Image of Roman Holiday

Gregory Peck met Audrey at an introductory party at the Excelsior Hotel. He took her small hand in his large one, felt shyness in her modest grasp and said, in playful rehearsal for their roles,'Your Royal Highness.' She replied, ‘I hope I don’t let you down.’ [During filming], gossip, unfounded but plausible, suggested Audrey as the cause of [Greg’s] marital break-up. She was hurt and puzzled. Then it was explained to her by an interviewer from Photoplay, a woman wise to the ways in which rumours gathered credibility, that Audrey herself had unwittingly encouraged the story by the very enthusiasm she had shown for working with Peck:

'[He] is down to earth, full of real simplicity, utterly kind to everybody.’

Praise like that was not interpreted as a professional endorsement but as something warmer and more intimate. Audrey was startled by this revelation. Then she admitted thoughtfully, ‘That may very well be.’ - Alexander Walker