For nearly ten years, Audrey Hepburn had disappeared from movies. The star of ‘Roman Holiday‘ and ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s‘ was happy to trade her fancy Givenchy dresses for a UNICEF field jacket. But a letter from a young “genius” named Steven Spielberg finally brought her back for one last, bright performance.
In the summer of 1989, a mail arrived at Audrey Hepburn’s home in Switzerland. It came from Spielberg, a director she had loved from the dark of a movie theater in Rome years earlier. Soon, fans got to see her in movies once again.
Steven Spielberg’s Clear Pitch to Audrey Hepburn
Spielberg was getting ready to make “Always,” a romantic fantasy about a risky pilot and the angel who helps him. He first wanted Sean Connery to play “Hap,” a tired, heavenly angel. But when Connery had scheduling problems, Spielberg had a clear thought. He needed someone with authority, grace, and a divine feel. As Christie’s later said, he realized that “there was no one more godly than Audrey Hepburn.”
There was just one problem, though. Hepburn had basically stopped acting. After she gave what she thought was her final performance in the 1981 movie ‘They All Laughed,’ she gave her life to helping children around the world as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. To her, acting felt like a past life.
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Spielberg’s letter was a great example of how to convince someone. Written on his own special paper, the note smartly changed the part. He explained that the original 1943 movie ‘A Guy Named Joe‘ had a male angel, but he realized that the story would be “much more poignant played, not by a man, but by a woman.”
He was offering Hepburn a role that didn’t require much work, just her being there. For her, the choice wasn’t really about the script. It was about the director.
Years earlier, while sitting in a theater in Rome watching ‘E.T.,’ a deeply moved Hepburn squeezed her son Luca’s hand and whispered, “Luca, this man is a genius.” Remembering that moment in the book ‘Audrey at Home,’ Luca Dotti said his mother could not believe she got the offer. “When I asked her what the part was,” Dotti wrote, “she replied, ‘But it doesn’t matter! Do you realize he actually wants me?’”
Audrey Hepburn’s $1 Million Gift to UNICEF
Hepburn said yes, but true to her kind nature, the money didn’t matter. She got paid $1 million for her short appearance, which was a huge amount for a small role in 1989. Without thinking twice, she gave every penny to UNICEF.
The role of “Hap” meant Hepburn had to film in a burned forest in Montana, a place that matched the care she showed the world. Because of all the ash and dirt on the ground, the crew famously carried the 60-year-old star on a stretcher to keep her pure white outfit clean.
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Audrey Hepburn’s Graceful Farewell
Even though people said it was hard to get her out of retirement, Hepburn loved the shoot. She later told Larry King that the whole thing surprised her. “I loved it, and I wouldn’t mind if he asked me again, like next summer. I’d be right back,” Hepburn said at the time. “I had really one of the best times of my life.”
For Spielberg, making the movie wasn’t really about directing. It was about living out a fan’s dream. He later said that one of the “greatest thrills of his life” was just getting the chance to work with her.
Audrey Hepburn passed away in 1993, but ‘Always‘ is a perfect ending to her film career. As “Hap,” the angel who helps the living find peace, Hepburn wasn’t just acting; she was saying goodbye.
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