Above Audrey climbs into the Paramount Studios car waiting to return her to the hotel after the photo session with Bud Fraker. (Couresy of Taschen).

Having photographed Judy Garland during the filming of A Star is Born (1954), American photographer Bob Willoughby (1927-2009) became the first ever unit photographer — a photographer hired specifically by the studio to work on-set.

Having taken his first photograph at the age of twelve, Willoughby had photographed numerous jazz musicians and dancers and been under contract to Harper’s Bazaar, along with his many iconic images, of the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda, during his career as one of Hollywood’s most distinguished studio photographers.

But Willoughby would remain unequivocal about his favourite subject, Audrey Kathleen Ruston; better know as Audrey Hepburn, who he first photographed in 1953, when the young Belgian born starlet arrived in Hollywood. On the face of it, the assignment was a ‘humdrum’ for Willoughby, who is considered to have perfected the photojournalistic movie still, but it was to prove a significant encounter, ‘She took my hand like... well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men's hearts,’ he recalled.

Over the coming years, Willoughby, who became a trusted friend, documented the actress on set, preparing for a scene, interacting with actors and directors, from her debut to her iconic role as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) — in which she wears the original ‘little black dress’ by Hubert de Givenchy, to her career high in My Fair Lady (1963). But Willoughby’s record of one of the 20th century's greatest actresses, did not finish with the filming, and included unrivalled access to the actresses private life, in what could be considered one of photography’s ‘great platonic love affairs.’

Audrey Hepburn: Photographs 1953–1966, is published by Taschen in a limited edition of 1,000 signed and numbered copies.