Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston: How Did Audrey Hepburn’s Father Die?

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston is the late father of award-winning British actress Audrey Hepburn. Joseph’s daughter Audrey is regarded as a film and fashion icon and one of the most beautiful women of all time. She was ranked as the third greatest screen legend in American cinema by the American Film Institute. She was inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston: Bio Summary

Who Was The Father Of Audrey Hepburn?

Actress Audrey Hepburn’s father Joseph “Joe” Victor Anthony Ruston was welcomed into the world on 21 November 1889, in Central Bohemia, Czech Republic. He was the son of Victor John George Ruston and Anna Juliana Franziska Karolina Ruston (née Wels). His father Victor was of British and Austrian background.

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston’s mother Anna Juliana was of Austrian origin and born in Kovarce. Joseph was an Honorary British Consul in Semarang in the Dutch East Indies. He worked for the British diplomatic service. He was married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress. Joseph changed his surname to Hepburn-Ruston. He met and married Baroness Ella van Heemstra (12 June 1900 – 26 August 1984).

Ella was an aristocrat, socialite, and volunteer worker. She was the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, a Dutch nobleman, jurist, and politician who served as mayor of Arnhem between 1910 and 1920, and Governor-General of Suriname from 1921 until 1928. Joseph and Ella got married on 24 September 1926, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies.

Joseph became the stepfather of Ella’s two sons, Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010) from her previous marriage to Jonkheer Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford. Joseph and his then-wife Ella had one daughter, Audrey Kathleen Hepburn (née Ruston; 1929 – 1993).

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston worked for a trading company, but soon after he married Ella, they moved to Europe, where he started working for a loan company; reportedly tin merchants MacLaine, Watson, and Company in London. They lived in London for a year before moving to Brussels, where Joseph had been assigned to open a branch office.

The family spent three years traveling between Brussels, Arnhem, The Hague, and London and eventually, they settled in the suburban Brussels municipality of Linkebeek in 1932. In the mid-1930s, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston and Ella recruited and collected donations for the British Union of Fascists (B.U.F). Joseph left his family after he and his wife had ‘a terrible argument‘. He moved to London.

ALSO, READ: Ella van Heemstra: What Happened To Audrey Hepburn’s Mother?

Joseph’s daughter Audrey once said: “My parent’s divorce was the first big blow I had as a child. I worshipped my father and missed him terribly from the day he disappeared. Having my father cut off from me when I was only six was desperately awful. If I could just have seen him regularly, I would have felt he loved me. But as it was, I always envied other people’s fathers. I came home in tears because they had a daddy.”

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston became deeply involved in Fascist activity per Wikitree. He is said to have never visited his daughter Audrey Hepburn. He and Ella got divorced on 24 June 1939. Joseph got involved in legal and financial troubles. From 1935-1940, he got into several questionable business transactions and his name was often in the news in the Netherlands, England, and Belgium.

In 1938, Joseph was being investigated by both the Belgium Parliament and the British House of Commons for his involvement in a corporation with financial ties to the Third Reich. He was arrested and imprisoned in England under Defense Regulation 18B, as he was considered an enemy of the state for his membership in “the British Union of Fascists…and as an associate of foreign fascists.”

Joseph was interned for the duration of WWII, after which he settled in Ireland. He was released from prison and in Ireland, he started a new life. He and his daughter Audrey reunited in the 1960s. Joseph’s daughter Audrey Hepburn supported him financially until his death. Audrey had an extensive career in film, television, and on the stage. Her performance in the romantic comedy “Roman Holiday” made her a star.

Audrey appeared in films including “Sabrina”, “War and Peace”, “Funny Face”, “Love in the Afternoon”, “Green Mansions”, “The Unforgiven”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Charade”, “My Fair Lady”, “Two for the Road”, “They All Laughed”, and “Always”. In addition to her work as an actress, she was known for her humanitarian work. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF.

How Did Audrey Hepburn’s Father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston Die?

Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston died on 16 October 1980, at age 90, in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland. The cause of his death is unknown. He was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium, Harold’s Cross, County Dublin, Ireland. Joseph’s daughter Audrey Hepburn died on 20 January 1993, at age 63, in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland. She died in her sleep at home. She died of appendiceal cancer.