Charmed by Audrey: Life on the Set of Sabrina

by Mark Shaw (Photographs), Juliet Cuming Shaw (Foreword), David C. Taylor (Introduction)

In 1953, Paramount was making a film with a new actress named Audrey Hepburn. Life magazine assigned one of its top young photographers, Mark Shaw, to shoot a feature, and he spent weeks with the star on and around the set. Shaw's extraordinary level of access resulted in an amazing array of photos and over 60 rolls of film that captured the budding ing�nue's charm and grace on set and in everyday life. The images chronicled Hepburn waking up at home, having her hair washed at the beauty parlor, reading, relaxing, studying the script, chatting with her costars and director Billy Wilder, and acting in one of her most famous roles. Through the handful of photographs published in Life for the Sabrina article have become iconic images of Hepburn, the majority of the negatives were misplaced and never published. Rediscovered 50 years later, these photographs offer a stunning visual biography of Hepburn's youth and rising star.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography

144 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. ^3

Mark Shaw was an American fashion and celebrity photographer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Reviews

[Lyndsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Audrey and this is a charming book about a charming lady. These images from Mark Shaw taken were taken on the set of Sabrina. The pictures are great fun and beautiful. I keep picking the book back up to take another look.

[Shal'tiar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a book of photographs. I "read" it and I liked it. :)

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Shaw was an amazing photographer. I highly recommend this book!! The images are amazing. If you love Audrey you will love this book.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Sabrina. Love love Audrey.

[FabAudrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is something I wished happened more often: a treasure trove of Audrey Hepburn pictures, lost for 50 years, found and released in a lovely little book!

While most of this book is previously unpublished photos, and the urge to skip straight to them very strong, the foreword by Juliet Cuming Shaw (director of the Mark Shaw Photographic Archive and wife of Mark Shaw’s only son, David) tells an amazing story of how these photos were found. Please take the time to read everything! Honestly, it just goes to show how close they were to being thrown away and never discovered at all. It’s amazing how things work sometimes.

The photos themselves are charming and astounding. While there were a handful we had seen before this collection was published in 2008, the vast majority were totally new to the world and give us that much more of a glimpse into Audrey Hepburn’s life in 1954, when she was living alone for the first time in her life and hadn’t quite been launched into international superstardom yet. We see what Mark Shaw saw as he followed her on and off the set, and it’s clear to see why he fell in love with her (platonically, of course). Go through this book and you’ll certainly fall in love with her, too.

This review was originally written for The Fabulous Audrey Hepburn.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book, so many wonderful photographs of Audrey

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I couldn't fail to love this book, as it's about one of my favorite movie stars, Audrey Hepburn, and about her on the set of one of my favorite movies, "Sabrina", from 1954. It's mainly a short photo/essay book and suffice it to say, I recommend it highly.




**#97 of 100 books pledged to read/review during 2015**

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, filled with candid and posed pictures from one of my favorite Audrey movies!

Reading this for the second time makes me appreciate the movie "Sabrina" even more! Beautiful photos from the movie and from her life

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Audrey, she's my idol. Such a classy, caring and intelligent lady!