Live Auction 14904Audrey Hepburn: The Personal Collection
WAR AND PEACE, 1956
Lot 53

WAR AND PEACE, 1956

Closed27 September 2017

Price Realised

GBP 56,250

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WAR AND PEACE, 1956
Audrey Hepburn’s final shooting script for the 1956 Paramount production War and Peace, dated 28 June, 1955, the script bound with two brass brads in blue paper covers and comprising approximately 309 pages of mimeographed typescript including deleted scenes and cut dialogue, with 12 pages printed on pink paper representing revisions to the script, the title page inscribed in an unknown hand Mrs. Audrey Hepburn, the majority of the parts for the character of Natasha Rostov marked in pencil and various inks, with words underlined in pencil for emphasis, deletions to dialogue and directions, and approximately 30 pages annotated in Hepburn's hand with question marks, copied out lines, minor amendments and notes including:
- pp.79-80 when Nicholas returns on leave and the script calls for ad lib greetings, Hepburn has prepared her dialogue Nicholas, Nicholas, it's you, oh dear, dearest Nicholas, but how did you get here we did not know you were coming, my brother my own big brother... Nicholas - I want a kiss - O I'm so happy
- p.295 (verso) Hepburn has sketched her costume for the final scene in pencil
11 ¼ x 9 ¼ in. (28.6 x 23.5 cm.)

Specialist note

It was an era of epics as Hollywood utilised widescreen techniques to compete with the growing threat of television, and Tolstoy's 1869 literary masterpiece War and Peace was the ultimate epic, set against the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. The naïve, waif-like heroine Natasha Rostov could have been written for Audrey Hepburn - producers Carlo Ponti and Dino De Laurentis secured her for the role by shrewdly offering the part of love interest Prince Andrei to her husband Mel Ferrer, with Henry Fonda as hero Pierre and King Vidor to direct. The lavish production, shot at Rome's Cinecitta' Studios, required eight scriptwriters, 15,000 Italian soldiers, 8,000 horses, 3,000 cannons, 5,000 rifles and 7,000 costumes. Although the resulting three hour spectacular received positive reviews overall, the $6 million production was not a financial success. The New York Herald Tribune declared Audrey's Natasha the best feminine performance of the year. Director Vidor agreed, insisting One thing is for certain, Audrey is Natasha. She is fresh out of the book. I know of no other actress who could have played that part.