Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on May 4, 1929, in Brussels. During World War II, her mother, Dutch Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, changed her child’s name to Edda Van Heemstra to mask her British roots. Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, born to English and Austrian parents, changed his surname to Hepburn-Ruston, as he believed he was descended from an English earl, James Hepburn. He left the family when Audrey was 6 years old.