Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait (34 page)

Because
she was so afraid of her mysterious follower, Audrey brought Sean with her to
the set every day. She also carted along Famous, as if the boy and the dog were
actually brothers.

Before
one of the most important scenes in the movie, when the malicious young student
eavesdrops on her teachers and then tattles on them, the dog escaped from
Audrey’s dressing room.

“In
my own way—and full of the denial I’m famous for—I felt with Famous there and
Sean, I was keeping it all together, I could somehow keep out the bad guys. But
when my doggy ran away, everything fell apart. I had to stop filming that day.
Wyler was furious. Shirley just thought I was my sensitive self. Nobody knew
that I’d been dealing with this intermittent intruder who seemed to be getting
closer and closer.”

Like
The Children’s Hour,
in which the
word “lesbian” is never spoken, Audrey kept to herself what was
actually bothering her.

Famous
was sighted later in the day on a high wall in the back lot of the studio. When
Audrey saw him, she hushed the knot of crew members gathered to look for him,
and climbed the wall herself to retrieve him.

He
was safe, and because of that, so was she. For the time being, at least.

About
a week later, on Wilshire Boulevard, her precious Famous was hit by a speeding
car and killed. The driver was never found.

“In
the back of my mind, I was sure the accident had something to do with the man
who was following me, but I tried not to think about it,” she said.

She
returned to Europe with her family, and rarely left her home in Burgenstock.

There,
Audrey obsessed about the poor notices for
The
Children’s Hour.
Brooks Atkinson of the
New
York Times
called it “lugubrious.”

“sensational,” and
“turgid.”

“Instead of being wowed by an off-beat
combination,” wrote Archer Winsten in the
New York Post,
“we get a pair of off-hand performances in a
sentimental slob of a film.”

Ferrer
was getting tired of her fears, which he felt she exaggerated to gain attention
and sympathy. He left her alone in Switzerland and flew to Spain to begin a
small role in a project of his own he’d been pinning his latest hopes on,
The Fall of the Roman Empire.

While
he was away, B actor-turned-director Richard Quine, perhaps best known for
My Sister Eileen, and several other
early Jack Lemmon movies, visited Audrey in Burgenstock and stayed at the new
guest house Fritz Frey had recently built for her. He had heard that she wanted
to take a break from films, and decided he would have a better chance in person
of persuading her to star in
Paris When
It Sizzles.

The
story of a broken-down screenwriter who encourages his lovely secretary to help
him act out his stories, the screenplay—written by
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
George Axelrod—was based on Julien
Duvivier’s movie
La Fete Henriette.

“Richard
was so sweet,” Audrey said. “He told me how perfect I’d be for the
part. After not feeling so perfect for either of my last two films, his words
sounded good. I liked the idea of doing something light, and I liked even more
making the decision myself.”

There
was one major complication, however. William Holden had already been cast in
the part of the aging screenwriter. Having heard about their onetime dalliance,
Quine wasn’t sure how Audrey would respond to the news.

“I
was delighted,” she said. “I didn’t show it, but the fact that Bill
was in the movie clinched it for me. I hadn’t seen him for about ten years. In
fact, I think the last time we even said anything to one another was when I
introduced him to Mel, who was my fiancé at the time, at some nightclub in New
York.”

Holden
had not fared well during their years apart. He was still in love with Audrey,
and he escaped from his pain by drinking. By the time the movie began, he was
an undeniable alcoholic.

“I
wasn’t fully aware of how bad his drinking had become,” Audrey said.
“I was used to hard-drinking actors, and I just didn’t realize that Bill
had stepped over the line. I would have said something if I did.”

Instead,
Audrey encouraged Holden’s attentions, hoping to breathe a little life into her
own marriage. Yet when Ferrer read reports of his wife being seen on the town
with Holden, he quelled all rumors, telling people they were just old friends.