Exclusive interview with author Caroline Young discussing her new book about Audrey Hepburn and the glamour of Rome during the making of the film Roman Holiday
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I was thinking of turquoise Fiat 500s, Vespas, drinking negronis in cobbled piazzas and of course the birth of the paparazzi,” says Roman Holiday author Caroline Young. “From there I decided I wanted to look at the wider social context of the rebirth of Rome after the Second World War, the rise of the Italian film industry and the Hollywood productions flocking to Cinecitta, and to tell the story through the eyes of the wonderful actresses to the city.”
Young’s book is about the actresses and the paparazzi, the gossip, the love affairs. More about the people than the city, it’s a great beach read.
Audrey Hepburn visited Rome as a child in the 1930s and returned to make the timeless film Roman Holiday before staying on as a Roman wife with her second husband in the late 1960s. Young explores Rome of the 1950s and 60s. In the book Hollywood productions are flocking to the city to film at Cinecittá studios. American money is bringing prosperity and confidence back to a city devastated by the war. In the book Ingrid Bergman, Anita Ekberg, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani and Elizabeth Taylor are filming and relaxing in Rome. Expect glimpses of Brigitte Bardot, Joan Fontaine, Gina Lollobrigida, Kim Novak and Jane Fonda.
“What I was really struck by was how strong and independent these women were,” says Young. “Anna Magnani was a passionate, powerful woman both on and off screen. She was a single mother and she knew her value, demanding she was paid what she was worth, and always asserting that she didn’t need a man in her life. Sophia Loren had a tough childhood where she was close to starvation during the war, surviving horrific bombings, and then as a teenager she would wait at the gates of Cinecitta studios in the hopes of being picked as an extra. So she went from a traumatic childhood to becoming one of the most powerful women in cinema. Ava Gardner also lived her life very independently,” says Young. “She loved nightclub hopping and would often stay up all night drinking, and then turning up on set the next day, still managing to look radiant.”
For research, Young visited the Ava Gardner museum in North Carolina. She interviewed Sean Hepburn Ferrer twice about his mother, Audrey Hepburn. Young visited Rome twice, staying at the Hotel Excelsior on the Via Veneto, which is central to the book, and later stayed in the same building where Ava Gardner had lodged, close to the Spanish Steps.
Young went to Los Angeles to go visit the Margaret Herrick Library to find original material around the making of the film Roman Holiday, including letters from Hedda Hopper and Anna Magnani, and original interview transcripts with Sophia Loren.
“At the Margaret Herrick Library you can make an appointment and view all sorts of production notes, letters, diaries, photographs relating to movie-making,” says Young. “Online newspaper and magazine archives are useful too, which can be accessed from libraries, or by paying a small subscription fee. There were many different sources for my research, from old newspaper articles, to published diaries and biographies and archive material.”
Roman Holiday is Young’s sixth book. Her four other works are illustrated non-fiction, packed with images alongside the text. Roman Holiday is her first narrative non-fiction, a group biography. Her first book, Classic Hollywood Style was published in 2012, then Style Tribes in 2016 and Tartan and Tweed in 2017. She also wrote a guide book to Edinburgh. She has written for the newspapers The Scotsman and The Herald.
Young’s next book is Hitchcock’s Heroines, exploring the look and style of the characters played by famous Hitchcock actresses including Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, and Tippi Hedren.
Young was born and still lives in Edinburgh. She received a Masters degree in journalism in Australia. Young’s website is carolinejyoung.com.
Roman Holiday: The Secret Life of Hollywood in Rome by Caroline Young. Hardcover: 256 pages. Publisher: The History Press (May 1, 2018). Language: English. ISBN: 9780750982788 $24.95
