Audrey Hepburn The Activist

Some weeks ago, I was watching a scene from My Fair Lady where Audrey is learning to pronounce with a London accent when it hit me.

Audrey played the lead role in a movie about a low-class woman who learns how to read and speak properly, along with good manners, so she can ascend in life. And she succeeds to a point where even aristocracy members believe that she is one of them.

My Fair Lady is thus a story where a woman from a lesser social class earns an education and makes every member of the aristocracy look like a fool. Is a movie with a complete social theme that impregnates the entire film.

Of course, I felt like I had to learn more about her, to know more than what most people see, the beautiful actress, dancer, and pop icon. And I was right. Audrey was more than an actress.

This is why she has become a referent of kindness to me.

Audrey Was an Activist

Under the iconic image of Breakfast at Tiffany's was a woman who was willing to help everyone, so, when Nazism took over Europe, she did whatever she could to help the resistance.

Audrey Hepburn fought Nazism by raising money for the Dutch resistance and the refugee Jews with her dancing skills, and she also often helped to deliver messages, money, and food to allied troops because Nazis rarely searched children. She was perfect for the task because thanks to the famine she suffered; she looked harmless to everyone.

It is said that, during one of her missions, some German soldiers approached Audrey, and instead of letting her nervousness betray her, she played the role of a helpless girl to perfection; she gave some flowers to the German soldiers and defused the situation. That is something not every famous actress has done.

“I did indeed give various underground concerts to raise money for the Dutch Resistance movement. I danced at recitals, designing the dances myself. I had a friend who played the piano and my mother made the costumes. They were very amateurish attempts, but nevertheless at the time, when there was very little entertainment, it amused people and gave them an opportunity to get together and spend a pleasant afternoon listening to music and seeing my humble attempts. The recitals were given in houses with windows and doors closed, and no one knew they were going on. Afterwards, money was collected and given to the Dutch Underground.”

Audrey Hepburn

To her, it made perfect sense to help those in need in dangerous parts of the world, and while most celebrities spent their days living luxurious lives, she worked for UNICEF, which was the organization that helped her and other children after the end of WWII, bringing them food, medication, and clothes.

Audrey Hepburn involved herself in several social issues like the alphabetization of women in poor countries, and visiting camps full of children in need like she once was, and when she was not in a mission, she used her spare time to gather funds and political support for developing countries.

Audrey spent her last years in this world volunteering for UNICEF in Africa. Not for self-promotional pictures to look good, but because she knew what was like to suffer war and malnutrition as a kid, as she suffered Nazism and WWII and was familiar with their situation; she had empathy for them.

While some will remember her for her movies, many people will do because of her big heart.

Audrey kept changing the world until her end because she believed change was possible, she wanted that change, and she went for it.

“Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller- more accessible. There is just no question that there is a moral obligation for those who have, to give to those who have nothing.”

Audrey Hepburn, (March 1988)

This article was originally published in Medium

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JM is a Spanish writer who endlessly talks about cars, philosophy, and revolution when he's not playing guitar or practicing Yoga. You can follow him on Twitter to see more content: @jm_miana