A last name isn’t all that Katharine and Audrey Hepburn had in common. Both came from well-to-do backgrounds and found their way into acting as young adults. But the parallels can only be taken so far. For Katharine Hepburn, who was born May 12, 1907, her childhood home was in America — specifically Connecticut, where her parents were upstanding and socially progressive leaders of the local community. Katharine’s was a charmed upbringing until her teenage years. After the death of her older brother, her demeanor went from exuberant to withdrawn, with a marked effect on her education. She found herself again through theater at Bryn Mawr College.
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Audrey’s father may or may not have been descended from James Hepburn, but her mother was a genuine European aristocrat, a Dutch baroness. Still, their wealth and titles did not give Audrey, born May 4, 1929, an idyllic upbringing — her parents were regularly at each other’s throats. Unlike Katharine’s parents, Audrey’s were drawn to the far right and were both members of the British Union of Fascists. Audrey was shielded from home strife for a time when she was sent away to boarding school, where she fell in love with ballet. But her father left the family in 1935, and Audrey, her mother, and her half-brothers later found themselves trapped in the occupied Netherlands during World War II. Malnutrition during the war years damaged Audrey’s early dance dreams, but she found her way into acting soon after the end of the conflict.
