Audrey Hepburn
This image shows Audrey Hepburn during lighting tests on the set of The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).
Audrey Hepburn was just starting out in her career when she appeared in a small role in The Lavender Hill Mob. She went on to have her first major supporting role in another Ealing Studios film, Secret People (1952).
Did you know?
According to Roy, as Audrey Hepburn wasn’t yet an established actress, she didn’t qualify for a stand-in for the lighting tests like her counterpart Sir Alec Guinness, and had to stand for periods of time enduring the hot heat of the lights before filming could take place! Listen to the audio clip below to hear the story behind the photo!
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Audio transcript
Roy Gough: The Lavender Hill Mob, of course is famous for the fact that Audrey Hepburn had a very small bit part in it.
Interviewer: Really?! Did she? Gosh.
Roy Gough: I’ve got a photograph that I took of her which is quite significant because when, eh, an important actor is being lit it’s a big strain, and they don’t put the other actor in until they’ve done all the basic lighting on a stand in to save them from the heat of the lights and so on. And I’ve got a photograph of Dougie Slocombe lighting Alec Guinness’s stand in, but the girl didn’t justify a stand in – she had to stand all the time in the heat of the lights, and that was Audrey Hepburn.
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