Bob Willoughby's Photographic Ode to Audrey Hepburn

"I could never have guessed this when I first photographed her at Paramount Studios in 1953. The new girl in town. She had just completed the filming of Roman Holiday and was at Paramount in Hollywood for publicity photographs.

I really didn’t know what quite to make of Audrey when I first saw her. She certainly was not the typical image of a young starlet, for that was what I had been sent to photograph. I watched her across the room as she was being photographed by Bud Fraker, and she did have something… but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I was finally introduced to her. Then that radiant smile hit me right between the eyes, warming me inside like a shot of whisky. That amazing instant contact she made, a remarkable gift that everyone who met her felt. She exuded some magic warmth that was hers alone.

Happily our lives would intersect many times over the years we knew each other. Our first born would celebrate their first birthdays together, and I would photograph her in so many different places as you can see from this collection.

While many of these photographs of Audrey are well known, they have never before been seen together as a complete collection. I would like this book to be my salute to that magic sprite. A forest creature who, before one’s eyes, could transform herself into a princess. A rare human being, whom I respected and loved."

After being given a camera as a gift for his 12th birthday Los Angeles-born Robert Hanley “Bill” Willoughby pursued photography up until his death in 2009, aged 82. Forging a successful career as a Hollywood photographer that spanned over five decades, his iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Judy Garland, defined the youthful glamour and elegance of the 1950s and 1960s. However, it was the beguiling British actress Audrey Hepburn who was his most favourite subject, and the focus of Taschen’s latest publication: Bob Willoughby: Audrey Hepburn. Photographs: 1953-1966.

Having previously paid homage to the pair’s unique relationship on AnOther in Audrey Hepburn and her Fawn – which featured intimate portraits of Hepburn and her pet baby deer Pippin taken by Willoughby – here the photographer recounts the first mesmerising encounter with the starlet which led to one of the 20th century's greatest photographic love affairs.

Bob Willoughby: Audrey Hepburn. Photographs: 1953-1966 is published by Taschen.

Suggested Reading: The Pets | Audrey and her Fawn, Vintage Style | Audrey Hepburn