Audrey Hepburn: A Son Remembers

When Audrey Hepburn passed away 11 years ago this month at the age of 63, she left behind a formidable legacy. While people remember her Broadway debut (“Gigi,” for which she won a Tony) and her many Hollywood movies (including “The Nun’s Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Roman Holiday,” for which she won an Oscar in 1956) her greatest achievement was as a humanitarian. To continue her work, millions of dollars have been raised since her death in 1993 by both the Audrey Hepburn Memorial Fund at UNICEF and the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund, to provide basic care and education to children both in the U.S. and abroad. “I speak for those children who cannot speak for themselves,” Hepburn said in an address to the United Nations in 1989. “Forty thousand still die every day from preventable diseases like polio, tetanus, tuberculosis, measles, and the worst killer of all, dehydration from diarrhea caused by unclean drinking water and malnutrition. No natural calamity, be it flood or earthquake, has ever claimed so many children’s lives.” In the five years Hepburn worked as an ambassador for UNICEF (1988-92), she was the consummate volunteer. She never expected, or received, any perks. No private jets, Beluga caviar or Rolex watches for her. In fact, in the trenches, she would often eat the same relief portions (a bowl of porridge) as the children she came to serve. She did it in the hope that the world would pay attention to the plight of these children. “This is why I wanted to come to Somalia,” explained Hepburn in the fall of 1992, “not because I can do very much, but because there cannot be enough witnesses. If I can be one more and speak up for one child, it is worthwhile.” Hepburn’s work with UNICEF was a far cry from the glamorous life she led in the 1950s, when she was photographed by Cecil Beaton, dressed by Hubert de Givenchy and directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder and Stanley Donen. Hepburn, who had studied to be a dancer before World War II intervened, worked with such stars as Fred Astaire (“Funny Face”), Humphrey Bogart (“Sabrina”), and Mel Ferrer (“War and Peace”), whom she married in 1954. What is not known about Hepburn is that she gave up her movie career after her second marriage to Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti in 1969 to live in Rome and be a full-time mother to her two young sons, Sean Ferrer and Luca Dotti. Ferrer, who grew up in Europe and speaks five languages, heads his mother’s foundation and works hard to preserve her memory with dignity. You will never find Audrey Hepburn’s Oscar or diamond earrings being sold on EBay, for example. Sean Ferrer, who lives in Santa Monica with his family, will sign copies of his book (“Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit”) on Tuesday, January 6 at Village Books at 7:30 p.m Personally, I was looking forward to the book, as Sean, 43, and I have been friends for some time. In it, he answers many of the questions I had about their life together. LR: How would you describe your mother? SF: She was very loving towards us, her own family. To the rest of the world she was, as some liked to describe her, a steel hand in a velvet glove. She was strong-willed and sure of what she wanted. She worked hard, whether it was for UNICEF, or on a film or in her garden at our home in Switzerland, which she loved. I remember her soft hands, her long hair, her bare feet. She loved pasta, which she ate at least once a day. Her recipe for spaghetti al pomodoro is in the book. LR: How long did it take to write? SF: I started writing it the day after my mother passed away. Although the actual writing took maybe a few months in all, it was spread over a couple of years. My mother was a very private person so I did not want to violate that. But I did want people to know what a fine person she was. She died in 1993, and still, she’s everywhere: on television all the time, in every conversation I have with anyone. People ask me what it was like to be the son of a famous movie star. Well, I don’t know, because she tried to keep our life as normal as possible. She did what any other mom does: picked us up from school, helped with homework, made our dinner. LR: There have been at least half a dozen biographies written about your mother. Why did she never write her own? SF: Because she was not interested in putting together what she felt were a collection of meaningless vignettes. That’s how humble she was. While my mother was revered both for her film performances and her real-life crusade, how do you market a “Hollywood” biography without the public scandals and lurid secrets? My mother had none. She was considering toward the end of her life writing something for my brother and me about the family, a kind of record of all the extraordinary people she had met and events she witnessed. But she couldn’t find the time away from her work for UNICEF. And then it was too late. LR: How did your mother become a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF? SF: My mother first came into contact with UNICEF in Holland, where she lived as a child. She was one of the tens of thousands of starving children in war-ravaged Europe to receive aid from UNICEF immediately after the liberation. They brought relief in the form of food, medication and clothes. Then in 1987, after she delivered a moving speech at a benefit concert for UNICEF, she was asked to be a goodwill ambassador. She left on her first trip in 1988, to Ethiopia. People kept telling her how harrowing and dreadful it would be. But then came Somalia. Nothing could prepare her for that. Nothing. Somalia was my mother’s last UNICEF trip, and probably the most important. The situation there, politically at the time, was at its worst. My mother and Robby [Robert Wolders, her companion the last 12 years of her life] had waited for a long time, maybe close to a year, for clearance to travel and for funds to be gathered. But when she had asked who would be issuing the visas, the reply came: “There are no visas, because there is no government. You just fly in and hope you won’t get shot down.” Upon her return from Somalia she started complaining about stomach pains. Four months later she passed away. LR: What did you do with all of your mother’s things-her clothes, her jewels, her furnishings? SF: After we sold the farmhouse in Switzerland, where she lived for 30 years, my brother, who lives in Rome, and I split most of the furnishings. A few pieces of her jewelry have been donated to raise funds for charity and many of her things, including her Givenchy gowns, signed scripts and original photographs, will be on exhibit in Japan for two years starting in May. A portion of the money raised will be donated to her foundation. The exhibit is starting in Japan because she is still a very big star there. The Japanese love her elegance and style. LR: What do you see as your mother’s greatest achievement? SF: Looking back at my mother’s life, I am most proud of her work for children, both here and abroad. After my mother’s passing, one of the first things we did was to set up the Audrey Hepburn Memorial Fund. My mother believed that the only way to change was through education, so the Memorial Fund implements educational programs in the five countries of Africa she felt were the most badly in need of infrastructure: Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Rwanda. And, in fact, we have just entered into a new 10-year commitment to UNICEF’s “All Children In School” campaign, which seeks to bring a basic quality of education to 120 million children around the world, two-thirds of them girls. And through the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund we have also helped set up child abuse centers in New Orleans, New Jersey and Childrens Hospital in L.A.. All this would please my mother, to see her work with children continued. For more information about the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund and its activities, contact: www.audreyhepburn.com