Like a lot of shoppers at supermarkets, I look at the magazine displays while waiting in line to check out. Recently I was thrilled to see a recent edition to LIFE's Great Photographers Series: "Remembering Audrey 15 Years Later" with photographs by Bob Willoughby.

In my review of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" I posed this question: Was there ever an actress who combined these four timeless qualities—beauty, fashion, grace and humility—better than Audrey Hepburn? My answer was simply, I think not.

You better believe I bought a copy of Remembering Audrey faster than a single heartbeat, and remain a better person for having done so.

Willoughby was born in Los Angeles—the city of the stars—and began taking pictures when he was 12. He was good, very good, and best described as a prodigy. In 1953, when he was 26, he would be assigned to photograph an upcoming soon to be actress, Audrey Hepburn. The result of their meeting would produce one of his most positive relationships, both as a photographer and a friend.

Willoughby pioneered the role of the "special" photographer to take formal publicity shots and candids of the stars Hollywood's publicity departments wanted to promote. He was credited by Popular Photography magazine as the man "who virtually invented the photojournalistic motion-picture still."

The images that you remember of James Dean, Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn among dozens of others were mostly the work of Bob Willoughby. All of the major magazines of the day—LIFE, Look, Saturday Evening Post and Harper's Bazaar—published his work.

Willoughby's creations grace the exhibits in more than 500 museums in more than 50 countries around the world.

When first meeting Audrey, Willoughby said, "She took my hand and dazzled me with a smile that God designed to melt mortal men's hearts.

"The amazing instant contact she always made was a remarkable gift, and I know from talking to others that it was felt by all who met her."

Audrey had made a big impression with the studio brass in the 1953 William Wyler film "Roman Holiday". She won an Oscar for Best Actress as Princess Ann in her film debut playing opposite Gregory Peck.

In the next 15 years, she would be nominated for 4 Best Actress Oscars for her work as Sabrina Fairchild in "Sabrina" (1954), Sister Luke in "The Nun's Story" (1959), Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), and Susy Hendrix in "Wait Until Dark" (1967).

She also won a Golden Globe for Best Drama Actress in Roman Holiday and had an additional 6 Golden Globe nominations as Best Actress. Lesser known is the fact that Audrey was one of the few entertainers to have won an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony Award as well as an Oscar.

Bob Willoughby's formal and candid photographs of Audrey Hepburn will stand the test of time as some of the greatest ever taken of a woman and an actress. He said that Audrey never took a bad photograph, or even a mediocre one.

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