Audrey Hepburn

With the passing of Audrey Hepburn come all of the natural superlatives: beautiful, elegant, chic, graceful. It must be noted too that with such attributes came also sheer, unadulterated talent. A classic example can clearly be seen in the opening sequence of "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Without dialogue, to the strains of "Moon River," Hepburn, draped in a Givenchy gown, steps out of a cab, stands before Tiffany's, peers into the glass and moves from window to window, blithely tilting her head from side to side as she balances a Danish on a paper cup. As the credits fade over, Hepburn tells us nearly everything about Holly Golightly.

Along with Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day was one of the iconic actresses of the 1950s and '60s. But nearly 40 years ago, she left Hollywood behind and moved to Carmel after her CBS sitcom "The Doris Day Show" left the airwaves after five seasons. She brought out a few albums, did a series with animals from Carmel ("Doris Day's Best Friends," from 1985-86), and appeared in a PBS special on her life in 1991. But just a few months shy of her 90th birthday, she is back in the limelight.

Audrey Hepburn epitomized high-fashion chic, favoring couturier Hubert de Givenchy, whose designs she began wearing to Academy Awards ceremonies in 1954.

Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated Hollywood costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac was mentored by the legendary Edith Head, who died 29 years ago today. He is frustrated by long-standing accounts that credit Givenchy with the classic black H-neckline dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina" ["Impressions of a Legend," Oct. 3]. Here, from his memoir-in-progress, Dorléac gives Head her say on the controversy: Secondhand accounts can ruin someone's reputation as much as malicious rumors.

Audrey Hepburn probably deserved a more well-attended tribute dinner than the one she received Sunday at Santa Monica's chic Bikini, but at least it benefited her favorite charity. More than $50,000 went to the United Nations Children's Fund for which the late actress had been a goodwill ambassador since 1988. Beneficial though the fund raising was, what diminished the evening was meager participation by the vast number of admirers, friends and co-workers Hepburn had in Hollywood.

Audrey Hepburn, in Bangladesh as good-will ambassador for UNICEF, today began a tour of dusty, poor and crowded northern Bangladesh to tell mothers ways to combat disease among children. Hepburn, who won an Oscar for her role in "Roman Holiday," arrived Thursday for a six-day visit as special representative of the U.N. Children's Fund. "In our part of the world we know much about you by just floods and tragedies that struck Bangladesh.

A tumor that was removed from the colon of actress Audrey Hepburn was malignant, although doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center say the cancerous growth was in its early stages and is not likely to cause any lasting damage. The 63-year-old Hepburn was recuperating in a private room at the hospital Tuesday, two days after doctors removed a small portion of her colon.

Audrey Hepburn was the very embodiment of star quality--an intoxicating combination of great beauty (Those eyes! That neck!) and innate acting ability. Beloved for her film work as well as her humanitarian efforts with UNICEF, she remains, seven years after her death, sacrosanct.

Audrey Hepburn traveled to a remote, mountainous area of Vietnam this month to raise funds for poor children and help forge a kinder image of this isolated communist country. Hepburn, who has worked since 1988 as a "goodwill ambassador" for UNICEF, said she wanted to remind people in the West that Vietnam was a country, not just a war. "I would like to give a much more accessible, human picture of Vietnam than just the Vietnam War. It's a ghost that has to be laid" to rest, she said.

It won't grab you like "60 Minutes" or even Ken Burns' "The Civil War," but "Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn" is a mesmerizing feast for the eyes. It airs tonight, at 8 on KCET Channel 28 and at 10 on Channel 15. Hepburn proves the perfect host for this tour of some of the world's most notable gardens, never intrusive, always appreciative of the natural and man-made beauty around her. The hourlong special distills the highlights of an eight-part series planned for the fall.

Bob Willoughby, who created iconic portraits of his muse, Audrey Hepburn, and dozens of other celebrities as one of the first still photographers assigned to capture life on Hollywood film sets, has died. He was 82. Willoughby died Friday of cancer at his home in Vence, France, said Claire Willoughby, a daughter-in-law. The rise of Life and Look magazines created a demand for more than routine photo stills from movie sets and led to a career for Willoughby that spanned three decades.

Something almost magical happens whenever actress Penélope Cruz and filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar work together, and so it is with "Broken Embraces," a deliciously twisted tale of love, death and a badly edited film. The writer-director is up to his old tricks, creating an onion of an experience -- a movie within a movie within a movie, irony in each layer, poignancy that stings and whimsy that bites. Cruz has turned in a performance that is just as complex -- a character within a character and so on, all residing within the mysterious and beautiful Lena.

There are movie stars and then there are movie stars -- performers who have such a unique and often indescribable quality that their very name connotes the magic of the cinema. Audrey Hepburn was definitely a movie star . "Everybody loves Audrey," says Ian Birnie, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's film department. "No one ever looked or sounded like Audrey Hepburn -- not even remotely. She stood in complete opposition to the '50s bombshell women -- the Marilyns, the Jane Russells and Janet Leighs."

Is it just me, or are there moments every summer when the desire to escape life as you know it absolutely overwhelms? You've already seen every decent film out there and a few that aren't. Take heart and time travel back to the '50s with the lovely "Sabrina" and the sweet innocence of Audrey Hepburn and a different sort of moviemaking entirely -- quieter, gentler, careful with its emotional punches.

Mel Ferrer, the tall, darkly handsome star of such classic films as "Lili," "War and Peace" and "The Sun Also Rises," as well as producer and director of movies starring his then-wife, Audrey Hepburn, has died. He was 90. Ferrer died Monday at a Santa Barbara convalescent home, his son, Mark Ferrer, told the Associated Press. He had been in failing health for the last six months and had recently moved to the home from his nearby ranch in Carpinteria. Ferrer's most impressive film role came in 1953 in "Lili" as a puppeteer in a carnival with whom a French orphan (Leslie Caron)

Long before the devil donned Prada or Tyra Banks fancied herself a modern-day, pop-eyed Henry Higgins, there was "Funny Face." The movie musical turns 50 this week, and it has aged better than a bottle of Cognac. Watch Audrey Hepburn -- as bewildered and fine-boned as a newborn fawn -- molt from a meek bookstore clerk to, well, America's next top model, and you realize the film is both a sly poke in the kohled eye of fashion and an hommage to the altar of style.

Still at it: Marni Nixon, who did the singing for Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film adaptation of "My Fair Lady," will play the role of Henry Higgins' mother in the touring version of the musical scheduled to play L.A.'s Ahmanson Theatre next April.

A school in eastern India built with money raised in the auction of Audrey Hepburn's iconic black dress was inaugurated by French author and philanthropist Dominique Lapierre. About 200 children will attend the school in Bishnupur, a village 30 miles south of Kolkata. The school is one of 15 to be built in West Bengal state with $807,000 paid by high bidder Givenchy, now a division of LVMH, at an auction in December at Christie's in London.