Audrey: Her Real Story

by Alexander Walker

Overview

The definitive guide to a Hollywood legend.

Few stars are as loved as Audrey Hepburn, today as much as ever. Beautiful, delicate, graceful - but always warm and natural - she stole our hearts. She was also brave, working tirelessly for UNICEF in the face of her own failing health. in this moving and heartwarming biography Alexander Walker traces the extraordinary combination of luck and talent that allowed a fragile little girl,who nearly died in Hitler's occupied Europe, to conquer, in just one year, the New York stage and the Hollywood screen.

Walker analyses her ascent to power and world fame and reveals the sadness of her life: two failed marriages, a broken engagement, and the crushing disappointment that occupied her triumph in My Fair Lady. Most importantly of all, this biography reveals what no one has known until now: the truly terrifying family secret that tore Audrey's childhood apart and kept her forever silent about her parents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841883786
Publisher:	Orion
Publication date:	04/25/2019
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Alexander Walker is the author of over twenty books about the cinema and its stars, including bestselling biographies of Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Peter Sellers and Audrey Hepburn. He has also written standard works on the coming of the Talkies, a monograph on Stanley Kubrick, and the fullest account to date of the British film industr from 1960 to 1985. Alexander Walker was born in Ireland, and educated there, on the Continent and in the United States.
Alexander Walker is the author of over twenty books about the cinema and its stars, including bestselling biographies of Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Peter Sellers and Audrey Hepburn. He has also written standard works on the coming of the Talkies, a monograph on Stanley Kubrick, and the fullest account to date of the British film industr from 1960 to 1985. He has been the London "Evening Standard's" influential film critic since 1960 and has been named "Critic of the Year" three times in the British Press Awards. A prolific broadcaster on television and radio, he wrote and narrated four series of "Film Star" for the BBC. Alexander Walker was born in Ireland, and educated there, on the Continent and in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

British film critic and film-star biographer Walker (Fatal Charm: The Life of Rex Harrison) here offers a comprehensive, if somewhat superficial, life of Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), the actress who ``redefined a feminine ideal'' with her gamine looks and winsome charm. Walker's prose is lifeless as he recounts his subject's childhood in war-torn Europe and her early stage and film career. But Hepburn's fans will find it worthwhile to stick with him: both the narrative and the writing itself become more lively as he discusses the heyday of her career, her sometimes turbulent love life and her work with Third World children for UNICEF. While Hepburn, who was always reluctant to reveal herself to the press, remains a curiously elusive figure, Walker's critical skills and extensive knowledge of the film industry serve him well as he charts the development of her acting career and assesses her place in cinematic history. An affectionate tribute to a screen legend, this biography nevertheless reveals more about Hepburn the star than it does about Hepburn the woman. Photos. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Informed, candid...what the lady deserved.” —New York Daily News

“Walker has all the facts...A meticulous account.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Walker is a much better write than most Audrey biographers, and he distills the subtle image/reality of the Audrey Hepburn complex.” —Cups

“No book on her life better expresses the nature of her grace and attraction than this one.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A loving biography of a legend...splendid and wonderful to read.” —Sullivan County Democrat

From the Publisher