Audrey Hepburn, the petite star of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” lived an epic life that extended far beyond the materialistic desires of fame and fortune. In her youth, she risked her life for the Resistance against the Nazis as they occupied large swaths of Europe during WWII. She obviously excelled in a wide range of pursuits earning an Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar (EGOT) awards in her lifetime.

However, those grandiose accomplishments never blinded her to more significant work. Hepburn invested so much of her time, money, and energy into humanitarian endeavors that UNICEF erected a statue in her honor at their headquarters. Here are some of the unbelievable highlights of the incomparable Audrey Hepburn.

Growing Up Hard

Certainly, one’s childhood plays a vital role in development. So what can you say about an adolescence spent working as an agent for the Dutch Resistance against the Nazai at the age of 14? Her English fluency made her ideal for delivering food to American and British pilots while supplying vital information.

Life Lessons

As if that wasn’t enough, she also performed “Black Evenings” musicals and ballets to help raise money for the Resistance. As she told historian Robert Matzen who wrote “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II,” “I danced at recitals, designing the dances myself, I had a friend who played the piano and my mother made the costumes.” Those covert performances were dubbed “Black Evenings” due to the blacked-out windows utilized in order to hide from German patrols.

A Star From the Start

Before Hepburn earned an Academy Award for her role as Princess Ann in “Roman Holiday,” no one really knew her. Nevertheless, her co-star Gregory Peck knew talent when he saw one. Originally, Peck was slated to be the only star listed but he fought for Hepburn to receive equal billing, afraid that he’d look like a putz. As he said, “You've got to change that because she'll be a big star and I'll look like a big jerk.” Clearly, he knew his stuff as Hepburn earned the only award nomination on that film.

Director Billy Wilder, who worked with Hepburn on “Sabrina” and “Love In The Afternoon”, echoed Peck’s praise years later in a Vanity Fair interview. “You can meet somebody and you can be enchanted, and then you photograph them and it’s nothing. But she had it. And there will not be another.”

Life Beyond Hollywood

As Pamela Keogh, author of “Audrey Style” reported, “After she had such a tumultuous childhood, her dream in life was to have a happy home life and children. Her goal was not to be famous but to have a happy private life. And to be a present and loving mom to her two children.” To that end, in both of her marriages, she took the name of her spouses as Audrey Hepburn Ferrer and Signora Dotti.

Keogh also noted after extensive interviews with Hepburn’s contacts, “All her friends said whatever you saw in the movies, she was a million times cooler in real life. She could be sexy, rambunctious and she loved a good Scotch and a cigarette. She wasn’t a perfect ice queen princess. She was sexy and funny and loved to tell an off-color joke.”

Philanthropic Work

Rather than continue working on films to her final days, Hepburn went back to her roots and dedicated herself to helping others. As Keogh recounted, “She only made a handful of films. She walked away at her peak. Where do you go after “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? And at the end of her life, she devoted herself to UNICEF.” Fellow UNICEF Ambassador Harry Belafonte said of the iconic actress, “I think that Audrey Hepburn was the best example of what to do.”