Audrey Hepburn was just 24 years old and had won an Oscar for Best Actress when she was cast to star in Sabrina in 1954. In an article written behind the filming scenes, Life magazine introduced her to the American public, calling her “enchanting” and “a glamorous fairy who begins her tasks”. The opening of the article remains accurate seven decades later.

“Audrey Hepburn has only one American film, Roman Holiday in which she co-stars with Gregory Peck. But already in Hollywood circles, she caused more talk than any other recent actress, including Marilyn Monroe,” says the article. “The talk about Audrey is about her acting talents, charm, poise, dignity, and beauty. No one sums her up well because Audrey defies definition. She is a waif and a woman of the world. She is friendly and strangely indifferent. The photos show how she starts her workday, not because there is anything remarkable about it, but because whatever Audrey does, she looks remarkable doing it,” he continues.

Hollywood knows how to recognize a star when she shines, and the young actress, half-Dutch and half-British (on her father’s side), came to the United States with the approval of Colette and a successful stint on the London stage. She won an Oscar in 1953, generating great curiosity about her. Paramount was quick to respond: after being a princess, what better way to turn her into Cinderella than to play her. Yes, that’s how Sabrina was born, a romantic classic that will turn 70 in 2024.

Directed by Billy Wilder, the cast included three Oscar winners: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey, and William Holden, and was – unsurprisingly – a huge success when it hit theaters. The story is an adaptation of a Broadway play, Sabrina Fair (subtitled “A Woman of the World”), and is a romantic comedy written by Samuel A. Taylor, who also wrote the film’s script. But it’s nothing more than the old “happily ever after” story.

In the original, Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn) is the daughter of the Larrabees’ chauffeur, in love with her boss’s youngest son, David (Holden). An irresponsible womanizer, he doesn’t even notice her, just like his older brother, Linus (Bogart), an aggressive executive who only thinks about getting richer.

To get a job as a cook (chefs at that time were only for men), Sabrina is sent to Paris to study at the Cordon Bleu, but when she returns, she is a beautiful, sophisticated woman. At this point, David is engaged to an heiress whose business interests Linus, but he falls in love with Sabrina when he sees her. Thinking about work first, Linus then decides to seduce the young woman to get her out of David’s way, but, of course, he genuinely falls in love with her. And she was with him.

Audrey’s fans remember Sabrina for several reasons that are not related to the story. The actress sought support from Cristobal Balenciaga so that HE – and not Edith Head – would create the costumes for the transformed Sabrina after the Parisian season. He declined, introducing her to Hubert de Givenchy, and a legendary partnership was born. Sabrina’s costumes are indeed breathtaking. But Edith Head did not give up the credit and won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, which Audrey considered unfair. This impasse became one of the most famous dramas in the world of fashion with Hollywood.

Other details that went down in history were the romance between Audrey and William Holden, which caused a great disappointment in love for the actress when he refused to marry her. To make matters worse, the relationship with Bogart was not any easier. He joined the production replacing Cary Grant, who refused to do another romantic film, but that was precisely because Bogie wanted to do something very different from the tough, adventurous detectives he was famous for. However, for Sabrina, he wanted his wife Lauren Bacall to be the one chosen, and so he was cold and even rude with Audrey out of the scene.

Irritated by Audrey’s inexperience, who at the time still required many retakes, he complained to Wilder and was remembered for being a bore. Since Audrey was already a rising star, when asked about what it was like to work with her, he replied: “It’s okay, if you don’t mind doing a dozen takes.” Ouch!

It must have hurt even more that Audrey was nominated for an Oscar again for Sabrina, but lost to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl.

There are several immortal looks by Audrey Hepburn, but it’s impossible to forget the perfect dress from the party at the Larrabees. Edith Head died claiming that it was her creation, ‘inspired’ by Givenchy. Is that really true?

In 1995, Sidney Pollack tried to “reinvent” Audrey Hepburn by casting Julia Ormond in the remake of Sabrina (updating some facts such as putting her in Paris to study photography instead of cooking), but, of course, it didn’t work.

Could Lilly Collins repeat the magic?

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