A woman in a black gown and pearls stands on a quiet Fifth Avenue at dawn. She has a pastry in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, and she is gazing into a jewelry store window. With that opening, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ made Audrey Hepburn the picture of elegance for generations to come. The film had its world premiere at Radio City Music Hall on October 5, 1961, which makes it 65 years old today.
It could have looked very different. Truman Capote wrote the novella and wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly. The American Film Institute catalog lists Monroe among several actresses who were considered before Hepburn took the role opposite George Peppard. The AFI also notes that Blake Edwards’ production was the first film ever to shoot inside Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue store.
Audrey Hepburn’s Little Black Dress Still Turns Heads
Then there was the song. Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote ‘Moon River’ for the picture, and the studio reportedly wanted it replaced until the producers refused. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Mancini took home a second Oscar for his score.
The filmmakers also gave Holly a very different fate from the one Capote had written. In the original novella, Holly leaves New York, and the narrator is left wondering what became of her. The movie instead delivers its famous romantic ending, with Holly searching for her nameless cat in the pouring rain before embracing George Peppard’s character. Hepburn later admitted that abandoning the cat was one of the things that bothered her whenever she watched the film. The emotional reunion helped give audiences a happy ending that Capote’s more bittersweet story never provided.
The film earned five Oscar nominations in all, including one for Hepburn as Best Actress. It took in $14 million on a $2.5 million budget and entered the National Film Registry in 2012. Its most famous costume has had a life of its own. One of the black Givenchy gowns made for Hepburn sold at Christie’s in December 2006 for 467,200 pounds, about seven times its reserve price. Hepburn died in 1993 at 63.
The celebrated black gown had a charitable story of its own. Givenchy, who maintained a close friendship with Hepburn for decades, donated the dress to raise money for City of Joy Aid, an organization supporting disadvantaged children in India. The designer explained that he wanted to continue the humanitarian spirit of Hepburn, who had devoted much of her later life to UNICEF. When the gown sold at Christie’s in 2006, it fetched a staggering £467,200, setting a record for a dress made for a film at the time. More than four decades after its screen debut, one of Hollywood’s most famous costumes was still making a difference.
As we shared recently, she kept her private life very private, and that only deepened the mystery. Sixty-five years on, the sun still comes up over Fifth Avenue, ‘Moon River’ still plays, and Holly is still at that window.
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