Audrey Hepburn was a privilege to work with, according to Buddy Ebsen

Breakfast at Tiffany's was as wonderful to work on as it is to watch.

July 12, 2024, 10:30AM By MeTV Staff

The Everett Collection

They don't make stars like they used to. While plenty of actors pass muster and deliver convincing performances, the movie stars that are pushed into our lives aren't nearly as regal as they once were. Maybe it's because we know everything about celebrities now. With a combination of social media and the tabloid industry, a lot is working to inundate us with the people in movies today.

But in years gone by, cinema stars had a certain level of mystery and sophistication. If you wanted to see your favorite movie idol, the only way to do it was by going to the movie theater.

One of the stars that best exemplified that level of elegant unreachability was Audrey Hepburn. Nowadays, she might be more famous for her image, constantly emblazoned on posters, tote bags, and t-shirts. She was a Mona Lisa in her own time.

Buddy Ebsen, star of The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones, was lucky enough to work with Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. In his 1993 memoir, The Other Side of Oz, Ebsen fondly recalled the time he spent with Audrey Hepburn, reveling in the chance to have worked with one of Hollywood's all-time brightest stars.

"Playing a scene with Audrey Hepburn was like trying on an exquisitely tailored sports coat for the first time," Ebsen wrote. "There was a free-flowing instinct about her that filled the cracks of my own deficiencies.

"No two takes are identical. The 'nowness' of one minute ago is gone forever and can only be played back— never duplicated. In one's delivery, the timing varies by split seconds, or the weight of a word switches by audible millidecibles."

While this approach might've thrown off a co-star if done incorrectly, Hepburn's method made her an incredible scene partner.

"However differently done on each take, Audrey's talent was such that it supplied the perfect counterpart instinctively, almost imperceptibly. When a scene was over, my artistic conscience immediately told me it was right; I had that good feeling. Such is my recollection of working with Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany's."