Audrey Hepburn
Hepburn in trailer for ”Roman Holiday”, 1953
Birth Name: Audrey Kathleen Ruston
Date of Birth: 4 May, 1929
Place of Birth: Ixelles, Belgium
Date of Death: 20 January, 1993
Place of Death: Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland
Ethnicity:
*father – English, Czech, one quarter Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Dutch [including Frisian], as well as 1/128th French, remote English
Audrey Hepburn was a Belgian-born, Dutch-raised, British actress, model, dancer, and humanitarian. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Roman Holiday (1953). Her films also include Sabrina (1954), Funny Face, The Nun’s Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, My Fair Lady, Wait Until Dark, and Robin and Marian. She appeared in the documentary series Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. She often worked with UNICEF, and was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Audrey’s father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, was born in Úžice/Auschiz, Bohemia, and was of English, Czech, and at least one quarter Ashkenazi Jewish, descent. He was Honorary British Consul in Semarang in the Dutch East Indies, and worked for a trading company and a loan company. He later changed his surname to Hepburn-Ruston, though there is no evidence of a Hepburn name in his family tree. Through him, Audrey was a British citizen.
Audrey’s mother, Ella, Baroness van Heemstra, was Dutch. Audrey’s mother was of almost entirely Dutch descent, including Frisian, and had some remote non-Dutch roots; Audrey’s mother had 1/128th French ancestry, as well as English roots on a similarly distant level. Audrey had stated that she was of half Irish and half Dutch descent, though she was evidently not of Irish ancestry.
Audrey spent time in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands during her childhood, including attending boarding school in Kent, England, in the late 1930s. She was in the Netherlands during WWII, and performed ballet to raise money for the Dutch Resistance. She studied ballet after the war. Audrey had a son, producer and writer Sean Hepburn Ferrer, with her former husband, American actor, director, and producer Mel Ferrer; and a son with her former husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti. Audrey’s granddaughter is model and artist Emma Ferrer.
Audrey was sometimes said to have had some degree of Jewish ancestry on her mother‘s side. This does not appear to be accurate.
Audrey’s paternal grandfather was Victor John George Ruston (the son of Joseph John Ruston and Barbara Victoria Belha). Joseph was English, and is usually stated as having been born in London or in Poplar, near London, the son of John Joseph Ruston and Ann Smith.
Audrey’s paternal grandmother was Anna Juliana/Julianna Franziska/Francisca Karolina/Carolina Wels/Wells/Welsová (the daughter of Johann Anton Wels/Wedeles and Carolina Clara Schütz). Anna was born in Kovarce, south-western Slovakia. Johann was born in Prague, Czechia, the son of Jewish parents, Nathan Wedeles and Judith Julie Porges. Carolina was born in Zářečí, Březová Nad Svitavou, Czechia, the daughter of Karl Wenzel Ignatz Schütz and Franziska Josepha Burschwal.
Audrey’s maternal grandfather was Aarnoud Jan/Johan Anne Aleid, Baron van Heemstra (the son of Willem Hendrik Johan, Baron van Heemstra, and of Wilhelmina/Wilhelmine Cornelia de Beaufort). Aarnoud was born in Vreeland, Utrecht. He was a nobleman, jurist, and politician, who served as mayor of Arnhem, from 1910 to 1920, and Royal Governor of Suriname, twice, between 1921 and 1928. Audrey’s great-grandfather Willem was the son of Frans Julius Johan van Heemstra, Baron van Heemstra, and of Henriëtta Philippina/Philippine Jacoba, Baroness van Pallandt. Wilhelmina was the daughter of Arnoud Jan de Beaufort and Anna Aleida Stoop.
Audrey’s maternal grandmother was Elbrig Wilhelmina/Wilhelmine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (the daughter of Gerrit Ferdinand, Baron van Asbeck, and of Caroline/Carolina van Hogendorp/Hoogendorp). Elbrig was born in Almelo, Almelo, Overijssel. Gerrit was the son of Tjalling Minne Watze van Asbeck, tot Bergen en Munsterhausen, and of Elbrig Roos van Bienema. Caroline was the daughter of Graaf Dirk/Willem van Hogendorp/Hoogendorp and Marianne Cathérine van Hogendorp.
One of Audrey’s maternal six times great-grandfathers, Henri Collot D’Escury, was French. One of Audrey’s maternal eight times great-grandfathers, George Clifford, was English. Adurey’s mother had another line of English ancestry on a similarly distant level.
Audrey’s matrilineal line can be traced to her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Clara Maria Christoffers.
Sources: Genealogies of Audrey Hepburn – http://www.geni.com
http://www.wikitree.com
http://geneagraphie.com
http://fabpedigree.com
Information on Audrey’s paternal grandmother, Anna Juliana/Julianna Franziska/Francisca Karolina/Carolina Wels/Wells/Welsová – http://www.pitt.edu
https://mynitra.sme.sk
Baptismal record of Audrey’s paternal grandmother, Anna Juliana/Julianna Franziska/Francisca Karolina/Carolina Wels/Wells/Welsová – https://familysearch.org
Her cheekbones and eyes remind me a asian person,Zhang Ziyi, specifically. I always thought she(Audrey) was part Asian.
The link below is from Audrey Hepburn’s official website, where it claims her father had English, Scottish, Irish, French & Austrian ancestry. It also claims her mother had Dutch, Hungarian & French descent too.
I don’t know how true the information is on the website about her ancestry, but it is her official website & it is ran for her charity ‘The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund’. Both her son’s have helped to run the charity too, & her younger son Luca Dotti is the chairman of the charity fund, so I can’t see why they would allow false information to be made public about their mother’s ancestry.
Also Ethni I think Audrey deserved a nicer photo too.
http://www.audreyhepburn.com/menu/index.php?idMenu=61
There are rumors that Her mother’s side is part Jewish.
I think it’s unlikely that Audrey was Jewish, first of all her ancestry has been traced back for a couple of centuries as far as the 1600’s in England and to Austria through her Father’s ancestry and to the Netherlands through her Mother’s ancestry and shows no sign of Jewish ancestry. Secondly she lived in the Netherlands during World War 2, which was occupied by the Nazis. If they had suspected at all that she had any Jewish ancestry whatsoever she would have been sent to the concentration camps. I remember an interview of her later in life where she was talking about seeing Jewish children being deported to the concentration camps by train during World War 2 and how at the time as she was only a little girl and that she didn’t really comprehend what was happening, a very sad memory.
“If they had suspected at all that she had any Jewish ancestry whatsoever she would have been sent to the concentration camps”
-Not true. No one was sent to cocentration camps because of “suspected” Jewish ancestry. Unlike some commentators on ethnicelebs, the Nazis did not operate on the “I call it like I see it” principle (at least when it came to people’s family history).
People with Jewish ancestry any smaller than one grandparent were generally left alone, as well.
The book Audrey: Her Real Story (1997), by Alexander Walker, which is one of the better resources on her ancestry, states that Audrey’s mother had “Jewish connections”, but does not elaborate. It also states that her mother had Hungarian ancestry.
These are pretty good family trees of Audrey’s mother, and I’ve seen others. None show any Jewish or Hungarian roots that I can see, so I doubt her mother had Jewish or Hungarian ancestry (not that the two are connected).
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=deunhouwer&id=I208151
http://www.genealogics.org/ultraped.php?personID=I00009396&tree=LEO&parentset=0&display=compact&generations=5
stop making this beautiful lady jewish, better check ir ur not a jew urself
She had barely any Jewish ancestry. Her jewish heritage was so small, it was less than a percent.
She was a beautiful and amazing actor!
The Slovak explains her slanted eyes.
Audrey had not Slovak heritage!
Her grandmother from father’s side Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Wels is Austrian,ethnically! Or Czech,cause was born in Bohemia,but not Slovak!
You are terribly wrong, because Audrey´s grandmother was Slovak and her name was Anna Welsova and was born in slovak village Kovarce, that´s cca 10 kilometers from slovak town Topolcany. According to written sources, this family owned sugar-house in Kovarce. It burned down, so they moved abroad. Stay calm, dude… ;-)