Audrey, ‘Can’t You Cry?’

William Wyler was not one to coddle his actors.

But the Oscar-winning director tried to put an insecure Audrey Hepburn at ease while filming “Roman Holiday,” her first starring role, on location in Rome in 1952.

Hepburn, who had just finished playing the title role in “Gigi” on Broadway, projected both elegant sophistication and elfin innocence. That combination made her ideal for the reverse Cinderella story of a naive young princess who, rebelling against the royal life, goes AWOL during a European goodwill tour and falls in love with an American reporter (Gregory Peck).

Although theater critics loved Hepburn as Gigi, the 23-year-old former dancer had little acting experience--only small parts in several British films--and she recognized her shortcomings as an actress. So Wyler, who never advised actors on how to play a scene, did what he could to draw her out. As she later recalled, “[Wyler] was a dear to me.”

Except for one night while filming the scene between her and Peck in a tiny car parked on a Roman street.

As detailed in the Wyler biography “A Talent for Trouble” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995), the scene called for the princess to sadly inform the journalist that she must leave him, then break into tears as she searches for the words to say goodbye.

But Hepburn couldn’t produce the requisite tears. They did take after take, Wyler’s patience wearing thin as it grew later and later. Finally, he snapped.

“We can’t stay here all night,” he fumed. “Can’t you cry, for God’s sake?”

The harsh words did it.

After Hepburn’s sobs subsided, Wyler had the emotion he needed for the scene. Afterward, he apologized.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “But I had to get you to do it somehow.”

* “Roman Holiday,” for which Hepburn won a best actress Oscar, kicks off the Audrey Hepburn Festival at 7:10 tonight at the Port Theatre, 2905 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. Sharing the bill: “Funny Face,” director Stanley Donen’s 1957 musical co-starring Hepburn and Fred Astaire, at 5:15 and 9:25 p.m. $4.50-$6. (714) 673-6260.