Audrey Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Princess Ann in Roman Holiday.
The film was released in 1953 and follows a European princess who escapes her official schedule in Rome. She meets American newspaper reporter Joe Bradley, played by Gregory Peck, and spends a day exploring the city incognito.
Roman Holiday was Hepburn’s first major American film role and established her as an international star. Her performance combined comedy, romance, and dramatic vulnerability, making the princess’s transformation especially memorable.
The film is sometimes confused with Sabrina, another Hepburn romantic comedy, but Sabrina did not earn her the Best Actress Oscar. Roman Holiday also won Oscars for its screenplay and costume design.