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Audrey Hepburn

by Audree from San Diego

Audrey Throughout the Years (https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/811-t ())
Audrey Throughout the Years (https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/811-t ())

"'I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.' -Audrey Hepburn ("12 AUDREY HEPBURN QUOTES TO INSPIRE YOU"). Who would've known of such an amazing woman's childhood was such a tragedy. "Actress, fashion icon, and philanthropist Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. After the Nazis invaded the country, Hepburn and her mother struggled to survive" ("Audrey Hepburn. Bio"). "The real Audrey Hepburn story begins with a little girl who experienced the cruelty and consequences of World War II and who never forgot what liberation felt like or the images of aid arriving to her and thousands like her in Holland" (Ferrer). "On May 10, 1940 Germany invaded Holland and Audrey's childhood changed forever. It would be nearly twenty-five years until Audrey saw her father again. Audrey was then given a partial scholarship to study with the preeminent London ballet teacher, Marie Rambert, who had coached the world's best dancers, including Nijinsky" (Ferrer). During her stardom, Audrey received many awards for her performances in many movies. After she retired from Hollywood, she began to travel the world and help out where they needed it. In spite of her fame, she didn't only receive awards for films, she also was awarded from her time at UNICEF. Audrey Hepburn used her fame later on to raise awareness for The United Nations Children's Fund and that demonstrates how much of a selfless, brave, and inspirational woman she was.

Audrey Hepburn helping out in cooperation with UNC (http://www.biography.com/people/audrey-hepburn-933 ())
Audrey Hepburn helping out in cooperation with UNC (http://www.biography.com/people/audrey-hepburn-933 ())

Audrey Hepburn became an amazing, selfless person over the time throughout her life. Not only was she an ambassador of United Nations Children's Fund, but when she became ill from old age she still visited countries that needed help instead of attending galas and banquets. During the time she became an ambassador, she had a reason to do something with her life and somehow in someway change the world to make it a little better. "After the liberation of the Netherlands, she was so malnourished she fell ill after eating some sugar and a can of condensed milk - she was so unused to proper quantities of food. This experience of hunger led to a lifelong support to the charity UNICEF"(Pettinger). Audrey's choices and reflections from what she's been through demonstrates her selflessness. The idea of giving back instead of supplying for yourself shows how much of a wonderful human being for giving her help to children and people in need. Her time with receiving awards weren't over yet, as she retired from her career she still managed to be herself as human being that loves giving back and received multiple awards as a part of UNICEF. "She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF.After visiting starving children in Ethiopia, she commented: "The 'Third World' is a term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering" (Pettinger). Audrey was a self-motivated person and showed that through her help, visits, and hard work in places around the world. She was one of the first people in the world to use her bad experiences for the better.

When Audrey was younger she was one of the most brave girls involved in World War II in which she also had to go through something similar to Anne Frank. Before Audrey became a professional ballerina, she went through a struggle in her life. "The real Audrey Hepburn story begins with a little girl who experienced the cruelty and consequences of World War II and who never forgot what liberation felt like or the images of aid arriving to her and thousands like her in Holland" (Ferrer). Her bravery at such a young age should have been recognized sooner because she went through so much for so little at the time. Her bravery is so important because it's not about how great her films were or how amazing she looked on stage dancing, it's about what she's been through to get to where she was. "...Another traumatic mark was left by the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II...Many years later she politely refused to make a movie of The Diary of Anne Frank as she felt the young Jewish girl's experience of World War II too closely mirrored her own. While memories of fear, deprivation, and cattlecars full of deportees populated her dreams for the rest of her life, Hepburn utilized her experiences in ministering to the world's starving children, many of whom did not know that the beautiful woman was a movie star"("Audrey Hepburn. Encyclopedia"). She was too vulnerable and young to be able to connect back to that horrific memory. She wasn't only part of World War II, but she had a story so similar to Anne Frank's, it'd break your heart. Audrey's ability to come forward and tell us about this tragic point in her life where she was her most vulnerable is prime because of how brave she was.

Audrey Hepburn has grown up. (https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/811-t ())
Audrey Hepburn has grown up. (https://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/811-t ())

After Audrey Hepburn's retirement, she didn't just drop from the face of the Earth, she traveled around the world with UNICEF to help people that were struggling. That's a true selfless, brave, and inspirational hero. To travel and help people around the world, she retired from her Hollywood career and decided to join UNICEF because of what she's been through. She didn't want others to have to go through the struggles of what the world gives some of us. In her childhood, she survived through the second World War. Her experience with World War II was so similar to Anne Franks. Therefore, when she was offered the role of Anne Frank, she denied. "In turn, Hepburn yielded to a calling other than acting, preferring to spend her time with her two sons and working for UNICEF. 'If there was a cross between the salt of the earth and a regal queen,' Shirley MacLaine told People, 'then she was it.' An articulate and impassioned spokeswoman, Hepburn was named the Goodwill Ambassador for the International Children's Relief Organization UNICEF in 1988"("Audrey Hepburn. Encyclopedia"). "...She devoted herself to her humanitarian work, visiting famine-stricken villages in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, until shortly before her death of cancer in 1993" ("Audrey Hepburn ' Biography"). She inspires me because she was one of the most naturally beautiful and sassy girls I've ever seen. She's also selfless because she became an ambassador for UNICEF, even when she was ill. She's brave because of when she was a child she struggled through the second World War. I'm also named after her so how can I not look up to her? She also inspires others because she once was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and then retired to become an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund. No matter how ill and old she got, she still went around the world to support people in need. That shows how devoted she was to helping the world into a better place. If you were wondering why I chose her as my hero, I am named after her, so I find her incredibly inspiring and though I don't want to aspire to become a movie star as much, I do want to help the world and the people in it.

Works Cited 

"Audrey Hepburn." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. 
"Audrey Hepburn | Biography - Belgian-American Actress." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.
 Pettinger, Tejvan. "Facts About Audrey Hepburn -." Biography Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.
 "Audrey Hepburn." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 4 Feb. 2015. 
"12 AUDREY HEPBURN QUOTES TO INSPIRE YOU." Beauty And Tips Magazine. Beauty and Tips Magazine, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.

Page created on 2/15/2015 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 2/15/2015 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

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