. By
art of that magic called cinema,
and a simple movie, Vacations
in Rome, that actress
unknown not just transformed,
From the night,
in a big star with an Oscar
In the bag; it is cinematographic
walks through la dolce vita
Roman, by Gregory
Peck, they gave him status
as a symbol of the eternal city,
so indisputable for
Romans themselves love the Colosseum
or the Trevi Fountain.
Audrey thus won her heart
of the Romans and perhaps because of it
ultimately made Rome his
at home and in the shelter that allowed him
get away from frivolity and
Hollywood superficiality
a place that revitalized with its glamor
and her innocent angelic face,
but where you never felt
completely comfortable.
However, it was felt in Rome
at your leisure from the first moment.
The spell was so powerful
dat, after showing
to the world in that masterpiece
the William Wyler, Hepburn rodó
two films in the Italian capital
plus; in the fifties
bought an apartment to which
he often came with his first
husband, Mel Ferrer, and in 1969 he formed
a new family with their second
husband, the Roman doctor
Andrea Dotti, who made the Eternal City his home halfway through
the eighties.
His son Luca Dotti, the fruit of that
last marriage, has been decided
now, helped by more than 200 photos,
to be told in the book Audrey
in Rome how that relationship came about
among the third largest female star
of all time – according to the
American Film Institute, la otra Hepburn,
Katherine, it’s the Queen and Bette
Davis, the second and Roma.
Rome: film city
In 1953, when Vacations was being filmed
in Rome – says Dotti-,
the war was still fresh in our minds
of the Romans, but the
film rediscovered the carefree spirit
and city fun
and suddenly my mother was
adopted as a new icon
local “. Three years later
that first contact
Romana, the British actress
Belgian descent returned to the star
the monumental war and
peace, shot completely in the
Cinecittá studios. When getting off the
plane at Ciampino airport,
the local press, grateful
because they have returned to the city
map, received her as a daughter
favourite. And that’s how it all started. FiTíber ‘, from the splendor of Cinecittá,
of the rise of the paparazzi who chased
looking for indiscretions
night to the stars that populated
the local night. But for Hepburn,
beyond a sleepy face too high
hours of the night in a club,
She was never caught losing her papers.
“I’ve seen thousands of photos
from my mother in the archives of
the main photo agencies
-insures his son- and it always came out great “
. On the one hand, his years are like
ballet dancer provided
a calm for the actress
flawless throughout his life. By
another, the photographers, for that look
they had its Roman symbol
with her some respect that
they never awarded the rest of the stars
cinematographic. “Rome protected
Dotti emphasizes my mother. Reporters
they always gave them
space and time “.
Late 1950s
the actress already had her own circle
from friends. Henry Fonda [tercer
vértice del triángulo protagonista
de Guerra y paz] he married an Italian woman,
Afdera Franchetti, in 1957, ed
He moved to Rome – says Dotti-. My recordings are over Hepburn and Ferrer
her husband and partner
cast in adaptation
from the book Tolstoy they bought
there an apartment they visited
often.
It was the mother’s Hollywood years and Ferrer went out a lot
she. Afdera and her sister were
Lorian who made my mother
a real Roman.
Audrey Hepburn always enjoyed
out of town. “During the nearly 20
my mother lived in Rome for years
-he continues-, people knew her and
almost all taxi drivers knew where
she lived. They still know. I wore
to school, to the park, to classes
swimming, met my teachers,
I shopped at the famous pizza magnoli
[ultramarinos] Romans,
he cooked for us or for him
friends, especially spaghetti al pomodoro,
his favorite dish, and he was tall
walks with their dogs. Sometimes,
a photographer followed her and immortalized her
next to my father in an alley
look for it at Campo dei Fiori,
waiting for my grandmother to open them
your front door for lunch
Sunday”.
Audrey Hepburn, Account the Younger
he never quite understood about his two sons
its own appeal. He said he did
nose too big, same thing
that the feet [calzaba un 39]; Which
she was extremely thin and she was missing
chest. ”Hepburn weighed 50 pounds,
He was 1.70 and his waist was barely exceeded
50 centimeters, but in one
era dominated by lusty actresses
and round turns, Billy Wilder,
by hiring her for Sabrina – the second
consecutive nomination of the
actress at the Oscar, that young woman looked
magnetic smile and clairvoyance
of the genius: this young girl will convince
to the world that great
breasts and sharp curves are one
remnant of the past.
However, Hepburn has never seen it so clearly. “She looked at herself in mirrors and said, ‘I don’t understand why people like me,’ reveals her son. His explanation was that it probably had a good mix of flaws. “His sense of humor was a quality that was well appreciated by his colleagues. It was not without reason that he was friends with many of his co-stars such as Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant, who even said:” Anything I ask. for Christmas is another movie with Audrey Hepburn. “
Grant’s wish was never fulfilled. Four years after Charada [1963]The only thing they shot together was that she turned her back on the industry: “My mother never acted like a star. He got up early, was punctual, didn’t scream, or throw diva tantrums. Even so, it still has to hold the world record for magazine covers. 650 – reveals his son. All that exposure made her very famous and very glamorous, but when we add up the time invested in photo shoots alone, that adds up to two full years of her life. There came a time when I needed something more ”.
Hepburn has made the decision to leave the cinema not once, but twice. First in 1967 to take care of little Luca. Later, in the 1980s, after returning between three films, he retired completely to indulge in the cause of his childhood by Unicef.
“My mother never knew my children,” Dotti emphasizes. She would have been a great grandmother: she baked them pies, was with them whenever she could, she told stories … She said that children should play and be happy because they need that joy growing up. Growing old was part of the life cycle for her. He didn’t understand women’s efforts to stay young. She appreciated growing older, as she had more time for herself and her family, and distanced herself from the shallow madness of Hollywood. ‘
Those who knew her well recognize in Hepburn a grief that has always accompanied her. ! The war, Dotti emphasizes. He almost lost his entire family, his house … That remained latent in his soul, although everything behind the pain made a discovery. When he talked about his career, he said it was like winning the lottery. And deep in her heart she was always a farmer. He grew up between Belgium, the Netherlands and England, in the countryside, and loved the rustic. That’s why he chose Switzerland at the end of his life ”.
He lived there until 1986, six years after his divorce from Luca’s father, when he moved to Switzerland to be close to his son, who was studying there, trainee, high school. In 1963 the actress had bought a farm in that country – “with her own money,” she always said proudly. Hepburn’s romance with Rome was over.