She won the Oscar for the role of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday and would have won for My Fair Lady, had word not leaked out that her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon. Nixon is an interesting bio in her own right, having sung for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story and even Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes--hitting the high notes for her.
Anyway. One thing I have in common with many Korean men is an infatuation with her--several co-teachers have mentioned Hepburn in terms of an ideal Western beauty, fashion figure, etc. She was also a strong character, who had a longtime role in the works of UNICEF to provide immunization, clean water, food and education to the "Third World".
I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicization of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanization of politics.
So she is a hero of mine, for putting her time and money where her mouth is. If you missed it, you may like to see my post about Dr Paul Farmer, another key figure in the crusade to change the politics of poverty in developing countries.
I admire people like them--I lack the courage, myself. Or rather, have too much selfishness. Or I am too miniscule, or something. Well, whatever it is they have, I don't. I'm not really complaining: I have other qualities, they're just not as noble. Okay, I am complaining.
Moving on, the reason I am blogging about Audrey Hepburn is today's report in Korea Times about an auction of some of her letters and clothing on Tuesday in London. All told, the 36 items brought in £270,000, two to three times the pre-auction estimate.
According to the article by the Daily Mail:
Half of all the money raised at yesterday’s auction will be donated to The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund and Unicef for their joint venture 'All Children in School' which aims to provide teaching for 115 million children worldwide.
Of course.
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