Roman Holiday

A romantic comedy by William Wyler, shot in Rome, with Audrey Hepburn in her first leading role. Ann is the young princess of a small European state on an official visit to Rome, where every minute is governed by protocol. One evening she breaks down, the court physician gives her a sedative injection, and the princess secretly slips out of the embassy into the city. The American journalist Joe Bradley finds the girl asleep on a bench and, not knowing who she is, takes her home. In the morning he sees her portrait in the newspaper and realises he has a scoop on his hands. All day he escorts Ann around Rome, pretending their meetings are accidental, while his photographer friend secretly takes pictures of her. One day of freedom gives the princess everything her title never did: a short haircut, ice cream on the Spanish Steps, a first cigarette, a ride on a scooter and a brawl at a dance. A story about that day would have made Bradley's career, and he refuses to print it. The film is about a love that cannot go on and about the choice between feeling and duty. Gregory Peck — already a star by then — insisted that the newcomer Hepburn be billed alongside him in the credits. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay while on the Hollywood blacklist: another name replaced his in the credits, a front received the Academy Award for the story, and only in 1993 was the award handed to Trumbo's widow. The film premiered on 27 August 1953. Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress, the picture took two more Oscars, and in 1999 the Library of Congress selected it for preservation as a film of special cultural significance.