Art & Hue65 years since Audrey’s screen test for Roman Holiday
On this day in 1951, British film director Thorold Dickinson filmed Audrey Hepburn’s screen test at Pinewood Studios. It was widely anticipated that a well-known access would be cast in the film but director William Wyler was smitten with Audrey the moment he watched the screen test.
An exciting time for the young actress, Audrey was studying at the legendary Rambert School of Ballet under the founder Marie Rambert when she was cast as a dancer for the tale of political subversion. Audrey wanted to be a ballet dancer so when she got her first major part in film, it was a dream role to portray a ballerina.
Audrey Hepburn won her first Academy Award for her Hollywood debut in “Roman Holiday”, winning the Oscar for Best Actress, and went on to be nominated on four further occasions as well as winning a posthumous Oscar for her dedication to humanitarian causes.
If it wasn’t for Thorold Dickinson casting Audrey in “Secret People” 65 years ago, and then filming her screen test for “Roman Holiday”, the world may have been deprived of Audrey’s iconic characters that defined Mid-Century cinema. The screen test was described by Wyler as “a fine piece of work” and “as good as any I’ve seen in a long time” in the letter below at the BFI (wrongly calling Dickinson “Harold”).
Take a look at Dickinson’s screen test of Audrey Hepburn below (also featuring the legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head), then explore the pop art collection inspired by images of the budding actress taken as publicity shots in the same year, including previously unseen shots of Audrey.
All Audrey pop art is available in 3 sizes and 17 colours, including a new shade called “Think Pink” in honour of the actress.
Click on the image below to open the video in YouTube:
