奥黛丽·赫本,她是上世纪最美、最有气质的女人之一,她的生前身后都是谜一般的传奇。她的名字代表着高贵,她的仪态象征着典雅。赫本新传作者访谈录,带给你更真实、更完整的赫本...




I love the , I mean the book's good, but I love the photos and it's also from "My Fair Lady" and the "Nun's story" and all these different great movies that Audrey Hepburn was involved with. Of course, she was a style icon, but she was known really for that unique look. The book takes a look at,er, the style; also her love affair, it is called "Enchantment, the life of Audrey Hepburn ". With us is Donald Spoto, he is the author of this new book.

Good to have you here with us.
Pleasure. Thank you.

You know, regardless of what your age is. You take a look at ,ah, Audrey Hepburn---err, how she moved, how she dressed, how she talked, how she acted in the movies. And you were just blown away by her. She was just elegance to the enth degree.

Absolutely, there was elegant simplicity about her look and what she chose to wear in private life more to the point what she did with her life which was really remarkable.
Yeah, it's a kind of surprising now you see her ,err, being used, err, for Gap ads but I guess they were trying to tap in that classic look.

Yes, perhaps, after all we're getting a little tired of torn jeans. ( Yea, Right.)

Do, do you think that Audrey Hepburn considered herself elegantly beautiful?

Not at all, and in fact she was extremely vulnerable and more than once said "you know, my feet are too big, my neck is too long; my eyes are too wide apart, I have a funny nose." She wasn't fishing for compliment. She really believed that. To work with, she was a joy, I mean this is a universal response to questions about her.

And for those of us who loved watching her movies, and loved her work and thought she was so multitalented, I was really surprised in your book to find out she was duped by some of the movie companies,err, about her singing whether or not she would be singing in "My Fair Lady".

That is right. She sang wonderfully well in "Funny Face". And of course memorably in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (Right) and the legendary "Moon River". By the time it came to "My Fair Lady", however, she was told "Oh, yes, of course we'll use your voice". She had six months of voice diction training, coaching with her singing and Jack Warner and the director George Cukor, musical director, all said of course we're gonna use her voice. They had decided it though from day one that her voice would be dubbed by Marni Nixon.
Why, why? She was,she had a great voice.

They didn't want to take a risk with having her sound like a cockney flower girl which what the character was. What they did, of course, was to sabotage the picture. Every time the cockney flower girl breaks into song, she doesn't sound like a girl from the East End, she sounds like an operatic soprano and the audiences then as now go "ha...?"

OK, for those of us who are fashion challenged, tell me, did she need someone to help style her, did she pattern herself after some person or,err, look, or was it just a natural gift?

Well, two out of three, ah, first of all, she didn't pattern herself after anyone. She knew what kinds of clothes were right for her. both on and off screen, she never dressed in private life to impress anyone else. Of course, she needed help when it came to the movies and that started from her great friend and colleague Hubert de Givenchy who helped her with her wardrobe for Sabrina and also for the rest of her private life, but Audrey knew what she could wear well.

Tell me about the men in her life.
What do you want to know?
I want to know who is the real true love of her life.
I don't think she had one and that in fact is one of the sadnesses of her life. She, after the break-up of her second marriage at the end of several intimate relationships, she admitted quite openly to two or three friends she was very nearly suicidal. Instead of withdrawing into herself, or perhaps turning to drink or worse. She opened up her heart to other people and that is why in the last six years of her life we find her at great personal peril going to the war-torn countries of the world , on behalf of starving children, and we must give her high marks for that.

Absolutely, an amazing, marvelous, gorgeous, talented woman and you can read all about these in this book "Enchantment". Donald Spoto, thank you very much. It's in the stores now and it's fascinating.
Thanks very much.