Saturday, May 3, 2014

Audrey Hepburn presents Satyajit Ray

Today is the 85th birthday of Audrey Hepburn and Google is celebrating the most beautiful, gracious lady that we can remember.


It was 1992 and both Hepburn was dying from cancer (she passed away in 1993) and Satyajit Ray was also in his death-bed (he died 24 days later on 23 April). The Academy honored Ray with an honorary Lifetime Oscar award and he requested that his favorite actress present it to him (virtually). It is an emotional moment ...even after all these (22) years.
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(64th) Academy Awards   
Category: Honorary Award 
Winner: To Satyajit Ray, in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his 
profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences
throughout the world. (accepted on tape from Calcutta, India) 
Presenter: Audrey Hepburn 
Date & Venue: March 30, 1992; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion


SATYAJIT RAY: Well, it's an extraordinary experience for me to be here tonight to receive this magnificent award; certainly the best achievement of my movie-making career. When I was a small, small school boy, I was terribly interested in the cinema. Became a film fan, wrote to Deanna Durbin. Got a reply, was delighted. Wrote to Ginger Rogers, didn't get a reply. Then of course, I got interested in the cinema as an art form, and I wrote a twelve-page letter to Billy Wilder after seeing "Double Indemnity." He didn't reply either. 

Well, there you are. I have learned everything I've learned about the craft of cinema from the making of American films. I've been watching American films very carefully over the years and I loved them for what they entertain, and then later loved them for what they taught. So, I express my gratitude to the American cinema, to the motion picture association who have given me this award and who have made me feel so proud. Thank you very, very much.
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Google has celebrated Audrey Hepburn's 85th birthday with a pink doodle.
The Breakfast at Tiffany's star - and fashion icon - became a big screen legend during Hollywood's so-called 'Golden Age.'

She was born on May 4th 1929 in Brussels to a British father and Dutch aristocrat mother, before moving to London in 1948 to continue training as a ballet dancer.

Widely considered to be the world's most beautiful women ever, Hepburn rose to film stardom after appearing in several British movies.

She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her lead role in Roman Holiday (1953) and starred in other classics, including Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and My Fair Lady (1964).

She won a record three BAFTA awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role.
Hepburn appeared in fewer acting roles in later life, devoting much of her time to working with UNICEF on good causes in the developing world.
She died in Switzerland aged 63 in 1993 after a battle with cancer.
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regards

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