Happy birthday, dear Audrey!

If you didn't already know, today is Audrey Hepburn's birthday! If she was still with us she would have been 82 years old today, but you know what? Audrey is still very much with us. Her influence is as strong as ever, she's as popular as ever, and everyone still wants to be her.

To celebrate the fairest lady's birthday, WatchMojo put together a video tutorial on how to get Audrey's Breakfast at Tiffany's look in makeup:



So if you would like to celebrate Audrey's birthday but don't quite know what to do, why not give yourself a little makeover and pop in one of her films? To make it extra Audrey, indulge with a piece of chocolate, Audrey's favourite treat. Remember a lovely person by making yourself feel beautiful.

Special thanks to Stephanie for sharing this link with us.

get in the Halloween spirit with Audrey Hepburn

It's getting closer to Halloween, and maybe you already have your chic Audrey Hepburn (or Holly Golightly) costume assembled and ready to go. But how about getting a little more into the Halloween spirit by watching Wait Until Dark, a claustrophobic thriller with Audrey? It's scary, it's intense, and it's Audrey in her last Oscar-nominated role. Last year Alan Arkin's sinister Harry Roat was voted one of the Top Ten villains on film, so you might want watch this one with a friend. And with a light on. Anyway, you can rent it or watch it straight from YouTube in its entirety, thanks to the same great person who put up Breakfast at Tiffany's: You can view the other segments here, and don't forget to say thank you!

Kay Thompson steals the show

At the beginning of this year I saw an Audrey Hepburn double feature that included Funny Face, the first time I'd ever seen that film on the big screen. I was surprised to see that a good portion of the audience, maybe even half, was there because they were huge Kay Thompson fans. Sadly, little information seems to be readily available on her, but I did find someone who is willing to share Kay with the world. At People vs. Dr. Chilledair, the author shares some insider information that he has on her, including the fact that Kay's goddaughter Liza Minelli is currently recording a tribute album to her. It will be called "The Godmother + The Goddaughter," though no release date has yet been set. Kay herself only has two albums available (that I could find, anyway), "The Golden Years 1934-1954," and "Queen of Swing Vocals and Her Rhythm Singers 1933-37." It's a shame that more isn't available, because she was a prolific and highly talented woman. The author of Dr. Chilledair has also posted a great video on YouTube with some of Kay's earlier film performances, including one song and dance routine done just five years before Funny Face:



And, if you needed a little refresher course on Funny Face, here she is completely owning "Clap Yo Hands." Sorry, Fred Astaire! If it weren't for Audrey singing "How Long Has This Been Going On?" this would be my favourite song from the film:



Maybe this new wave of attention to Kay will inspire someone to write a great biography on her, or release more of her music.

"Gossip Girl" shout-out to Breakfast at Tiffany's

There's a new show on the CW (in America) called "Gossip Girl." It's just started, but last night on episode 4, the show opened with an homage to the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I've put a clip I found below, but until I figure out how to cue up YouTube videos to just play the bits I want, I'm afraid you'll have to skip to the 1:32 mark and play until 2:23 to see the whole thing. Watching beyond that is optional:

Edit: The video has been taken down, but I do have screengrabs for you. Maybe someday the clip will be put up and can stay up, but in the meantime, these will have to do. Just imagine "Moon River" playing in your head and you've got it.

It's So Audrey! A Style Icon

My Best Friend: Audrey Hepburn continued

Last month I posted about a new BBC biography series called My Best Friend, and how Sean Hepburn Ferrer had filmed an episode about his mum, Audrey Hepburn. Beaker from L'Ange des Enfants was kind enough to send me a copy of this, and I've just finished posting it to You Tube for everyone to enjoy. :) If you live outside of the UK then chances are you haven't seen this biography yet, and I highly recommend that you do. Not only does it give you yet another side of Audrey, but we see more of the elusive Sean. The program seems to have been filmed at his house in Tuscany, but it also shows new footage of La Paisible, Audrey's wonderful home in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. Sean is very open about his relationship with his mother, and talks quite frankly about his parents' divorce and what went wrong. It's the most I've ever heard on the subject, and it gives a lot of insight to both Audrey and Mel Ferrer that most people either never got or seemed to have missed entirely. All in all, it's a lovely biography with fascinating content and great pictures, a good way to spend half an hour.







While the You Tube clips came out rather nicely, the original is far better without all the compression. I'll be posting the full show -- not chopped into three pieces -- on the website shortly, along with some other You Tube videos. I'm also working on getting some great Audrey clips that I only have on videotape uploaded to the computer to share as well, so keep checking back!

more Audrey Hepburn videos

I've uploaded some more Audrey Hepburn clips to You Tube, though you can just watch them here if you'd like:


Audrey Hepburn at premieres was originally compiled by MrNatashaRostov, and is made of various newsreel clips. It shows Audrey at film premieres for The Nun's Story, My Fair Lady, and War and Peace, to name a few. If you like it, let him know!


A newsreel about the 26th annual Academy Awards, 1954. This was the year Audrey won the Oscar for Best Actress for Roman Holiday, and the clip also plays her entire thank you speech. If you have never seen that footage before, please do! It's absolutely charming.


This clip and the next are both mute, but don't let that fact keep you from watching these. Both clips are raw footage taken at the UK premiere of My Fair Lady, and while it may be a little strange or dull at first, keep watching. The behind the scenes bits later on are really worth it, and it's like seeing another side of Audrey. Definitely worth the wait.



Enjoy!

for your viewing pleasure

Someone has posted some Audrey Hepburn goodies to You Tube! That someone would be me. :) Better late than never, here are some of the birthday presents I have for you:



Audrey Hepburn in Paris, the all French interview she and husband Mel Ferrer conducted at Orly airport in France. I had posted this video before, but sadly PrinceCharmingxoxo's account at You Tube was suspended and all of his videos were taken down. Thankfully, he either sent me his videos or told me where to go to get my own copies, so they can now be shared again! Hopefully he'll be back soon with a new account, so you can thank him when he returns.



A solid gold sculpture of Audrey Hepburn, done by renowned artist Renato Signorini.



A fashion show, presumably using the costumes from Sauce Piquante, done by the cast. Audrey isn't actually credited or called by name in the film, but you can definitely spot her and her elfin ears if you look. I hope she got a pay bonus for wearing that ridiculous dress, too.



Audrey and Mel Ferrer visit Utrecht, Holland, to attend the premiere of Mel's film El Greco. Audrey receives a hero's welcome, of course!



Last for tonight, the UK premiere of My Fair Lady receives a royal welcome with the attendance of no less than a princess!

There will be more videos coming soon, and all of the videos on You Tube will also be up on the multimedia page of the website as well.

Edit: PrinceCharmingxoxo is alive and well as the new MrNatashaRostov! So please, drop him a line thanking him for finding a lot of these wonderful videos, and encourage him to keep looking.

Happy Birthday, dear Audrey

As most of you already know, today is Audrey Hepburn's birthday. She would have turned 78 today, but even though she isn't here with us physically anymore, she is most certainly everywhere in spirit, every day. In fact, it was four years ago today that The Fabulous Audrey Hepburn was born, so it's like two birthdays in one for us.

I was actually going to give you all some gifts in the form of lots of videos, but I'm afraid that after a hard day of slaving over a hot keyboard, all my efforts were for naught. Hopefully the glitches will be fixed within the next couple of days, because they are quite good and I can't wait to share those and more treats with you. But for now, do a little something Audrey in remembrance of her and check back soon for some fun belated birthday presents.

See the rare yellow Tiffany diamond!

If you are in the Washington, D.C. area or plan to be between tomorrow and the end of September, you may want to make a detour to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Why? Because the enormous yellow Tiffany diamond, worn only twice in its history, will be on display! You can finally see, up close and personal -- barring the glass and security alarms -- the 128 carat gem that Audrey Hepburn was lucky enough to wear. You may remember from an earlier post that Audrey was one of two people to ever wear this priceless stone, and that it was remounted in a custom-made necklace for her publicity photos. Tiffany & Co. was kind enough to loan the diamond to the Smithsonian institute, and you can see it, along with the Hope Diamond and some other iconic gems, through September 23. For more information on the Tiffany diamond and the Smithsonian display, click here.



Also, someone was kind enough to post a short clip of Audrey talking about helping people become self-sufficient in a rare UNICEF video called Audrey Hepburn: In Her Own Words. This is a great find, and rare because a VHS copy of the video sells through the UNICEF website for $100, and the whole video is only 28 minutes long.

slow going in Audrey Hepburnland

I apologize for the lack of updates here lately, but there really is no news to report. Whatever does come in has already been covered here, and I've pulled out pretty much all of the older things I could rehash. So sorry again that we haven't had much, but I'd rather be silent than give in to the junk that's out there.

There is, however, an older Pizzicato Five song that I don't think I've shared yet. It's called "The Audrey Hepburn Complex" and it's very old P5, before Nomiya Maki became the voice (and face) of the group. The members of Pizzicato Five are all Audrey fans, though, and you can see it more once Nomiya Maki joins by her fashion (and wig) choices.

The video isn't the best quality, but honestly, even on DVD the video quality isn't very good.



Next up is a Dimitri From Paris song called "Une Very Stylish Fille," and it was actually used in that 3-part series I posted a while back called "Most Photographed." It uses clips from Breakfast at Tiffany's, mainly looping 2-E's "I am a very stylish girl" and Holly's famous "How do I look?" Oh, and the video itself is great to look at. Exactly what you'd expect. :)

And lastly, a favourite band of mine: the Divine Comedy! Lead singer/genius Neil Hannon is admittedly a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn and features her in a couple of songs. This song below, "Woman of the World," was written about her portrayal of Holly Golightly. Unfortunately a video was never made, so we'll just have to make do with hearing this fantastic song.