Always Audrey

ALWAYS AUDREY

Six iconic photographers. One legendary star

Audrey Hepburn photographed by

LAWRENCE FRIED NORMAN PARKINSON MILTON H. GREENE DOUGLAS KIRKLAND TERRY O’NEILL EVA SERENY Interview with

TERENCE PEPPER

INTRODUCTION Carrie Kania, Creative Director at Iconic Images

If you were to merge the history of twentieth-century cinema with twentiethcentury photography, the two lists would have one distinct name in common: Audrey Hepburn.

Never has there been a star captured so often by the most notable photographers of her time than this actor. Gamine, stylish, generous and immensely talented, this one single star shone brightly when the camera lens turned to her. Hepburn has been immortalised by iconic image makers and photographs of the actor have been synonymous with grace and elegance.

In Always Audrey, six extraordinary names in photography open their archives to share images – classic and unknown, rare and unseen, many published here for the first time. The photographs collected here, along with an insightful interview with curator, collector and former Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Terence Pepper, are some of the most memorable ever taken of the star. Fashion photography pioneer Norman Parkinson, celebrity portraiture masters Douglas Kirkland and Milton H. Greene, photojournalist Lawrence Fried and the on-set photography of Terry O’Neill and Eva Sereny all give us an opportunity to see how they looked at and worked with the star.

Audrey Hepburn began her career working in the theatres of London.

Belgian-born, she moved to the British capital when she was just 19, to continue her ballet training with hopes of transitioning to work on the stage. She soon began performing as a chorus girl and making minor appearances in British films. Then a role that would change her life landed in her lap – Gigi.

It was the author of the novel herself, Colette, who spotted the young actor and exclaimed “I have found my Gigi!” Hepburn was quickly cast for the New York stage production and sailed to New York City. It was early on in the run, which was an immediate success with audiences and reviewers, that 22-year-old Hepburn met 25-year-old New York native Lawrence Fried, who was working for several publications at the time. For these photographs, taken in 1951, Fried would simply follow Hepburn around for a few days, as the young ingénue glided through New York City’s Times Square. A casual day in the life of a

4

new star, Fried would accompany the actor to an automat, her modest hotel room, backstage for a television promotional appearance and in her dressing room, preparing to take the stage in the role that was to make her famous. These extraordinarily special photographs have rarely been seen. At a more formal portrait session, Fried would photograph Hepburn in a glamorous ballgown. All the work done at this session has been lost through the annals of time, with only these three, published here, surviving to give us a glimpse of Audrey Hepburn at the very beginnings of her career.

British photographer Norman Parkinson was 20 years into a nearly 70year career as a ground-breaking fashion and portrait photographer. He was a frequent credit in the most notable magazines of the day and was a forerunner in taking the models out of the studios and placing them on location. Around the same time as Lawrence Fried, Parkinson was also called upon to take some pictures of Hepburn. For Parkinson’s Hepburn portraits, however, the great master decided to photograph this charming new actor against a modest studio backdrop, using colour and black and white film. Only a few pictures were published at the time, in the widely read and highly regarded women’s magazines British Vogue and the American edition of Glamour. Parkinson’s portraits were accompanied by articles proclaiming that this wonderful new actor would soon be lighting up the cinema in major leading roles.

Around the same time, Milton H. Greene would also visit Hepburn while on assignment for Life magazine. The 29-year-old Greene was at the very start of his illustrious career and his fashion and celebrity portraits would soon see him crowned ‘Color Photography’s Wonder Boy’. For their first meeting, in one spirited series, Hepburn donned a flouncy skirt and sailor top, her costume whilst playing Gigi, and danced around Greene’s studio. Greene and Hepburn, both single, were smitten and the two had a brief romance.

Following the success of Gigi, Hepburn went off to film her first major feature, Roman Holiday. The film secured her place as an international movie – and style – star. The magazines loved to run images of Hepburn and her unique sartorial

5

INTRODUCTION Carrie Kania, Creative Director at Iconic Images

If you were to merge the history of twentieth-century cinema with twentiethcentury photography, the two lists would have one distinct name in common: Audrey Hepburn.

Never has there been a star captured so often by the most notable photographers of her time than this actor. Gamine, stylish, generous and immensely talented, this one single star shone brightly when the camera lens turned to her. Hepburn has been immortalised by iconic image makers and photographs of the actor have been synonymous with grace and elegance.

In Always Audrey, six extraordinary names in photography open their archives to share images – classic and unknown, rare and unseen, many published here for the first time. The photographs collected here, along with an insightful interview with curator, collector and former Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Terence Pepper, are some of the most memorable ever taken of the star. Fashion photography pioneer Norman Parkinson, celebrity portraiture masters Douglas Kirkland and Milton H. Greene, photojournalist Lawrence Fried and the on-set photography of Terry O’Neill and Eva Sereny all give us an opportunity to see how they looked at and worked with the star.

Audrey Hepburn began her career working in the theatres of London.

Belgian-born, she moved to the British capital when she was just 19, to continue her ballet training with hopes of transitioning to work on the stage. She soon began performing as a chorus girl and making minor appearances in British films. Then a role that would change her life landed in her lap – Gigi.

It was the author of the novel herself, Colette, who spotted the young actor and exclaimed “I have found my Gigi!” Hepburn was quickly cast for the New York stage production and sailed to New York City. It was early on in the run, which was an immediate success with audiences and reviewers, that 22-year-old Hepburn met 25-year-old New York native Lawrence Fried, who was working for several publications at the time. For these photographs, taken in 1951, Fried would simply follow Hepburn around for a few days, as the young ingénue glided through New York City’s Times Square. A casual day in the life of a

4

new star, Fried would accompany the actor to an automat, her modest hotel room, backstage for a television promotional appearance and in her dressing room, preparing to take the stage in the role that was to make her famous. These extraordinarily special photographs have rarely been seen. At a more formal portrait session, Fried would photograph Hepburn in a glamorous ballgown. All the work done at this session has been lost through the annals of time, with only these three, published here, surviving to give us a glimpse of Audrey Hepburn at the very beginnings of her career.

British photographer Norman Parkinson was 20 years into a nearly 70year career as a ground-breaking fashion and portrait photographer. He was a frequent credit in the most notable magazines of the day and was a forerunner in taking the models out of the studios and placing them on location. Around the same time as Lawrence Fried, Parkinson was also called upon to take some pictures of Hepburn. For Parkinson’s Hepburn portraits, however, the great master decided to photograph this charming new actor against a modest studio backdrop, using colour and black and white film. Only a few pictures were published at the time, in the widely read and highly regarded women’s magazines British Vogue and the American edition of Glamour. Parkinson’s portraits were accompanied by articles proclaiming that this wonderful new actor would soon be lighting up the cinema in major leading roles.

Around the same time, Milton H. Greene would also visit Hepburn while on assignment for Life magazine. The 29-year-old Greene was at the very start of his illustrious career and his fashion and celebrity portraits would soon see him crowned ‘Color Photography’s Wonder Boy’. For their first meeting, in one spirited series, Hepburn donned a flouncy skirt and sailor top, her costume whilst playing Gigi, and danced around Greene’s studio. Greene and Hepburn, both single, were smitten and the two had a brief romance.

Following the success of Gigi, Hepburn went off to film her first major feature, Roman Holiday. The film secured her place as an international movie – and style – star. The magazines loved to run images of Hepburn and her unique sartorial

5

There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn HUBERT DE GIVENCHY

Photographer Lawrence Fried captures Audrey Hepburn on camera in Times Square, 1951

sense would launch trends and help make the designers she wore household names. It was after Roman Holiday that Hepburn would reconnect with two of the photographers who worked with her during Gigi: Norman Parkinson and her old love, Milton Greene.

Greene would work with Hepburn twice in two very different locations. First, in 1953, Greene would visit Hepburn in Malibu, whilst filming Sabrina. Greene would favour colour film and there on the beach, the wind-swept actor with red lipstick and her trademark short, close hairstyle, would be immortalised

by Greene’s camera; images were published in Look magazine in a feature that would dub her ‘Actress of the Year’. A few years later, in 1955, Greene and his wife, Amy, would visit Hepburn and her husband, Mel Ferrer, in a charming home the couple were renting whilst filming War and Peace. The house at Villa Rolli, in the Lazio region of Italy, would have an outdoor woodburning oven and the couples would bake peasant bread.

Also visiting Hepburn in Villa Rolli would be Norman Parkinson, for images that would be published in British Vogue. He visited Hepburn and Ferrer for a wonderfully fresh feature that showed the newlyweds at their Italian home,

6

complete with their pet donkey, Bimba. It was during this visit that Parkinson would capture a colour portrait of the young star, wearing a Givenchy afternoon cocktail dress in pink, standing against a fuchsia wall of bougainvilleas. This photograph would forever cement the photography legend and his fleeting muse, Audrey.

After a decade of blockbuster films, including Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Funny Face, Hepburn was one of the most photographed women in the world. And two new photographers were eager to have the opportunity to work with the big star. Douglas Kirkland, who famously worked with Marilyn Monroe in 1961, when Kirkland was just 21, favoured a simple studio – similar to Parkinson – and photographed a series of portraits of Hepburn in promotion for her role in How to Steal a Million. Once again draped in Givenchy, these beautiful close-ups were to become signature portraits in the image history of the actor.

Kirkland also happened to meet another young woman whilst on the set in Paris, Françoise. Kirkland and Françoise quickly fell in love and the couple, married for nearly 50 years, continue to collaborate to this day.

Terry O’Neill, who shot to photographic stardom with early images of The

Beatles and The Rolling Stones, soon became an in-demand photographer for capturing actors on and off film sets. O’Neill’s photographs were widely used to promote upcoming films. Following work on the sets of the first James Bond films, O’Neill arrived to work on two back-to-back Hepburn films, How to Steal a Million and Two for the Road, both filmed in France. The photographer documented key scenes from the film along with the relaxed star, including a now-iconic image of Hepburn with a dove resting on her shoulder.

Shortly after concluding the filming of Two for the Road and Wait Until Dark, Hepburn stepped away from the camera for nearly a decade, devoting the time to her family and her charity work, notably with UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. But after a decade, the star returned to the front of the cameras again as the lead in the film Robin and Marian.

Douglas Kirkland – with Françoise – would reunite with the star, creating a series of wonderfully fresh and happy portraits.

Years later, and after only a few select film and television roles, Hepburn would make an appearance in acclaimed director Steven Spielberg’s drama, Always. As a special unit photographer, and one of the few women in the profession at the

time, Eva Sereny was called to visit the set in Montana. Sereny, who had worked with Spielberg before on Raiders of the Lost Ark, captured Audrey Hepburn’s grace and elegance, as the ageing actor sat amongst the trees, looking bravely into the distance. Always would be Hepburn’s final role and the icon would pass away five years later, aged only 63, after a short illness.

Today, Audrey Hepburn’s legacy is as strong as it was at the height of her career and her myth-like status as a film – and fashion – icon has arguably been enhanced by the imagery these renowned photographers captured of the star.

In 2015, the National Portrait Gallery in London honoured Audrey Hepburn with an exhibit, ‘Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon’, which was co-curated

by Terence Pepper, the then Head of Photographs at the NPG. Shown as part of the exhibition was Pepper’s own personal collection of magazine covers in which the star takes centre stage.

Never has there been a star quite like Audrey Hepburn. And these six photographers – Lawrence Fried, Norman Parkinson, Milton H. Greene, Douglas Kirkland, Terry O’Neill and Eva Sereny – were all able, in their own way, to forever catch this wonderfully graceful shining star.

7

There is not a woman alive who does not dream of looking like Audrey Hepburn HUBERT DE GIVENCHY

Photographer Lawrence Fried captures Audrey Hepburn on camera in Times Square, 1951

sense would launch trends and help make the designers she wore household names. It was after Roman Holiday that Hepburn would reconnect with two of the photographers who worked with her during Gigi: Norman Parkinson and her old love, Milton Greene.

Greene would work with Hepburn twice in two very different locations. First, in 1953, Greene would visit Hepburn in Malibu, whilst filming Sabrina. Greene would favour colour film and there on the beach, the wind-swept actor with red lipstick and her trademark short, close hairstyle, would be immortalised

by Greene’s camera; images were published in Look magazine in a feature that would dub her ‘Actress of the Year’. A few years later, in 1955, Greene and his wife, Amy, would visit Hepburn and her husband, Mel Ferrer, in a charming home the couple were renting whilst filming War and Peace. The house at Villa Rolli, in the Lazio region of Italy, would have an outdoor woodburning oven and the couples would bake peasant bread.

Also visiting Hepburn in Villa Rolli would be Norman Parkinson, for images that would be published in British Vogue. He visited Hepburn and Ferrer for a wonderfully fresh feature that showed the newlyweds at their Italian home,

6

complete with their pet donkey, Bimba. It was during this visit that Parkinson would capture a colour portrait of the young star, wearing a Givenchy afternoon cocktail dress in pink, standing against a fuchsia wall of bougainvilleas. This photograph would forever cement the photography legend and his fleeting muse, Audrey.

After a decade of blockbuster films, including Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Funny Face, Hepburn was one of the most photographed women in the world. And two new photographers were eager to have the opportunity to work with the big star. Douglas Kirkland, who famously worked with Marilyn Monroe in 1961, when Kirkland was just 21, favoured a simple studio – similar to Parkinson – and photographed a series of portraits of Hepburn in promotion for her role in How to Steal a Million. Once again draped in Givenchy, these beautiful close-ups were to become signature portraits in the image history of the actor.

Kirkland also happened to meet another young woman whilst on the set in Paris, Françoise. Kirkland and Françoise quickly fell in love and the couple, married for nearly 50 years, continue to collaborate to this day.

Terry O’Neill, who shot to photographic stardom with early images of The

Beatles and The Rolling Stones, soon became an in-demand photographer for capturing actors on and off film sets. O’Neill’s photographs were widely used to promote upcoming films. Following work on the sets of the first James Bond films, O’Neill arrived to work on two back-to-back Hepburn films, How to Steal a Million and Two for the Road, both filmed in France. The photographer documented key scenes from the film along with the relaxed star, including a now-iconic image of Hepburn with a dove resting on her shoulder.

Shortly after concluding the filming of Two for the Road and Wait Until Dark, Hepburn stepped away from the camera for nearly a decade, devoting the time to her family and her charity work, notably with UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. But after a decade, the star returned to the front of the cameras again as the lead in the film Robin and Marian.

Douglas Kirkland – with Françoise – would reunite with the star, creating a series of wonderfully fresh and happy portraits.

Years later, and after only a few select film and television roles, Hepburn would make an appearance in acclaimed director Steven Spielberg’s drama, Always. As a special unit photographer, and one of the few women in the profession at the

time, Eva Sereny was called to visit the set in Montana. Sereny, who had worked with Spielberg before on Raiders of the Lost Ark, captured Audrey Hepburn’s grace and elegance, as the ageing actor sat amongst the trees, looking bravely into the distance. Always would be Hepburn’s final role and the icon would pass away five years later, aged only 63, after a short illness.

Today, Audrey Hepburn’s legacy is as strong as it was at the height of her career and her myth-like status as a film – and fashion – icon has arguably been enhanced by the imagery these renowned photographers captured of the star.

In 2015, the National Portrait Gallery in London honoured Audrey Hepburn with an exhibit, ‘Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon’, which was co-curated

by Terence Pepper, the then Head of Photographs at the NPG. Shown as part of the exhibition was Pepper’s own personal collection of magazine covers in which the star takes centre stage.

Never has there been a star quite like Audrey Hepburn. And these six photographers – Lawrence Fried, Norman Parkinson, Milton H. Greene, Douglas Kirkland, Terry O’Neill and Eva Sereny – were all able, in their own way, to forever catch this wonderfully graceful shining star.

7

TERENCE PEPPER

Terence Pepper, OBE (2002, for services to art and photography, Hon. FRPS and Outstanding Service to Photography Award 2014), is the former Head of Photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (1978-2014), where he was curator of the 1981 exhibition ‘Norman Parkinson: 50 Years of Portraits and Fashion’ and the 2015 exhibition ‘Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon’

Audrey Hepburn as the Cigarette Girl in a publicity still for ‘Laughter in Paradise’, directed by Mario Zampi for the Associated British Picture Corporation, 1951

8

9

TERENCE PEPPER

Terence Pepper, OBE (2002, for services to art and photography, Hon. FRPS and Outstanding Service to Photography Award 2014), is the former Head of Photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (1978-2014), where he was curator of the 1981 exhibition ‘Norman Parkinson: 50 Years of Portraits and Fashion’ and the 2015 exhibition ‘Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon’

Audrey Hepburn as the Cigarette Girl in a publicity still for ‘Laughter in Paradise’, directed by Mario Zampi for the Associated British Picture Corporation, 1951

8

9

The column dress series was also taken during this second shoot in Italy. A deliberately colour-enhanced version of Audrey standing up appeared on the cover of ‘Glamour’ (US), December 1955

102

103

The column dress series was also taken during this second shoot in Italy. A deliberately colour-enhanced version of Audrey standing up appeared on the cover of ‘Glamour’ (US), December 1955

102

103

Some of the most iconic images of Audrey by Norman Parkinson, also captured during this session, were when Parkinson asked the young actress to stand in front of vibrant bougainvillea. Both dresses were by Givenchy, from two recent 1955 haute couture collections.

The pearl bracelet she wears is from Van Cleef & Arpels, a birthday gift given to her by her husband, Mel Ferrer

104

105

Some of the most iconic images of Audrey by Norman Parkinson, also captured during this session, were when Parkinson asked the young actress to stand in front of vibrant bougainvillea. Both dresses were by Givenchy, from two recent 1955 haute couture collections.

The pearl bracelet she wears is from Van Cleef & Arpels, a birthday gift given to her by her husband, Mel Ferrer

104

105

Her looks – close, drenched hair, an orphan-boy alertness, limbs which fall into the ballet positions – have created a new ideal of beauty BRITISH VOGUE, SEPTEMBER 1955

106

107

Her looks – close, drenched hair, an orphan-boy alertness, limbs which fall into the ballet positions – have created a new ideal of beauty BRITISH VOGUE, SEPTEMBER 1955

106

107

DOUGLAS KIRKLAND Douglas Kirkland worked with Audrey Hepburn on a series of iconic portraits for the film How to Steal a Million and again, a decade later, for the film Robin and Marian

152

153

DOUGLAS KIRKLAND Douglas Kirkland worked with Audrey Hepburn on a series of iconic portraits for the film How to Steal a Million and again, a decade later, for the film Robin and Marian

152

153

Douglas Kirkland photographed Audrey Hepburn twice during her career. The first occasion was when he spent several weeks in Paris in November 1965, as a special photographer on the set of the heist comedy How to Steal a Million. It was the height of the Sixties, Kirkland was one of the hottest photographers on the planet after shooting Marilyn Monroe’s infamous ‘White Sheet’ series, and Paris, London and Rome were firmly at the centre of the film world. “In late ’65 everything started to change,” remembers Kirkland. “There was a shift in fashion, in attitudes and everyone wanted to be in Europe making movies.”

The softly spoken Kirkland had been just 24 years old when he moved from a small town in Ontario, Canada, to New York. His aim? To become a photographer.

He quickly began working as an assistant for fashion photographer, Irving Penn.

Kirkland grabbed his opportunity, learnt quickly and secured himself a job with Look magazine. In 1961, his meteoric rise to the top would be confirmed when he found himself alone with the world’s biggest celebrity, nothing more than a camera and a silk bed sheet between him and the naked Monroe. Kirkland was 27 years old and had been trusted to shoot Marilyn for Look magazine’s twentyfifth anniversary issue. The now legendary shoot was flirtatious and intimate, and it made Kirkland’s career. Kirkland was devastated when he learned of Monroe’s death the following year; he was photographing Coco Chanel in France when he heard the news.

Three years later, Kirkland was asked to shoot another icon of the age: Audrey Hepburn. Although Hepburn was a very different prospect to Monroe, the two being opposites in almost every way, Hepburn’s star quality burned just as fiercely as Norma Jeane’s. Kirkland flew from New York to Paris at the behest of Margaret Gardner, an influential figure in the film business who headed up the international department for Hepburn’s publicist, Rogers & Cowan. The film company needed additional photography for magazine covers, advertising and press kits, as well as more intimate behind-the-scenes shots. Gardner instinctively knew that matching the high-end photography of Kirkland with the allure of Hepburn would produce striking images. The pair clicked from the start.

“The atmosphere on a shoot was always very good with Audrey,” remembers Kirkland. “She was very professional and wanted to do what she could for the photographer. It meant that we were working very much in sync. She was always working for the camera. She knew what her best angles were, and when she came to our set for setups or stills, she was always prepared, ready and on

154

time with her wardrobe and hair done precisely. She was superb in every way.

Truthfully, I wish there were more Audrey Hepburns today.”

Hepburn’s professionalism was something that Kirkland admired, reflecting that some movie stars he has worked with over the course of his career haven’t appreciated the role of the special photographer. With Hepburn it was different: “She never kept you waiting.” Hepburn was undoubtedly aware of Kirkland’s stellar reputation. His work was noted for its ability to capture movie stars at their most relaxed, giving a rare intimacy to his images – something he puts down to his knack for getting along with people and his love of the 35mm camera.

“There was a transition in photography at that time because some photographers were frequently using large cameras and there was a stiffness about their work,” he recalls. “I was using a 35mm and that’s what photography became. It became the style of photography.”

The film was not without its problems, though. Hepburn’s co-star on How to Steal a Million was British actor Peter O’Toole, at the height of his career, who Kirkland describes as being a “naughty boy” during filming. “He was partying a lot in Paris and Audrey was left to hold him up sometimes. However, she always did this graciously.”

While Kirkland’s pictures have become some of the most iconic of Hepburn and the most celebrated of the photographer’s career, the How to Steal a Million shoot carries great personal significance too. Kirkland met his future wife, Françoise, on the set. She was also to become his business partner, with the two going on to form a formidable team both in work and life. The pair have been married for over half a century.

“Douglas was called into the studio from America,” recalls Françoise. “He was freshly divorced and had three little children. My mother was a publicist on the film and before he arrived she had told me that lots of girls had been calling to find out when he was coming into town. That made me think that he must be a bit of a Romeo.

“One day I went to the studio to see my mother after my classes at the Sorbonne University. I was helping her mark some contact sheets and in walked Douglas. He was tall and incredibly good looking and he sat down in the chair, put his feet up on the table, placed his arms behind his head and promptly went to sleep. I guess he was jet lagged. Anyway, I spent the next half an hour looking at him as he slept and thought he was gorgeous.

“When he woke up, he stretched, rubbed his eyes and then looked straight

at me and said, ‘Would you like to go out to dinner?’ I was so taken aback, I could hardly speak. I mumbled ‘yes’, and he said he would come and pick me up later. So, he took me for dinner and that night was the beginning of our romance. The next day I broke up with my boyfriend. I told him, ‘C’est fini’, and we’ve been together ever since.”

“It is a very happy memory and we often say ‘thank you, Audrey’ for introducing us,” Kirkland adds.

Of course, the images that Kirkland captured during those precious few weeks in France were professionally important – and the development of meeting Françoise automatically ranks the film as one of his favourites – but he also acknowledges the role that Hepburn played in ensuring How to Steal a Million was one of the most rewarding projects he would undertake.

“Looking at the images now, there is a brilliance that comes from within her. Audrey always had it when I photographed her. It was a luminosity that she projected.”

Hepburn’s extraordinary ability to convey her effervescent personality would again be present when Kirkland was reunited with her during one of her later roles as Lady Marian in Robin and Marian, directed by Richard Lester.

Hepburn starred with Sean Connery in the title roles and Kirkland travelled to the set in Navarra, Spain, in 1975 to work on behind-the-scenes pictures and set ups for cover images.

“Some of the sparkle had faded because of age but she was still a true star.

You can still see her personality coming through in some of the shots; for example, the one where she is wearing big sunglasses; and her and Sean had a good time together on set, which is evident too.”

Afterwards, Kirkland flew back to New York and submitted the work to the film company. Unusually, he was then asked to fly to Italy, where Hepburn was located at the time, to show her the images in person. “They wanted to get Audrey’s approval,” says Kirkland. “And they thought I was the best person to get it, which I did for most of them.”

Kirkland would go on to work on some of the most successful films of modern times, naming Sydney Pollack’s 1985 romantic drama, Out of Africa, where he spent forty-five days on set in Kenya with the cast and crew, and James Cameron’s multi-Oscar-winning epic, Titanic, as particular highlights.

In recent years he has established a creative relationship with the director Baz Luhrmann, working on films such as Moulin Rouge, Australia and The Great

Gatsby. He puts the success of this partnership down to the time given to him by the director, reflecting that the business has inevitably evolved over the past fifty years. “Working with Baz Luhrmann is just delightful in that we have the access like we used to. On his movies it feels more like the old days, which is very rare,” he says.

“It was a different era when Douglas was working in the ’60s and ’70s,” explains Françoise. “He would be picked up at the airport by a Rolls Royce, would stay at the best hotels and the publicist would tell the stars that they were lucky to have him coming on to set. Now, the publicists are protecting the stars and the access is not the same, people are much more guarded. These days, we get half a day with someone if we’re lucky. It’s fine, but you have to pretend you’ve spent three days with someone when you’ve only spent two hours.”

Kirkland’s career also saw a marked change in how the business side of the ‘special’ was managed. Whereas in the early period he would be attached to a magazine, such as Look or Life, who would send him to cover a particular movie, as budgets were tightened within print media it gradually became film companies who would hire him in the knowledge that Kirkland’s pictures would be published widely around the world.

“When the magazines started to have a little less money, the movie companies stepped in because they knew that if they hired me they were almost guaranteed to get a story in Look, who I did a lot of work for. Look magazine at that time had a circulation of seven and a half million, so it was a big piece of free advertising,” says Kirkland.

It is a testament to Kirkland’s talent, enthusiasm for his work and adaptability to the changing landscape of photography that he chooses to continue working, yet perhaps it is the partnership he has with Françoise that has sustained him creatively during the length of his career.

“Françoise never expected to go into the photography world,” says Kirkland.

“It was our relationship that pulled her in, yet working together for so many years has been wonderful.” Plunged into the glamorous and jet-setting world of the film industry during the Sixties and Seventies and beyond, Françoise took a practical approach and ventures that becoming a team was, “the only way to keep my marriage going.” That may have been the initial driving force behind the Kirklands’ creative powerhouse, yet its longevity and success hints at the talent, tenacity and passion of both Douglas and Françoise.

155

Douglas Kirkland photographed Audrey Hepburn twice during her career. The first occasion was when he spent several weeks in Paris in November 1965, as a special photographer on the set of the heist comedy How to Steal a Million. It was the height of the Sixties, Kirkland was one of the hottest photographers on the planet after shooting Marilyn Monroe’s infamous ‘White Sheet’ series, and Paris, London and Rome were firmly at the centre of the film world. “In late ’65 everything started to change,” remembers Kirkland. “There was a shift in fashion, in attitudes and everyone wanted to be in Europe making movies.”

The softly spoken Kirkland had been just 24 years old when he moved from a small town in Ontario, Canada, to New York. His aim? To become a photographer.

He quickly began working as an assistant for fashion photographer, Irving Penn.

Kirkland grabbed his opportunity, learnt quickly and secured himself a job with Look magazine. In 1961, his meteoric rise to the top would be confirmed when he found himself alone with the world’s biggest celebrity, nothing more than a camera and a silk bed sheet between him and the naked Monroe. Kirkland was 27 years old and had been trusted to shoot Marilyn for Look magazine’s twentyfifth anniversary issue. The now legendary shoot was flirtatious and intimate, and it made Kirkland’s career. Kirkland was devastated when he learned of Monroe’s death the following year; he was photographing Coco Chanel in France when he heard the news.

Three years later, Kirkland was asked to shoot another icon of the age: Audrey Hepburn. Although Hepburn was a very different prospect to Monroe, the two being opposites in almost every way, Hepburn’s star quality burned just as fiercely as Norma Jeane’s. Kirkland flew from New York to Paris at the behest of Margaret Gardner, an influential figure in the film business who headed up the international department for Hepburn’s publicist, Rogers & Cowan. The film company needed additional photography for magazine covers, advertising and press kits, as well as more intimate behind-the-scenes shots. Gardner instinctively knew that matching the high-end photography of Kirkland with the allure of Hepburn would produce striking images. The pair clicked from the start.

“The atmosphere on a shoot was always very good with Audrey,” remembers Kirkland. “She was very professional and wanted to do what she could for the photographer. It meant that we were working very much in sync. She was always working for the camera. She knew what her best angles were, and when she came to our set for setups or stills, she was always prepared, ready and on

154

time with her wardrobe and hair done precisely. She was superb in every way.

Truthfully, I wish there were more Audrey Hepburns today.”

Hepburn’s professionalism was something that Kirkland admired, reflecting that some movie stars he has worked with over the course of his career haven’t appreciated the role of the special photographer. With Hepburn it was different: “She never kept you waiting.” Hepburn was undoubtedly aware of Kirkland’s stellar reputation. His work was noted for its ability to capture movie stars at their most relaxed, giving a rare intimacy to his images – something he puts down to his knack for getting along with people and his love of the 35mm camera.

“There was a transition in photography at that time because some photographers were frequently using large cameras and there was a stiffness about their work,” he recalls. “I was using a 35mm and that’s what photography became. It became the style of photography.”

The film was not without its problems, though. Hepburn’s co-star on How to Steal a Million was British actor Peter O’Toole, at the height of his career, who Kirkland describes as being a “naughty boy” during filming. “He was partying a lot in Paris and Audrey was left to hold him up sometimes. However, she always did this graciously.”

While Kirkland’s pictures have become some of the most iconic of Hepburn and the most celebrated of the photographer’s career, the How to Steal a Million shoot carries great personal significance too. Kirkland met his future wife, Françoise, on the set. She was also to become his business partner, with the two going on to form a formidable team both in work and life. The pair have been married for over half a century.

“Douglas was called into the studio from America,” recalls Françoise. “He was freshly divorced and had three little children. My mother was a publicist on the film and before he arrived she had told me that lots of girls had been calling to find out when he was coming into town. That made me think that he must be a bit of a Romeo.

“One day I went to the studio to see my mother after my classes at the Sorbonne University. I was helping her mark some contact sheets and in walked Douglas. He was tall and incredibly good looking and he sat down in the chair, put his feet up on the table, placed his arms behind his head and promptly went to sleep. I guess he was jet lagged. Anyway, I spent the next half an hour looking at him as he slept and thought he was gorgeous.

“When he woke up, he stretched, rubbed his eyes and then looked straight

at me and said, ‘Would you like to go out to dinner?’ I was so taken aback, I could hardly speak. I mumbled ‘yes’, and he said he would come and pick me up later. So, he took me for dinner and that night was the beginning of our romance. The next day I broke up with my boyfriend. I told him, ‘C’est fini’, and we’ve been together ever since.”

“It is a very happy memory and we often say ‘thank you, Audrey’ for introducing us,” Kirkland adds.

Of course, the images that Kirkland captured during those precious few weeks in France were professionally important – and the development of meeting Françoise automatically ranks the film as one of his favourites – but he also acknowledges the role that Hepburn played in ensuring How to Steal a Million was one of the most rewarding projects he would undertake.

“Looking at the images now, there is a brilliance that comes from within her. Audrey always had it when I photographed her. It was a luminosity that she projected.”

Hepburn’s extraordinary ability to convey her effervescent personality would again be present when Kirkland was reunited with her during one of her later roles as Lady Marian in Robin and Marian, directed by Richard Lester.

Hepburn starred with Sean Connery in the title roles and Kirkland travelled to the set in Navarra, Spain, in 1975 to work on behind-the-scenes pictures and set ups for cover images.

“Some of the sparkle had faded because of age but she was still a true star.

You can still see her personality coming through in some of the shots; for example, the one where she is wearing big sunglasses; and her and Sean had a good time together on set, which is evident too.”

Afterwards, Kirkland flew back to New York and submitted the work to the film company. Unusually, he was then asked to fly to Italy, where Hepburn was located at the time, to show her the images in person. “They wanted to get Audrey’s approval,” says Kirkland. “And they thought I was the best person to get it, which I did for most of them.”

Kirkland would go on to work on some of the most successful films of modern times, naming Sydney Pollack’s 1985 romantic drama, Out of Africa, where he spent forty-five days on set in Kenya with the cast and crew, and James Cameron’s multi-Oscar-winning epic, Titanic, as particular highlights.

In recent years he has established a creative relationship with the director Baz Luhrmann, working on films such as Moulin Rouge, Australia and The Great

Gatsby. He puts the success of this partnership down to the time given to him by the director, reflecting that the business has inevitably evolved over the past fifty years. “Working with Baz Luhrmann is just delightful in that we have the access like we used to. On his movies it feels more like the old days, which is very rare,” he says.

“It was a different era when Douglas was working in the ’60s and ’70s,” explains Françoise. “He would be picked up at the airport by a Rolls Royce, would stay at the best hotels and the publicist would tell the stars that they were lucky to have him coming on to set. Now, the publicists are protecting the stars and the access is not the same, people are much more guarded. These days, we get half a day with someone if we’re lucky. It’s fine, but you have to pretend you’ve spent three days with someone when you’ve only spent two hours.”

Kirkland’s career also saw a marked change in how the business side of the ‘special’ was managed. Whereas in the early period he would be attached to a magazine, such as Look or Life, who would send him to cover a particular movie, as budgets were tightened within print media it gradually became film companies who would hire him in the knowledge that Kirkland’s pictures would be published widely around the world.

“When the magazines started to have a little less money, the movie companies stepped in because they knew that if they hired me they were almost guaranteed to get a story in Look, who I did a lot of work for. Look magazine at that time had a circulation of seven and a half million, so it was a big piece of free advertising,” says Kirkland.

It is a testament to Kirkland’s talent, enthusiasm for his work and adaptability to the changing landscape of photography that he chooses to continue working, yet perhaps it is the partnership he has with Françoise that has sustained him creatively during the length of his career.

“Françoise never expected to go into the photography world,” says Kirkland.

“It was our relationship that pulled her in, yet working together for so many years has been wonderful.” Plunged into the glamorous and jet-setting world of the film industry during the Sixties and Seventies and beyond, Françoise took a practical approach and ventures that becoming a team was, “the only way to keep my marriage going.” That may have been the initial driving force behind the Kirklands’ creative powerhouse, yet its longevity and success hints at the talent, tenacity and passion of both Douglas and Françoise.

155

Looking at the images now there is a brilliance that comes from within her. Audrey always had it when I photographed her. It was a luminosity that she projected DOUGLAS KIRKLAND

For these promotional portraits, taken for the 1966 film ‘How to Steal a Million’, directed by William Wyler, Audrey is dressed in a white felt helmet and white Givenchy suit, and is holding oversized Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses, her costume for the opening scene

156

157

Looking at the images now there is a brilliance that comes from within her. Audrey always had it when I photographed her. It was a luminosity that she projected DOUGLAS KIRKLAND

For these promotional portraits, taken for the 1966 film ‘How to Steal a Million’, directed by William Wyler, Audrey is dressed in a white felt helmet and white Givenchy suit, and is holding oversized Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses, her costume for the opening scene

156

157

From Audrey Hepburn’s debut on Broadway in Gigi to her last film, Always, six brilliant photographers open their archives to share images of the star – many published here for the first time.

“A glimpse into the glamorous life of Audrey Hepburn, told by the cameras of six iconic photographers.”

Harper’s Bazaar “Audrey Hepburn fans, rejoice!

Rare and unseen photos of Audrey Hepburn on and off stage.”

Paper Magazine

ISBN: 978-1-78884-126-9

ËxHSLHSIy841269zv;:%:+:!:! £30.00/$40.00

www.accartbooks.com