The role that Audrey Hepburn played after Sean Connery turned it down: “I had a change of heart”
Audrey Hepburn was a one-of-a-kind screen personality who was utterly unique when she made her Hollywood debut in Roman Holiday in 1953. Even now, nearly three-quarters of a century later, she remains an anomaly. Many actors have been compared to her, but she had a certain otherworldly grace about her that no one has matched.
No matter how singular an actor is, however, best-laid plans do not always come to fruition. You might write a character specifically for one actor only to have your hopes dashed when they turn it down. Hepburn was on the lucky side of this phenomenon on multiple occasions, most famously for Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Author Truman Capote had Marilyn Monroe in mind for the role of Manhattan society girl Holly Golightly, but when Monroe turned it down, it was Hepburn who took over, instantly creating a character so iconic that it is practically ubiquitous.
Monroe and Hepburn were on opposite ends of Hollywood’s beauty spectrum. The Seven Year Itch actor was the epitome of the voluptuous blonde bombshell, while the Roman Holiday actor was elfin and ethereal. The fact that they could be in the running for the same role is hard to believe, at least until you consider that at one point, Hepburn took a role that had been written specifically for Sean Connery.
The original 007 was neither elfin, ethereal, or female. In fact, Paul Newman was so impressed with his rugged masculinity that he called him the toughest man on the face of the planet. It is just as difficult to imagine him draped in diamonds as Holly Golightly as it is to imagine Hepburn jousting with sharks as James Bond. And yet, she did come to the rescue on a film when Connery turned it down.
In the late 1980s, Steven Spielberg was starting to bring a longtime dream to fruition – a loose remake of the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe about a pilot who dies and comes back to earth as a guardian angel. He and Richard Dreyfuss loved the film and constantly traded lines from it during the filming of Jaws. When Spielberg reworked the idea and cast Dreyfuss as the pilot – this time an aerial firefighter who fights wildfires – he wanted Connery to play the small but pivotal role of Dreyfuss’s heavenly guide.
Connery could have made a great angel, mostly because of his voice and wise grey beard. Why would an angel in Montana have a Scottish accent, one might ask? Because in heaven, no one asks stupid questions. Despite the golden opportunity, though, Connery turned it down, supposedly due to scheduling conflicts. So Spielberg pivoted hard and asked someone who was almost guaranteed to say no.
Hepburn had been semi-retired for more than two decades when the Jaws director approached her, but he wrote her a heartfelt letter saying that he had changed his mind about casting a male actor in the role and wanted her to at least consider taking over.
“I had a change of heart about the character of Hap and think it would be much more poignant played, not by a man, but by a woman,” he wrote. “In any case, whether or not you decide to join our family in the last weeks of production, it is a tremendous thrill for me to make this offer.”
Against all odds, Hepburn happily accepted, and as she did with Holly Golightly, she made the role her own. As Hap, she radiates warmth and tranquillity. She is exactly the sort of creature you’d want to see after kicking the bucket, with all due respect to Connery. She donated most of her paycheque to UNICEF and, by all accounts, had a fantastic time on the project. “I loved it,” she said, “And I wouldn’t mind if [Spielberg] asked me again, like next summer.”
