The only actor who “terrified” Audrey Hepburn: “And he knew it”
Audrey Hepburn still looms large in Hollywood. Death has seemingly been no barrier to her iconography; her image is still emblazoned on the collective consciousness.
Her fairytale beauty, her ingénue charm, and her intangible air of glamour are all wrapped up and embedded in her work. She quickly became a standard of femininity within Hollywood and, for generations, it has been upheld as perhaps even more vital than the movies she has made. The actor probably has more fans who have not seen her movies than have.
Like so many beloved leading ladies of the time, Hepburn had some sway in whom she could work with. And, like so many leading ladies, she was particularly fond of Cary Grant. Her on-screen chemistry with Gregory Peck buoyed her legendary performance in Roman Holiday, and she could also count Rex Harrison, Fred Astaire, and even Sean Connery among her most prominent colleagues.
Not everyone she worked with was a dream, though. Biographer Barry Parris includes a passage in his book, Audrey Hepburn, in which the titular starlet speaks in a very particular way about one of her fellow legends.
“I was rather terrified of Humphrey Bogart – and he knew it,” she said, later adding that, “If he didn’t like me, he certainly never showed it.” In a separate interview, she claimed that the star of The African Queen was “a little rougher with other people around – but a jovial roughness.” She didn’t elaborate on what “roughness” correlated to, which is a teensy bit terrifying.
Despite both being top stars of their day, Bogart and Hepburn were paired up just once. They both appeared in the 1954 Billy Wilder offering Sabrina, which was also known as ‘Sabrina Fair/La Vie en Rose’ in the United Kingdom. She plays the daughter of a rich family’s chauffeur who harbours an unrequited love for one of the heirs, while he plays her oblivious beau’s brother. Funnily enough, Hepburn’s favourite, Cary Grant, was considered for this part, but he turned it down.
Bogart was a notable grump. This time, he had some cause, at least. He had originally pitched for his wife Lauren Bacall to take the lead role, and a chill likely descended once the realisation that Hepburn had the script in her hands. Hepburn wasn’t squeaky clean, either.
William Holden had proved to be such a fun co-star that Hepburn had begun a salacious affair with him. The press scrutiny of the relationship was enough to make things on set feel tense. Bogart’s fury only ratcheted up as he believed Wilder showed more attention to the lovebirds.
Does this mean that Bogart really hated Hepburn? Well, in Parris’ book, he is quoted as saying, “You take the Monroes and the Terry Moores, and you know just what you’re going to get every time. With Audrey it’s kind of unpredictable. She’s like a good tennis player – she varies her shots.”
