To not 'get' Audrey Hepburn?

[MinesaBottle]

That chocolate ad has just been on and it got me thinking...I just don't get her appeal. I know she did fantastic work when older, I'm talking about when she was a film star and everyone seemed to think she was sooooo incredible. I don't get it - but I'm aware it's a subjective opinion - all I see is an annoying, simpering girly girl who also happens to look good in a frock.

I await my flaming from Audrey fans

granny

I think it is documented that her mother started off as a Nazi sympathiser, as did many of her class, but am not 100% sure. She certainly wouldn't have remained one for long.

As far as I can tell her father lived in Indonesia during the war though and have never seen any reference to him being a Nazi sympathiser. But could be wrong.

I think she was really beautiful. I would much prefer to have her elegant slightly quirky beauty than Marilyn Monroe's blowsy glamour.

And far from being Nazis, the Hepburn's suffered terribly during the War, being practically held prisoner and having virtually nothing to eat.

I looked it up! I don't think it changes my view of her, what her parents did wasn't her fault and it seems she did nearly starve, did carry messates for the resistance so she went through alot, don't think her wealthy background would have made much difference at that point.

I don't really understand why it is becoming a sort of competition between her and MM, they were both very different and amazing in their own way.

I remember reading years ago (and it is here in Wikipedia):
She had secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. "The best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performances", she remarked.[30] She also occasionally acted as a courier for the resistance, delivering messages and packages.
Her work for UNICEF was possibly inspired by her experience of practically starving to death in the winter of 1944-1945 (like the rest of the Dutch population) and receiving food aid on liberation.

I'm blonde and totally 'get' both Marilyn and Audrey, they were both luminously beautiful in different ways. Audrey seemed to have an aura of 'goodness' about her which was hugely appealing, perhaps more to women than men.

I've seen breakfast at tiffany's and as much as I like Audrey Hepburn, I loathed that film. As overrated as it is possible to get. Hated everything about it (other than the decor, I do remember liking the wallpaper)

I do remember her spending a lot of time working for unicef.

Beautiful looking lady but her voice grated on me.

like Marilyn Monroe, she's been turned into an irritating emblem of a face printed on t-shirts, banal quotes (probably incorrectly) attributed to her on Facebook 'yeah so true hun' type posts, and a constant idea of grace or glamour that advertising campaigns beat us over the head with. So whilst I admire Audrey the person, I don't like Audrey the icon.

I agree with this.

Her image (like Marilyn's) has become so clichéd that it's hard for us to see how fresh they were at the time.

I think its the image that grates on me its on everything associated with style usually with an inspirational quote

I thought the chocolate ad was a cartoon. Didn't realise it was supposed to be an actual person. I makes much more sense now, before it was just cringey.

She was an actress...what else is there to 'get'?

Her parents were both fully paid up members of the British Union of Fascists. When they moved to Europe her father was a Nazi sympathiser and collaborator. Everybody who lived in the area at the time suffered. Food and resources were diverted to the German army. She suffered no more than the general population. Given that her father was a sympathiser potentially not quite as much.

Given her father was a well known sympathiser it's extremely doubtful that Hepburn was invited to perform at events where she would be able to gather the identities of large numbers of resistance reporters. That was something that the studio publicity department put out. And if you do a bit of research into the way those departments operated in those days, you will see truth was not a priority.

"And if you do a bit of research into the way those departments operated in those days, you will see truth was not a priority."

Whereas today all publicity material is solid gold truth

Her father, Joseph Ruston, was actually jailed in England for being a fascist.

" She suffered no more than the general population"

Who all suffered greatly, including Audrey and her mother and grandparents.

InstitutionCode, they have less to hide these days because our society is a lot less judgemental. Marilyn Monroe was originally presented to the public as an orphan, because that was preferable to her admitting her mother was institutionalised with a mental illness.

Hepburn never even claimed she was in the resistance herself, all those stories came straight from the publicity department and never from her. They can't be independently verified and her name has never been found in contemporary documentation which could confirm it, neither was her mother's.

Her parents actually met Hitler, were associates of Oswald Moseley and other high profile figures in the Nazi party like Unity Mitford. Life was hard for everyone in that place in that period, but the lives of sympathisers and collaborators were a lot easier. Because of her family connections it's very likely Hepburn fell into that group.

Just worth reminding people that Audrey Hepburn was born in 1929 so whatever her parents' views may have been she was a child during WW2. Not really fair to visit the sins of the parents on the children.

Quite.

I think this all started with someone saying that Audrey Hepburn had a privileged childhood, unlike Marilyn Monroe, which is clearly not the case. They had very different lives, but neither of them had an easy childhood.

It's not fair to visit the sins of parents on children. But I find it tasteless for someone whose family were Nazis (and probably benefited as a result) to allow their studio to inaccurately portray them as a resistance member and do nothing to correct that inaccurate view. Particularly when other people were killed or put their lives at risk for the resistance. Essentially she made a lot of money off the back of deeds that some very brave people committed, by refusing to correct the impression she was responsible for some of those acts when she wasn't. It was profitting off the back of others who took very great risks while she took none and in fact probably benefited from the Nazi links. Her parents weren't the only Nazis she associated with, her ballet teacher was another one.

People who want fame and tied to a studio contract like they all were back will allow them to say anything to anybody to potray a good reputation

She wasn't tied to a studio contract for the rest of her life. She never corrected the misconceptions.