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Roman Holiday. Audrey's born-to-the-manner poise, her years of hard work and the months of genuine privation that forced her to grow up before her time were all apparent last week in her first starring movie. Director Wyler has given the picture charm and authenticity by filming it against the beautiful backgrounds of ancient and modern Rome, and by using real Romans in the bit parts. Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert add relaxed portraits of a newspaperman and a photographer to help the fun along. But it is Audrey Hepburn alone who makes the story come true. "Hell," said one Hollywoodian after seeing the picture, "the princess going back to her platinum throne. That's not so bad when you come to think of it, but it broke my heart. Just the look of that girl. It's one of those magic things."
"That girl," William Wyler told a friend when the picture was done, "is going to be the biggest star in Hollywood."
Last week, after the first vacation she had in five years, Audrey was in New York being groomed to take her place in the Western constellation. The treatment involved endless interviews, cocktail parties and personal appearances on radio and TV. To protect Paramount's $3,000,000 investment, she was required to answer an endless series of silly questions. "How does it feel to be a star, Miss Hepburn?" "Do you think marriage and a career are compatible, Miss Hepburn?" Audrey sailed through the tiring ordeal with the grace of a princess born and the tact of a diplomat. She could speak gently of her own engagement (to James Hanson, a wealthy young British businessman), which had been broken off after Roman Holiday was finished. She could still charmingly squelch the brash reporter who tried to pry deeper. She could speak with disarming gaiety of her pleasingly irregular teeth and still not deny her obvious beauty. To the agonized gentlemen of the West Coast, whose business it often is to turn hatcheck girls into great ladies overnight with publicity gimmicks, Audrey's artless publicity technique was a revelation—just as her camera technique had been to the cameramen, and as her flair for dress was to the studio dressmakers. "Working with Audrey is fun," said one Hollywood expert last week. "When you're working with her, you're working with a fellow technician."
As for being a great star: "It takes years," Audrey Hepburn says simply, "to make a great star."