Audrey Hepburn Really Did Have a Pet Baby Deer Named Pippin
Lots of celebrities love animals. Some show this love by having multiple pets, rescuing animals, helping shelter pets, or advocating for protecting endangered species. For a period of time, Audrey Hepburn had a baby deer to help make filming the movie Green Mansions more believable.
Why Audrey Hepburn had a pet deer
The film Green Mansions was released in 1959. Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins starred in the movie, and it was directed by Hepburn’s husband at the time, Mel Ferrer.
In the movie, Hepburn plays a character named Rima who lives in a jungle. This role required Hepburn to appear natural when interacting with different wildlife. According to AnOther Magazine, this led to Hepburn having a pet fawn named Pippin for a time.
The magazine reports that “the animal trainer on the set suggested that she take her on-screen sidekick, a baby deer, home with her so that he would learn to follow her.”
Hepburn took the instruction to heart and kept the fawn at her own home.
“Audrey’s inner calmness was perfect, and the deer thought she was her mother. Nicknamed ‘Ip’, the deer would cuddle Audrey and accompany her to the supermarket in Beverley Hills. Hepburn’s dog, a Yorkshire Terrier called Mr Famous (sadly, later killed in car accident) was very jealous of the new addition to the family. The fawn slept in a custom-made bathtub,” reports AnOther Magazine.
Fans were amazed by Audrey Hepburn’s bond with the deer
Throughout her career, photographer Bob Willoughby often captured key moments of Hepburn’s life. Willoughby later published a book titled Remembering Audrey 15 Years Later.
According to AnOther Magazine, Willoughby wrote of Hepburn and Pippin in the book and published photos of Hepburn’s bond with the deer.
“It was truly amazing to see Audrey with that fawn,” Willoughby wrote in Remembering Audrey according to AnOther Magazine. “While Audrey’s maid had been told about the little deer, she could not believe her eyes seeing Ip sleeping with Audrey so calmly. She was shaking her head and just kept smiling.”
Willoughby also wrote about what it was like for fans to see Hepburn out shopping with Pippin.
“Beverly Hills habitués are fairly blasé about what they see, but Audrey being followed around town by this lovely creature stopped everyone in their tracks,” Willoughby wrote in Remembering Audrey according to The Guardian.
Audrey Hepburn kept the deer after filming ‘Green Mansions’
Hepburn first took care of Pippin before she had any children. According to The Guardian, Hepburn put a lot of energy into raising Pippin while preparing for Green Mansions.
“I don’t have any children of my own, but I’m learning a lot from Ip,” she told a reporter according to The Guardian.
Once Green Mansions finished filming, Hepburn initially gave Pippin back to the film’s animal trainer. However, she ended up reuniting with Pippin.
“When the film wrapped, she was devastated to give the fawn back; a year later she had a miscarriage. To try and lift her out of depression, her husband tracked down Ip, then, much to the disappointment of her Yorkshire terrier Mr Famous, took her in as a pet. And then she had a baby,” reports The Guardian.
Hepburn gave birth to her first child, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, in 1960, and her second child Luca Dotti was born in 1970.
