In the long list of Hollywood movies that seemed doomed from the start, few have a backstory as sad as John Huston‘s 1960 western ‘The Unforgiven‘. For Audrey Hepburn, the elegant star known for her grace, the film was so damaging that she never made another western again.
The movie was an odd choice from the very beginning. Hepburn, the charming star of ‘Roman Holiday‘ and ‘Sabrina‘, playing a Native American woman raised by white settlers in Texas? People raised their eyebrows at that casting even back in 1959. But Hepburn wanted to break out of her usual roles and saw it as a challenge. She was drawn to the idea of making a western and took on the part of Rachel Zachary, a young woman whose Kiowa background sets off a violent racial conflict when her family’s secret comes out.
How A Horse Accident Changed Audrey Hepburn’s Life Forever
The filming, which took place in Durango, Mexico, quickly fell apart. Huston, a director known for working in tough conditions, clashed with the producers Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. They wanted a commercial action movie, but he wanted to make a serious statement about racism in America. The director later admitted he should have left the project. He said, “From that moment on, the entire picture turned sour. Everything went to hell. It was as if some celestial vengeance had been loosed upon me for infidelity to my principles.”
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The first and worst blow came on January 28, 1959. During a rehearsal, Hepburn was thrown from an Arabian horse named Diablo and broke four bones in her back. She had chosen to do the riding scene herself even though she had a stunt double available. The production stopped for nearly two months while she recovered in a hospital in Beverly Hills.
The Miscarriage And Emotional Toll Of ‘The Unforgiven’
But the real tragedy was still to come. Hepburn had been pregnant at the time of the accident, and she had a miscarriage soon after. Biographers have said that she blamed herself for the fall and later basically disowned the film, even though she bravely went back to finish it while wearing a back brace. She returned to the set determined to get back on the horse, but the emotional pain was worse than any physical injury.
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The bad luck did not stop with Hepburn. Her co-star Audie Murphy, a decorated war hero turned actor, almost drowned when his boat overturned on a lake. The saddest event happened off the set when three crew members died in a plane crash while traveling from the United States to Mexico. Even the mood on set was tense. Murphy, who carried a gun, got so angry when Lancaster was supposed to slap him in a scene that people who saw it were worried for the producer-star’s safety.
Why Audrey Hepburn Never Made Another Western Movie
For Hepburn, who had wanted a child and had already lost babies before, the trauma was huge. She took the next year off from acting to successfully have a child, her son Sean, and returned to the screen in 1961 with ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s‘. When the film came out, critics were not impressed. Huston, who had once seen the project as a chance to take a hard look at racial prejudice, later called it the only film in his career that he actively disliked.
‘The Unforgiven‘ remains a flawed oddity, a western that tried to address racism but was let down by its troubled production and mixed-up goals. But its real meaning lies in what it cost its star. One horse fall and one heartbreaking loss later, Audrey Hepburn never made another western. The genre that almost broke her was completely left out of her remarkable career.
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