Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix in Wait Until Dark – Original Warner Bros. Press Photograph – 1967

Description

An original black-and-white press and publicity photograph of Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix in the acclaimed 1967 psychological thriller Wait Until Dark.

Hepburn is shown inside Susy’s Greenwich Village basement apartment, carefully feeling the face and hands of a large clock. Recently blinded following an accident, Susy has been learning to interpret her surroundings through touch, sound and memory. The photograph captures this essential aspect of the character with unusual clarity: her outstretched hands, concentrated profile and the domestic objects surrounding her all establish the visual language through which the film communicates Susy’s independence and vulnerability.

The lower-left corner carries the original production reference:

902–91

The contemporary typed caption attached to the reverse reads:

“Audrey Hepburn stars in ‘Wait Until Dark’, the screen version of Frederick Knott’s stage thriller. Produced by Mel Ferrer and directed by Terence Young, the drama also stars Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.”

Adapted from Frederick Knott’s successful stage play, Wait Until Dark centres upon Susy Hendrix, whose photographer husband unknowingly brings a drug-filled doll into their apartment. Three criminals then attempt to manipulate Susy into revealing its whereabouts, underestimating both her intelligence and her ability to use the darkened apartment to her advantage. The film was directed by Terence Young, produced by Hepburn’s then husband Mel Ferrer, and co-starred Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

The role was notably different from the sophisticated romantic and comic characters with which Hepburn had become most closely associated. Her restrained and increasingly resourceful performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The American Film Institute later included Wait Until Dark in its 100 Years…100 Thrills selection, ranking it at number 55.

This particular photograph is especially effective because it illustrates Susy’s blindness without reducing the character to helplessness. She is shown actively examining and mastering her environment, anticipating the methods she later employs when defending herself. The clock also reinforces the film’s careful use of familiar domestic objects as instruments of suspense.

The reverse bears a Shields Gazette Library stamp and an archive-use date of 13 January 1975. This later date records the photograph’s filing or reuse by the newspaper and should not be mistaken for its date of production. The image itself belongs to the original 1967 publicity campaign and survives with its contemporary film caption and production number.

Original period stills from Wait Until Dark are actively collected, with surviving examples showing Hepburn alone, with Richard Crenna or confronting Alan Arkin appearing in the specialist film-memorabilia market.

This is a genuine original-release-era press photograph and not a modern reproduction.

Condition

Very good condition for an original working press photograph of this age. There is light general toning, minor surface marking and ordinary handling wear consistent with newspaper-library use. The sheet has gentle curvature, slight edge and corner wear and a small crease at the lower-right corner.

A few light pressure marks and minor surface imperfections are visible within the pale areas, but the image remains clean, sharp and strongly contrasted. Hepburn’s profile, hands, clothing and the surrounding apartment details are all clearly defined.

The reverse displays light age toning and handling wear. The original typed film caption remains attached and substantially legible, with a localised brown adhesive stain towards its right side. The Shields Gazette Library stamp and archive date of 13 January 1975 remain visible.

Please study the photographs carefully as they form part of the description.

Film: Wait Until Dark
Subject: Audrey Hepburn
Role: Susy Hendrix
Director: Terence Young
Producer: Mel Ferrer
Source play: Frederick Knott
Film date: 1967
Archive-use date: 13 January 1975
Studio/distributor: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Production reference: 902–91
Photographer: Uncredited
Provenance: Photographic archive of the Shields Gazette
Size: 25.4 × 20.6 cm
Format: Original black-and-white film press photograph
Documentation: Original typed publicity caption verso

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