Iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s actress Audrey Hepburn has been named the most beautiful woman of the last century according to a recent poll carried out by shopping channel QVC.

Audrey Hepburn with co-star Cary Grant in Charade

The survey was carried out to celebrate the start of QVC’s beauty month, and around 2,000 women were asked who they thought the most beautiful woman of the last 100 years was. Belgian-born British actress Audrey Hepburn topped the poll, outclassing current celebrity favourite Cheryl Cole, voluptuous film star Marilyn Monroe and surprisingly, actress Angelina Jolie, who is frequently voted top of similar beauty surveys.

The list of the top ten most beautiful women of the last decade, as voted for by women, looks like this:

1. Audrey Hepburn

2. Cheryl Cole

3. Marilyn Monroe

4. Angelina Jolie

5. Grace Kelly

6. Scarlett Johansson

7. Halle Berry

8. Princess Diana

9. Kelly Brook

10. Jennifer Aniston

Hepburn, who died in 1993 after battling appendiceal cancer, was famed for her elfin looks and charming presence in high-profile Hollywood roles in Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)and My Fair Lady. She was also an ambassador for UNICEF for several years.

Hepburn is most recognisable in a glamorous photograph from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, where she wears a classic black Givenchy dress (which sold at auction in 2006 for a staggering £467,200), pearls and full-length gloves.

Despite being universally known as a classic beauty – she also topped the Evian ‘most beautiful woman of all time’ poll in 2004 – Hepburn apparently never considered herself attractive. She famously said in a 1959 interview:

“You can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly.”

Cheryl Cole collapses after contracting malaria