Holly Hepburn Popular Books

Holly Hepburn Biography & Facts

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote's 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naïve, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer while attempting to marry for money. It was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961, to critical and commercial success. Nominated for five Academy Awards (winning two), with the music (including "Moon River") nominated for six Grammy Awards (winning five), the film was selected in 2012 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Plot Just after dawn a taxi pulls up in front of the Tiffany & Co. flagship store in New York and from it emerges elegantly dressed Holly Golightly, carrying a paper bag containing her breakfast. After looking into the store's window displays, she strolls to her apartment and has to fend off her date from the night before. Once inside, Holly cannot find her keys, so she buzzes her landlord, Mr. Yunioshi, to let her in. Later, she is awakened by new neighbor Paul Varjak, who rings her doorbell to get into the building. The pair talk as she dresses to leave for her weekly visit to mobster Sally Tomato, currently incarcerated at Sing Sing. Tomato's lawyer pays her $100 a week to deliver "the weather report". As she is leaving Holly is introduced to Paul's "decorator,” a wealthy older woman Emily Eustace Failenson, whom Paul nicknames "2E.” That night, when Holly crawls out onto the fire escape to elude an over-eager date, she peeks into Paul's apartment and sees 2E leaving money and kissing him goodbye. Visiting Paul afterward, she learns he is a writer who has not had anything published since a book of vignettes five years earlier, and has no ribbon in his typewriter. Holly, in turn, explains she is saving money to support her brother Fred after he completes his Army service. The pair fall asleep but are awakened when Holly has a nightmare about Fred. When Paul questions her about this, Holly chides him for prying. Holly later buys Paul a typewriter ribbon to apologize, and invites him to a wild party at her apartment. There he meets her Hollywood agent, Berman, who describes Holly's transformation from a country girl into a Manhattan “socialite”, along with wealthy Brazilian politician José da Silva Pereira and Rusty Trawler, the "ninth richest man in America under 50". Some time later, 2E enters Paul's apartment, worried about someone loitering outside the building. Paul confronts the man who explains he is Holly's husband, Doc Golightly. They married when she was 14, but she ran away, and he has come to bring her back to rural Texas. After Paul reunites Holly and Doc, she informs Paul that the marriage was annulled. At the Greyhound bus station, she tells Doc that he made a mistake in "trying to love a wild thing", and he leaves broken-hearted. After drinking at a club, Paul and Holly return to her apartment, where she tells him that she plans to marry Trawler for his money. A few days later, Paul learns that one of his short stories will be published. On the way to tell Holly, he sees a newspaper headline stating that Trawler has married someone else. Holly and Paul agree to spend the day together, taking turns doing things each has never done before. At Tiffany's, he has the ring from Doc Golightly's box of Cracker Jack engraved as a present for her. After spending the night together, Paul awakens to find Holly gone. 2E arrives and calmly accepts when he ends their affair, realizing he loves another. Returning from a date with José, Holly learns her brother Fred has been killed. She trashes the apartment. Paul calms her and sends José in. Months later, Holly is about to move to Brazil and marry José. She is arrested in connection with Sally Tomato's drug ring. The headlines are devastating. Berman pays her bail, and Paul picks her up in a cab with all her things, including Cat—and José's written farewell. Holly decides to go to Brazil anyway, breaking bail. Paul declares that he loves her, but she says no one will put her in a cage. She throws Cat out into an alley, into the pouring rain. Paul says that being in love is the only chance anybody has got for real happiness, and he storms out of the cab and tells her that she is already in a cage that she takes with her. He tosses the engraved ring into her lap and leaves. She puts it on, weeping, then runs back to the alley, where Paul is calling Cat. Tears blending with rain, Holly calls for Cat, in vain. Her eyes meet Paul's, and Cat yowls. She cradles him in her coat and, smiling, walks into Paul's embrace. Cast Production Pre-production The Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by George Axelrod, loosely based on the novella by Truman Capote. Changes were made to fit the medium of cinema and to correspond to the filmmakers' vision. Capote, who sold the film rights of his novella to Paramount Studios, wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly, whom he had described perfectly in the book. Barry Paris cites Capote's own comments on the choice of actress: "Marilyn was always my first choice to play the girl, Holly Golightly." Screenwriter Axelrod was hired to "tailor the screenplay for Monroe". When Lee Strasberg advised Monroe that playing a "lady of the evening" would be bad for her image, she turned it down and performed in The Misfits instead. When Hepburn was cast instead of Monroe, Capote remarked: "Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey". Shirley MacLaine was also offered the part of Holly, but she turned it down and performed in Two Loves instead. Kim Novak also turned down the role of Holly. Hepburn was hesitant to be cast in the film as her character would go against who she was. She relented when she gave it some more thought, remarking "Holly is an extrovert and I'm an introvert, so I saw it as an interesting challenge."Steve McQueen was offered the role of Paul Varjak, but declined the offer due to being under contract. Jack Lemmon was also approached but he was unavailable. Robert Wagner was also considered. Axelrod worked with the original director of the film John Frankenheimer for a period of three months, but Hepburn's agent wanted a more known director, with the result that Frankenheimer was removed from the project. Principal photography Filming began on Fifth Avenue outside the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on October 2, 1960. Most of the exteriors were filmed in New York City, and all of the interiors, except for portions of the scene inside Tiffany & Company, were filmed on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood. According to one report, the film's on-location opening sequence, in which Holly gazes into a Tiffany's display window, was extremely difficult for director Blake Edwards to shoot. Alt.... Discover the Holly Hepburn popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Holly Hepburn books.