Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait (33 page)

But
that paper cup, insisted director Blake Edwards, was the symbol of Holly’s
humble roots. Edwards, who was eager to change his reputation as a competent
director of television series to that of a renowned director of movie comedies,
still would not compromise the poignancy of the film to get a few laughs.

“The
movie is a hybrid,” he said. “It was meant to be. I’d like to think
that just as soon as you laugh, you might well up at the next line.” That
was certainly the case after listening to Audrey sing “Moon River” in
the movie.

Edwards
had composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer write the song especially
for Audrey. Like Givenchy, who again designed stunningly simple dresses for
Audrey to wear, Mancini was inspired by her look of vulnerability. “I kind
of knew what to write, at least what track I should be on, by reading the
script,” he said. “And Audrey’s big eyes gave me the push to get a
little more sentimental than I usually do. Those eyes of hers could carry it. I
knew that.

“
`Moon River‘ was written for her,” Mancini continued. “No one else
has ever understood it so completely. There have been more than one thousand
versions of `Moon River,’ but hers is unquestionably the greatest. When we
previewed the film, the head of Paramount was there, and he said, `One thing’s
for sure: That fucking song’s gotta go.‘ Audrey shot right up out of her chair!
Mel Ferrer had to put his hand on her arm to restrain her. That’s the closest I
had ever seen her come to losing control.”

Despite
the fact that Audrey “crossed her heart and kissed her elbow,”
something that Holly did when she needed good luck, the movie was not the
stellar success for which she’d hoped. The critics liked it, and they liked
her, but there were no rave reviews.

“I
always wonder if I risked enough on that one,” she said. “I should
have been a little more outrageous. But at the time, as a new mother, I was
about as wild as I could be. If only I were a Method player, huh? But the fact
is, I didn’t really believe in The Method. I believed more in good casting. And
I’m still not sure about Holly and me…”

But
others were not so ambivalent. In time, critics began to fully appreciate her
efforts as Holly. Shortly before she died, David Thompson wrote in
American Film magazine about
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “For
Audrey-philes, this is at the top of the heap,” he said, “a true star
vehicle that allows her to be kooky, dramatic, winsome, tragic, and
breathtakingly beautiful.”

Other
retrospective opinions bore out the belief that the movie was a charming period
piece that owed its major appeal to Audrey. In her obituary in the
New York Times, critic Caryn James wrote
that Audrey was “justly acclaimed” as Holly Golightly.

But
it was the members of the fashion industry who truly appreciated Audrey’s
contribution in
Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
“The
devil-may-care attitude she displayed as Holly Golightly in
Breakfast at Tiffany’s made her an icon
that will live forever,” said designer Marc Jacobs. “In the movie,
Audrey is the personification of sophisticated, simple, useful
spontaneity.”

Chapter 21

In
1960, Audrey was voted among the most popular actresses alive, sharing the
honor with Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, and Shirley MacLaine.
But the adulation had its drawbacks.

“A
young man started to follow me,” she recalled. “From New York to
Switzerland, and anytime I went anywhere, it seems. In the beginning, I thought
I was imagining things, or exaggerating in my mind the number of times I would
see him. I didn’t tell anyone for a long time, for two reasons I guess. First,
I felt if I kept it quiet, he might just go away, and second, I didn’t want to
anger him. It seemed to me if he was spending so much time on my trail, he must
really be crazy. I was deathly afraid, but I kept it to myself. I had this
reputation as a delicate creature, which I didn’t mind, as long as it wasn’t
based on real facts. I mean, it would not do me well to have people think I was
a genuine bundle of nerves. Which I was a lot of the time!”

That’s
why when the next project came up, Audrey surprised everyone by jumping at the
chance to play Karen Wright, a woman whose reputation is ruined by gossip and
slander, in
The Children’s Hour.

The
screen version of Lillian Hellman’s play also stars Shirley MacLaine as
Wright’s close friend and teaching colleague, Martha Dobie, accused by a young
student of having a lesbian relationship with Wright. James Garner portrays
Audrey’s beau, who breaks off their engagement after he begins to believe the
rumors about her.

Directed
by William Wyler, who oversaw Audrey’s momentous Hollywood debut in
Roman Holiday, The Children’s Hour was
Audrey’s first psychological drama.

“I
liked to try new forms,” she said. “But I never went out on a limb
too far. I felt safe here because I knew Wyler so well and, of course, he had
directed the first film version of
The
Children’s Hour
[
These Three,
in
1936, starring Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins], so I felt he knew the material
inside and out.”

Because
of the secret stalker, Audrey was extremely wary of strangers when she arrived
in Los Angeles to begin filming, and journalists pegged her as uncooperative
and aloof. She didn’t allow them to visit the Coldwater Canyon house she had
rented for herself, Ferrer, Sean, and Sean’s nanny, because she didn’t want her
address to leak out.

On
the set, she experienced further difficulties in working with MacLaine.
“When we first met,” Audrey recalled, “I think it’s safe to say
we didn’t like one another at all. I bet we despised one another! I of course
kept that to myself, because that was my style. In fact, I think that’s what
went wrong with the two of us at the beginning: We had wildly different styles.
As soon as I let down my guard, I fell in love with Shirley. That’s the wrong
phrasing for this movie, but I did enjoy her antics. She helped me through a
very hard time, and she didn’t even know it.”