Editing Audrey Hepburn (section)

===1945–1952: Ballet studies and early acting roles===
After the war ended in 1945, Hepburn moved with her mother and siblings to [[Amsterdam]], where she began ballet training under [[Sonia Gaskell]], a leading figure in Dutch ballet, and Russian teacher Olga Tarasova.{{sfn|Woodward|2012|pp=52–53}} Due to the loss of the family fortune, Ella had to support them by working as a cook and housekeeper for a wealthy family.{{sfn|Woodward|2012|p=53}} Hepburn made her film debut playing an air stewardess in ''[[Dutch in Seven Lessons]]'' (1948), an educational travel film made by Charles van der Linden and Henry Josephson.{{Sfn|Vermilye|1995|p=67}}
[[File:Audrey Hepburn - The Virginian-Pilot (1952).png|thumb|upright|Newspaper clipping, 9 March 1952]]
Later that year, Hepburn moved to [[London]] after accepting a ballet scholarship with [[Rambert Dance Company|Ballet Rambert]], which was then based in [[Notting Hill]].{{sfn|Woodward|2012|p=54}}{{efn|She had been offered the scholarship already in 1945, but had had to decline it due to "some uncertainty regarding her national status".{{sfn|Woodward|2012|p=52}}}} She supported herself with part-time work as a model, and dropped "Ruston" from her surname. After she was told by Rambert that despite her talent, her height and weak constitution (the after-effect of wartime malnutrition) would make the status of [[prima ballerina]] unattainable, she decided to concentrate on acting.<ref>Telegraph, 4 May 2014, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3592252/I-suppose-I-ended-Hepburns-career.html 'I suppose I ended Hepburn's career'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316165005/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3592252/I-suppose-I-ended-Hepburns-career.html |date=16 March 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite episode |series=Larry King Live |title=Audrey Hepburn's Son Remembers Her Life |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/24/lkl.00.html |airdate=24 December 2003 |network=CNN |access-date=11 July 2006 |archive-date=6 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006185637/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0312/24/lkl.00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=time>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818831,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114122239/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818831,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 November 2007 |title=Princess Apparent |magazine=Time |date=7 September 1953}}</ref> While Ella worked in menial jobs to support them, Hepburn appeared as a [[chorus girl]]<ref>Nichols, Mark [https://web.archive.org/web/20070704193549/http://www.audreyhepburnlibrary.com/50s/images/coronet11-56pg1.jpg Audrey Hepburn Goes Back to the Bar], ''[[Coronet]]'', November 1956</ref> in the [[West End theatre|West End]] musical theatre [[revue]]s ''[[High Button Shoes]]'' (1948) at the [[Hippodrome, London|London Hippodrome]], and Cecil Landeau's ''Sauce Tartare'' (1949) and ''Sauce Piquante'' (1950) at the [[Cambridge Theatre]]. Also, in 1950, she worked as a dancer in an exceptionally "ambitious" revue, ''Summer Nights,'' at [[Ciro's (London)|Ciro's London]], a prominent [[nightclub]].<ref name="nightclub_dancer_2020_12_16_variety_com">[https://variety.com/2020/film/news/audrey-hepburn-roman-holiday-dancer-1234803174/ "Audrey Hepburn: 'Roman Holiday' Star Started as Nightclub Dancer,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206042109/https://variety.com/2020/film/news/audrey-hepburn-roman-holiday-dancer-1234803174/ |date=6 February 2022 }} 16 December 2020, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' (recapping 5 July 1950 ''Variety'' review of her dance show), retrieved 5 February 2022</ref>

During her theatrical work, she took elocution lessons with actor [[Felix Aylmer]] to develop her voice.{{sfn|Walker|1997|p=55}} After being spotted by the [[Ealing Studios]] casting director, Margaret Harper-Nelson, while performing in ''Sauce Piquante'', Hepburn was registered as a freelance actress with the [[Associated British Picture Corporation]] (ABPC). She appeared in the BBC Television play ''The Silent Village'',<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76bc5d5a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310124200/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76bc5d5a |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 March 2016 |title=The Silent Village (1951) |work=BFI |access-date=4 October 2017 |language=en}}</ref> and in minor roles in the films ''[[One Wild Oat]]'', ''[[Laughter in Paradise]]'', ''[[Young Wives' Tale]]'', and ''[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]'' (all 1951). She was cast in her first major supporting role in [[Thorold Dickinson]]'s ''[[Secret People (film)|Secret People]]'' (1952), as a prodigious ballerina, performing all of her own dancing sequences.{{sfn|Woodward|2012|p=94}}

Hepburn then took a small role in a bilingual film, ''[[Monte Carlo Baby]]'' (French: ''Nous Irons à Monte Carlo'', 1952), which was filmed in [[Monte Carlo]]. Coincidentally, French novelist [[Colette]] was at the [[Hôtel de Paris]] in Monte Carlo during the filming, and decided to cast Hepburn in the title role in the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] play ''[[Gigi (play)|Gigi]]''.{{sfn|Thurman|1999|p=483}} Hepburn went into rehearsals having never spoken on stage, and required private coaching.<ref name=broadwaygigi>{{cite web |url=http://www.broadway.com/buzz/180286/history-lesson-learn-how-colette-audrey-hepburn-leslie-caron-vanessa-hudgens-transformed-gigi/ |title=History Lesson! Learn How Colette, Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron & Vanessa Hudgens Transformed Gigi |work=Broadway.com |access-date=17 September 2015 |archive-date=20 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120123823/https://www.broadway.com/buzz/180286/history-lesson-learn-how-colette-audrey-hepburn-leslie-caron-vanessa-hudgens-transformed-gigi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> When ''Gigi'' opened at the [[Fulton Theatre]] on 24 November 1951, she received praise for her performance, despite criticism that the stage version was inferior to the French film adaptation.<ref name=lifegigi>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103 |title=Audrey Is a Hit |magazine=Life |date=10 December 1951 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026173135/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' called her a "hit",<ref name=lifegigi /> while ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that "her quality is so winning and so right that she is the success of the evening".<ref name=broadwaygigi /> Hepburn also received a [[Theatre World Award]] for the role.<ref name=gigi /> The play ran for 219 performances, closing on 31 May 1952,<ref name="gigi">{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/gigi-1977 |title=''Gigi'' |website=IBDB.com |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]] |access-date=9 May 2022 |archive-date=19 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119004214/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/gigi-1977 |url-status=live }}</ref> before going on tour, which began 13 October 1952 in [[Pittsburgh]] and visited [[Cleveland]], Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D. C., and Los Angeles, before closing on 16 May 1953 in San Francisco.{{Sfn|Paris|2001}}