Born in Brussels in 1929, Audrey Hepburn was the daughter of a British father and a Dutch Baroness.
With all the insight, background knowledge and innate sympathy for his subject, qualities that have made his biographies of Hitchcock, Dietrich, Monroe and Bergman such international successes, Donald Spoto truly captures the spirit of an elusive, beautiful, talented and vulnerable woman..
She married and divorced a second time, and there were other passionate but short-lived affairs, some revealed for the first time in this book, but her relationships were never entirely successful.
But her marriage to Mel Ferrer was not to last.
For a while it looked as though her personal life would follow the Hollywood dream.
She went on to bring her unique grace and high spirits to a number of highly acclaimed films - from Funny Face and The Nun's Story to My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Robin and Marian.
It won her an Oscar.
Her debut screen role was the Princess in the enchanting Roman Holiday.
And then Audrey's career took off.
After a few West End musicals and minor film parts, she was spotted by the author, Colette, to star in a stage version of her novel, Gigi.
Back in England again, Audrey studied ballet with Marie Rambert.
With the outbreak of war in 1939, her mother thought they would be safer in Holland than Holland Park, but although they survived the German Occupation, the experience left its physical and emotional scars.
But when she was five, her father deserted the family.
Born in Brussels in 1929, Audrey Hepburn was the daughter of a British father and a Dutch Baroness
