Audrey Hepburn auction showcases Hollywood icon’s private collection

It’s not every day that the original script of a classic Hollywood movie, featuring handwritten scribbles and jottings by one of cinema’s most iconic actresses, comes up for sale. Yet, on September 27, fans of Audrey Hepburn will get a rare chance to bid for not just one, but two of her scripts – as well as other items of personal memorabilia from her private collection, at an auction at Christie’s London headquarters.

Hepburn, who was born in Belgium, captured the hearts of millions of film enthusiasts from the moment she first walked on the set to play the role of a runaway European princess in the hit 1953 film, Roman Holiday, which won her the Oscar for best actress.

Other eye-catching parts included that of the iconic New York call girl, Holly Golightly – seen wearing sunglasses and a stunning black Givenchy dress, in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The sale of Hepburn’s original film script to the film, complete with deleted scenes and her own notes written in her favourite turquoise ink, is one of the highlights of the auction, “Audrey Hepburn: The Personal Collection”.

The script is expected to fetch between £60,000 (HK$631,000) to £90,000.

“Without question, there are some things in this sale that are intrinsically interesting; an original Breakfast at Tiffany’s film script, whether it was Audrey Hepburn’s or not, would have a certain value,” says Adrian Hume-Sayer, director of private collections at Christie’s.

“But I think particularly with this sale, because she is so iconic, so beloved, it is definitely the story [combined with] that tangible connection with somebody everybody holds so dear that is where a real interest and value lies,” he says, explaining the overwhelming public interest in the forthcoming auction.

Hume-Sayer says overseeing the auction is also a significant achievement for Christie’s because “this sale completes [for us] the trilogy of the great 20th century actresses”.

He says: “We’ve sold Marilyn Monroe’s collection in the 1990s, we’ve sold the Elizabeth Taylor collection in 2011, and now we’ve got Audrey Hepburn, and for me, these are the three greatest names.”