Enchantment, Donald Spoto
Enchantment, Donald Spoto
3 Rating(s)
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Enchantment
The Life of Audrey Hepburn

Author: Donald Spoto

Narrator: Kimberly Farr

Unabridged: 11 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/19/2006


Synopsis

While her name is synonymous with elegance, style and grace, this poignant, funny and deeply moving biography, reveals the private Audrey Hepburn and invites readers to fall in love with her all over again.  

Over the course of her extraordinary life and career, Audrey captured hearts around the world and created a public image that stands as one of the most recognizable and beloved in recent memory. But despite her international fame and her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF, Audrey was also known for her intense privacy. With unprecedented access to studio archives, friends and colleagues who knew and loved Audrey, bestselling author Donald Spoto provides an intimate and moving account of this beautiful, elusive and talented woman.

Tracing her astonishing rise to stardom, from her harrowing childhood in Nazi-controlled Holland during World War II to her years as a struggling ballet dancer in London and her Tony Award–winning Broadway debut in Gigi, Spoto illuminates the origins of Audrey’s tenacious spirit and fiercely passionate nature. She would go on to star in some of the most popular movies of the twentieth century, including Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, The Nun’s Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady. A friend and inspiration to renowned designer Hubert de Givenchy, Audrey also emerged as a fashion icon and her influence on women’s fashion virtually unparalleled to this day.

Behind the glamorous public persona, Audrey was a different and deeper person and a woman who craved love and affection. Donald Spoto offers remarkable insights into her professional and personal relationships with her two husbands, and with celebrities such as Gregory Peck, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Robert Anderson, Cary Grant, Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney and Ben Gazzara. The turbulent romances of her youth, her profound sympathy for the plight of hungry children, and the thrills and terrors of motherhood prepared Audrey for the final chapter in her life, as she devoted herself entirely to the charity efforts of an organization that had once come to her rescue at the end of the war: UNICEF.

About The Author

Donald Spoto is the author of 25 books, including bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, and Audrey Hepburn. He earned his PhD degree from Fordham University. Spoto is married to the Danish school administrator Ole Flemming Larsen; they live in a quiet village, an hour's drive from Copenhagen.Kimberly Farr has appeared on Broadway, at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Roundabout Theatre, Playwright's Horizons, and the American Place. She created the role of Eve in Arthur Miller's first and only musical, Up from Paradise, which was directed by the author. She appeared with Vanessa Redgrave in the Broadway production of The Lady from the Sea. She has also acted in regional theaters from Los Angeles to New Haven, Connecticut, including the original production of The 1940's Radio Hour at Washington, DC's Arena Stage.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa Kay on April 18, 2014

Love, love, love Audrey; however, this book was just middle of the road for me. Somewhat repetitious, too. I would have liked to have read the actual critics’ reviews instead of just this author’s opinion of her movies; I would have preferred him to be more factual instead of opinionated throughout.......more

Goodreads review by Vicki on June 22, 2010

I started out this book really rather excited about it. Her early years were fascinating, and the author's style was good. I was really enjoying it up to the point when Spoto started discussing the movies she was in. Then he really started to annoy me. While Spoto's writing is well done for the most......more

Goodreads review by Erin on June 22, 2008

I have always loved Audrey Hepburn. I was not overly impressed with this book about her though. The author made it seem like she was never happy. Whether that was true or not, no one but Audrey would know for sure. For most of this book the author focused on the the hollywood making of the movies as......more

Goodreads review by Chelsia on September 01, 2015

For Audrey Hepburn to be one of my favorite actresses and someone's classic ladylike style I've always looked up too, I sure didn't know a lot about her before reading this book. I was shocked to discover how similar we were in many ways, for example she suffered from constant insecurity, never know......more

Goodreads review by Sandra on December 01, 2021

3.75 Me ha sorprendido gratamente aunque en ocasiones que se hablara de otras películas o otras personas me sacaba de la vida de esta actriz, que idealizada se tiene este tipo de actrices y no nos damos cuenta que son de carne y hueso y que sufren y padecen como el común de los mortales......more