Fifth Avenue, 5 Am: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman - Hardcover

Sam Wasson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184513608X ISBN 13: 9781845136086

Publisher: Aurum Press, 2010

Synopsis

Before Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey Hepburn was still a little-known actress with few film roles to speak of; after it - indeed, because of it - she was one of the world's most famous fashion, style and screen icons. It was this film that matched her with Hubert de Givenchy's little black dress. Meanwhile, Truman Capote's original novel is itself a modern classic selling huge numbers every year, and its high-living author of perennial interest. Now, this little book tells the story of how it all happened: how Audrey got the role (for which at first she wasn't considered, and which she at first didn't want); how long it took to get the script right; how it made Blake Edwards' name as a director after too many trashy films had failed to; and how Henry Mancini's soundtrack with its memorable signature tune 'Moon River' completed the irresistible package. This is the story of how one shy, uncertain, inexperienced young actress was persuaded to take on a role she at first thought too hard-edged and amoral - and how it made Audrey Hepburn into gamine, elusive Holly Golightly in the little black dress - and a star for the rest of her life.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Audrey Hepburn is an icon like no other, yet the image many of us have of Audrey—dainty, immaculate—is anything but true to life. Here, for the first time, Sam Wasson presents the woman behind the little black dress that rocked the nation in 1961. The first complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. reveals little-known facts about the cinema classic: Truman Capote desperately wanted Marilyn Monroe for the leading role; director Blake Edwards filmed multiple endings; Hepburn herself felt very conflicted about balancing the roles of mother and movie star. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, "Moon River" composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the country, changing fashion, film, and sex for good. Indeed, cultural touchstones like Sex and the City owe a debt of gratitude to Breakfast at Tiffany's.

In this meticulously researched gem of a book, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills, presenting Breakfast at Tiffany's as we have never seen it before—through the eyes of those who made it. Written with delicious prose and considerable wit, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. shines new light on a beloved film and its incomparable star.

About the Author

Sam Wasson studied film at Wesleyan University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is the author of A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards, Fifth Avenue, 5am: Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's and Paul on Mazursky. He lives in Los Angeles.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aurum Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184513608X
• ISBN 13: 9781845136086
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256