TCM Schedule for Friday, August 22, 2014 -- Summer Under The Stars - Audrey Hepburn

[Staph]

Today's Star is the luminous Audrey Hepburn, born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929, in Ixelles, Belgium to a Dutch baroness and an English/Austrian business father. Interesting fact -- she turned down a role in the film version of The Diary Of Anne Frank (1959). She later said of the book, "I was given the book in Dutch, in galley form, in 1946 by a friend. I read it...and it destroyed me. It does this to many people when they first read it but I was not reading it as a book, as printed pages. This was my life. I didn't know what I was going to read. I've never been the same again, it affected me so deeply." Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Laughter in Paradise (1951)
A millionaire's will requires his heirs to perform outrageous stunts.
Dir: Mario Zampi
Cast: Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, Beatrice Campbell
BW-97 mins, CC,

Audrey Hepburn was originally offered one of the major female roles in this film, but was committed to a stage play and had to turn it down. She ended up with a bit role playing a sexy cigarette girl instead.


7:51 AM -- Headpin Hints (1955)
In this short film, professional bowlers Lee Jouglard and Sylvia Wene give some tips and show off their skill.
Dir: William Deeke
BW-8 mins,


8:00 AM -- The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
An overlooked gold transporter with twenty years service plots to steal a million pounds of gold.
Dir: Charles Crichton
Cast: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James
BW-81 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- T.E.B. Clarke

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Alec Guinness

Audrey Hepburn was considered for a larger role in this film, but stage work made her unavailable. Alec Guinness was impressed with the young actress and arranged for her to appear in a bit part. This is considered to be Hepburn's first appearance in a major film.


9:30 AM -- The Secret People (1952)
A refugee gets mixed up in a plot to assassinate the dictator who killed her father.
Dir: Thorold Dickinson
Cast: Valentina Cortese, Serge Reggiani, Charles Goldner
BW-95 mins, CC,

The film begins in 1930 with a key character reading a letter. The letter contains a line: "a poet has written, 'We must love one another or die.' This line is from a poem by W.H. Auden entitled "September 1, 1939."


11:07 AM -- Beautiful Bavaria (1953)
This short documentary takes a look at Bavaria in 1953.
Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick
C-9 mins,


11:30 AM -- Love in the Afternoon (1957)
An aging American tycoon overcomes his inhibitions to court a young Parisian.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
BW-130 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Gary Cooper was very pleased with his performance and was very disappointed that the majority of critics thought him miscast due to his age. Indeed, the film's box office failure was largely attributed to him being considered too old to play Audrey Hepburn's lover. In April 1958 he had a full facelift, but the procedure was largely unsuccessful.


1:49 PM -- Operation Raintree (1957)
This MGM short is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Raintree County" (1957).
Cast: Lee Marvin,
BW-5 mins,


2:00 PM -- Green Mansions (1959)
A young adventurer falls in love with a mystical woman in the South American jungle.
Dir: Mel Ferrer
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb
C-104 mins, Letterbox Format

During the film, Rima is shown accompanied by a fawn. In order for the animal to properly bond with the actress, Audrey Hepburn effectively adopted the baby deer in the weeks preceding production.


4:00 PM -- The Children's Hour (1961)
A malicious student tries to destroy the teachers at a girls' school.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner
BW-108 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Fernando Carrere and Edward G. Boyle, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Dorothy Jeakins, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Shirley MacLaine, in the documentary The Celluloid Closet (1995), said that nobody on the set of The Children's Hour (1961) discussed the ramifications of the issues regarding homosexuality that are implied, but never spoken about outright, in the film. She said, "none of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren't really, because we didn't do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me, I'm so polluted, I've ruined you.' She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene - and no one questioned it - what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialog, it's mind boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn't that amazing. Truly amazing."


6:00 PM -- Wait Until Dark (1967)
A blind woman fights against drug smugglers who've invaded her home.
Dir: Terence Young
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn

During World War II, 16-year-old Audrey Hepburn was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital. During the battle of Arnhem, Hepburn's hospital received many wounded Allied soldiers. One of the injured soldiers young Audrey helped nurse back to health was a young British paratrooper - and future director - named Terence Young who more than 20 years later directed Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: AUDREY HEPBURN



8:00 PM -- Roman Holiday (1953)
A runaway princess in Rome finds love with a reporter who knows her true identity.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert
BW-118 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Dalton Trumbo (The screen credit and award were originally credited to Ian McLellan Hunter who fronted for Dalton Trumbo. In December 1992 the Academy decided to change the records and to credit Mr. Trumbo with the achievement. Ian McLellan Hunter was removed from the Motion Picture Story category and the Oscar was posthumously presented to Trumbo's widow on May 10th, 1993.), and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Eddie Albert, Best Director -- William Wyler, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer and Henri Alekan, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira and Walter H. Tyler, Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, and Best Picture

Director William Wyler normally filmed a lot of takes to get the movie right. But The Mouth of Truth scene only took one take. Not known to Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck hid his hand in his sleeve when he took it out of the Mouth. Hepburn's reaction therefore is both genuine and spontaneous: exactly what Wyler was looking for. I was in Rome a couple of years ago, and saw long lines waiting for the chance to see La Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth) in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin and film themselves as Peck and Hepburn.


10:15 PM -- The Nun's Story (1959)
A headstrong girl fights the strictures of the Catholic church in Europe and the Belgian Congo.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Dame Edith Evans
C-152 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Anderson, Best Cinematography, Color -- Franz Planer, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- Walter Thompson, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Franz Waxman, and Best Picture

Fred Zinnemann was strongly opposed to the studio's demand that there should be music over the final scene. Zinnemann felt that music would detract from the depth and grace of Audrey Hepburn's performance in this pivotal scene. Jack L. Warner felt otherwise but eventually relented. The scene remains one of the most memorable and famous from this acclaimed film, precisely for its restraint. When the film previewed in San Francisco with only Gregorian Chant as its score, Warner felt the results were disastrous, especially after the studio had gone to the expense of sending Waxman to Rome for three months.


1:00 AM -- My Fair Lady (1964)
A phonetics instructor bets that he can pass a street urchin off as a lady.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
C-173 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rex Harrison (Rex Harrison dedicated his Oscar to "two fair ladies": Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn.), Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James, Best Costume Design, Color -- Cecil Beaton, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Stanley Holloway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alan Jay Lerner, and Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler

Rex Harrison wanted Julie Andrews for the role of Eliza, since they had played together in the Broadway version. He was concerned that Audrey Hepburn, whose mother was a Dutch baroness, would not be able to play a "guttersnipe" effectively. However, after finishing the film, Harrison had the highest regard for Hepburn's performance, and later referred to her as his favorite leading lady of them all. (It should also be mentioned that Harrison was appalled by Andrews during initial rehearsals for the original Broadway production of "My Fair Lady". Andrews was having a lot of trouble with the characterisation of Eliza Doolittle, and the Cockney accent. So much so, that Harrison was once quoted as saying: 'If that girl is here on Monday giving the same goddamn performance, I am out of this show!')


4:00 AM -- Robin and Marian (1976)
An aging Robin Hood comes home to resume his relationship with Maid Marian and his battles against the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Audrey Hepburn was convinced to take the role of Marian, in part, from the insistence of her sons. Once her young sons learned that Sean Connery had been cast as Robin Hood, they begged their mother to take the part so she could act with "James Bond." She happily complied.