Happy Birthday, Audrey Hepburn! 10 Things You Never Knew About _Breakfast at Tiffany’_s Inline
Photo: Getty Images1/10Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the role of Holly Golightly.
"She was Truman Capote s first choice,” Sam Wasson, author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ has said. “Another thing you may not know: Marilyn didn t take the part in part because Paula Strasberg, her advisor and acting coach, said she should not be playing a lady of the evening." Capote, author of the 1958 novella, was reportedly very disappointed that the studio went with Hepburn, saying, “Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey.”
Photo: Getty Images2/10Audrey Hepburn’s dress was designed especially for her.
Hubert de Givenchy designed the famous black dress in 1961 for Audrey Hepburn’s turn as Holly Golightly. After Hepburn’s death in 1993, Givenchy donated the black satin gown to City of Joy Aid, and in 2006 the dress was auctioned off at Christie’s for more than $900,000.
Photo: Courtesy of Jurow-Shepherd3/10Despite the famous shot, Hepburn didn’t care much for Danish.
According to a 1960 New York Times report, “Miss Hepburn, it developed, had no affection for the Danish, preferring ice cream at Schrafft’s.”
Photo: Courtesy of Jurow-Shepherd4/10Holly Golightly’s apartment went on sale in 2011.
While the interiors of Holly’s apartment were reportedly shot on a Paramount sound stage, the famous façade is very much in scene. Located on East Seventy-first Street in Manhattan (just a stone’s throw from Tiffany’s flagship), the townhouse, which features three bedrooms and a solarium, was listed for $5.85 million.
Photo: Everett Collection5/10You can buy Holly’s famous shades.
Some have mistaken Hepburn’s oversize glasses for Ray-Bans, but they’re actually made by Oliver Goldsmith. In 2011, the sunglasses were rereleased for the 50th anniversary of the film, and can now be had for $440.
