UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn's Life In Pictures

Forbes

12-05-2025

A new graphic novel examines the life and legacy of actress Audrey Hepburn, including what she considered the greatest role of her career: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Justin Hemenway, UNICEF USA Director, Content & Social Media, spoke with the book's illustrator, Christopher Longé, to learn more about how the project came together.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn meets mothers and children at a feeding center supported by UNICEF and Swedrelief in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in 1992.
© UNICEF/UNI29042/Press
Actress, fashion icon, humanitarian — the late UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn was all of these things and more. In 'Audrey Hepburn: An Illustrated Biography,' author Eileen Hofer and illustrator Christopher Longé (pen name Christopher) chronicle Hepburn's life in vivid detail, from her adolescence in England and the Nazi-occupied Netherlands to her incredible advocacy for children around the world later in her life. We recently talked to Christopher about this ambitious book and how Hepburn's compassion still inspires today.
How did this project first come about? What about Audrey Hepburn's story spoke to you?
CHRISTOPHER: I always loved Audrey Hepburn. During my teenage years, when I would come back to the south of France where I live now, I always would take some time to just go back home, watch a movie starring her, listen to a good Beatles record and feel safe here. When I was talking to my publisher in France, Michel Lafon, I asked if he'd ever done a book on Audrey Hepburn. He said, "No, we've got nothing, but why don't you do a graphic novel?" And I said, "Yeah, let's go."
From there, I was thinking to collaborate with a woman because a big part of Audrey Hepburn's story is a girl missing her father. I contacted [co-author] Eileen Hofer, and she said, "Are you joking? Right now, I'm in Tolochenaz, [Switzerland] in front of Audrey Hepburn's grave." So it was total weirdness for us. She said, "I think I've got my scenario ready for her." That's how our collaboration began.
That's very fortuitous. I can't imagine how big an undertaking this must have been. How did you approach this project? How long did it take for everything to come together?
CHRISTOPHER: It's not my first biography, so I knew the process. Eileen worked on the scenario for nearly a year. During that time, I was collecting the info for my side too. Because I really knew the life of Audrey Hepburn, I knew where I was going, but I was still struck by her fame. As I started to look for some photos of her, I said, "Okay, I will find 300, 500 photos of her life." I'm now at about nearly 25,000 different photos of her around the world. So it's amazing. There were lots of elements to work with.
I would then send pages to [Audrey's son,] Luca Dotti nearly every week, and he'd send back corrections. As an example, I was asking to get some info about when she was little. At 7, she was in the south of England, and I didn't have any clue about how to draw the house where she used to go on the weekend. Luca said, "I've got nothing, no address." But he was able to give me a photo of the backyard. I looked at all the houses in the neighborhood on Google Maps and I finally found hers.
A new illustrated biography of actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn chronicles her travels in support of UNICEF's work for children.
© Abrams ComicArts
It sounds very painstaking. It's clear so much care went into this book. Early on, you take great pains to show the impact of conflict and war on children. There is some very stark imagery when the Nazis have come into the Netherlands, with one illustration showing a young Audrey huddled on the floor. What is the creative process for depicting these really sensitive moments?
CHRISTOPHER: It was heartbreaking for me and for my family because when I was doing all of the research about the Second World War, I filled my head with movies, documentaries about the Holocaust. Everybody in the house was celebrating Christmas and I was here in my studio crying because of all the images that I've got of kids and the [Dutch Hunger Winter]. I would imagine myself in this period so I could be closer to what everybody was feeling. It was very painful.
That makes sense. At the same time, you did a remarkable job of capturing her heroism, especially when she was helping the Resistance. That's something I had to keep reminding myself, that she was only a teenager at that point in the timeline.
And then she grew up so quickly, moving into the world of acting. it's so dynamic, everything that you're able to capture. What was it like telling that part of her story, and having it span so many different countries and movies?
CHRISTOPHER: She was so fascinating. For myself, I could easily put 500 to 1,000 pages of that in the book, because there are so many things to talk about. It's some of the most fun that I've ever had because — it's a weird a feeling — I always thought that she was close to me and helping me go in the right direction. It felt quite easy to go on when we arrived in the section where she's starting to get acting parts.
As a child in the Netherlands during World War II, Audrey Hepburn battled severe malnutrition. She received food, clothing and health care from a United Nations agency that predates UNICEF.
© Abrams ComicArts
I also thought the pages covering her role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador were a really lovely tribute to her humanitarian work. What was involved in capturing that part of her life?
CHRISTOPHER: Luckily, Eileen met Christa Roth, a former UNICEF executive and friend of Audrey's. She has a good memory and helped us a lot. There was a recent exhibition for the book at a hotel in Geneva and Christa told us that Audrey used to go there and make speeches on behalf of UNICEF. That was very fun to do.
We have a QR code at the end of the book so people can donate. It felt right for us to continue Audrey's philosophy of life and helping UNICEF.
That was really appreciated! We're looking at so much uncertainty in the world right now. Are there any lessons that you took away from Audrey's life that you think could inform the moment that we're in now? How do you think she would be responding to current events?
CHRISTOPHER: One of my favorite photos of her is when she was holding a little boy from Somalia and you can see the look her eyes that says, "Why do we leave those kids, abandon all those people?" That's very unfair. The humanity that came from her as a brilliant, wonderful woman is something I think we need more of right now. I am hoping books like ours will show that if we can have some more humanity in the world, it would be so much easier.
'Audrey Hepburn: An Illustrated Biography' (Abrams ComicArts) will be released in the U.S. on May 13, 2025.