Biography
One of the most revered American actresses, Katharine Hepburn died on
June 29, 2003 at about 2:50 PM in her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
With her award-winning career lasting over 70 years, she was, up until
this year, the only actor to have received 12 Academy Award nominations
and the only woman to win the coveted “Best Actress” award four times,
winning three of them after age 60. Through her roles in movies and on
stage, she became a role model for the strong-minded, independent woman
who was sophisticated, intelligent, and fiercely loyal. Hepburn exhibited
the same qualities in her own life.
Katharine Hepburn’s first screen appearance was in "A Bill of
Divorcement," with John Barrymore, in 1932. In the '30s her box-office
appeal was dismal; however, she went on to become a superstar with 11
Oscar nominations and three Oscar wins. The three films which netted her
Oscars were "Morning Glory," 1933, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1967
and "The Lion in Winter,” 1968.
A tomboy as a kid, Kate rode her bike, sailed, and hung by her toes
from a trapeze 30 feet above the gravel drive. She could out-swim,
out-dive and outrun anyone. She adored her brother Tom, the only one who
could beat her. Wishing she were a boy, she shaved her head each summer
from ages 9 to 13 and called herself Jimmy. With an unconventional,
freethinking family, every topic was discussed at mealtimes, and social
rebels of the day often attended dinners.
Kate's world turned black on April 3, 1921, when she was 13 and Tom,
15, when she found him dead from hanging. He was a cheerful, healthy boy
and there was no note; the conclusion was that it was a prank gone bad, an
accident. Though the family drew close in their shared devastation, young
Kate grew suspicious, even hostile, in her grief. For escape, she withdrew
into the imaginary world she saw on the screen, spending afternoons in the
movies.
In 1924 she enrolled in Bryn Mawr, finding no head for science, opting
for an English major. She told classmates that she wanted to be an
actress, in spite of their disbelief that the tall, bony red-headed class
oddball would set sights on such an impossible goal. Four weeks before
graduation, she tried out for a stage play and got the role. She delayed
her announcement to the family until graduation day, meeting with her
dad's fury and disapproval.
Kate, as she became known at Bryn Mawr, gradually emerged from the
solitude in which she had immersed herself. In 1928 she was working as an
understudy in a New York play and dating a rich, handsome beau, Ludlow
Ogden Smith, when she decided to give up the theater for marriage. By the
time the honeymoon was over, she said "What am I doing here?" and returned
to New York and the theater. Luddy went along with whatever Kate wanted,
until she went to Hollywood in 1932 for her first picture and started an
affair the following year with agent Leland Hayward. This spelled the end
of their marriage, though Kate and Luddy remained friends.
She met director John Ford in the spring of 1932 when she was on
Broadway in "The Warrior's Husband." She had made eight pictures by the
time she first worked with Ford, on "Mary of Scotland," 1936. He was
entranced with her, admiring her feistiness and irreverence. Married with
two kids, Ford was a profoundly unhappy man and a heavy drinker. By the
time the film was completed on April 23, 1936, he was in love with Kate.
They went to New York together where she discussed the stage version of
"Jane Eyre," and they went on to visit her family. Ford's wife geared up
for battle, holding the trump cards of Ford's Roman Catholic beliefs and
his love of his kids.
In January 1937, a lonely Kate dated Howard Hughes. With Ford
vacillating, she sailed to Nassau with Hughes when "Jane Eyre" closed in
Baltimore. When they returned in May, Ford had still done nothing, so she
moved in with Hughes in Los Angeles' Hancock Park. He proposed marriage,
but when he did not get along with her family, the subject was dropped.
In 1941, Hepburn requested Spencer Tracy for her new picture, "Woman of
the Year." When they met, she said, "Mr. Tracy, I think you're a little
short for me." "Don't worry," laughed director Mankiewicz. "He'll cut you
down to size." From the first, Tracy was edgy with Hepburn, calling her
"the woman." On the set, he glowered. His pattern was to have affairs with
the actress on his current picture, then crawl back to his wife and deaf
son, nursing his guilt and anger with alcohol. Shooting of "Woman of the
Year" started on 8/28/1941, and the rumors started almost immediately that
Tracy and Hepburn were having an affair. Ford joined the army and was gone
from Hollywood for four years.
After the critical and box-office success of "Woman," MGM was eager to
get Tracy and Hepburn into another film immediately. The studio was also
hopeful that Hepburn and a good script would deter Tracy's heavy drinking,
which had begun to interfere with his work. He often disappeared for
weeks. By the time the two began "Keeper of the Flame," they were in their
own world. Hepburn was fussing over Tracy incessantly, warm and
worshipful, watching him in abject adoration. On his part, Tracy seemed to
take her for granted and was often outright critical.
Hepburn lived in John Gilbert's old house on Tower Drive, where Tracy
would visit her in the evenings. When he went on blind drunks, locking
himself in his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she would curl up to sleep
outside his door. She had failed to save her brother; she would not fail
again. She built her life around Tracy, making herself available to him at
the cost of other commitments or projects, throughout his blackest moods
and most cruel humiliations.
Together, they made eight films. After "Adam's Rib," Hepburn began to
divide her time between the New York Stage and films in Hollywood, where
she would be with Tracy. She finally realized that whether she was there
or not, Tracy would go on a bender whenever he chose. In 1951 she went on
location to do "The African Queen," one of her greatest successes. On
February 21,1952, she and Tracy completed "Pat and Mike," their last film
under the MGM contract. In March, while she was in New York, he started an
affair with his co-star on the "Plymouth Adventure," Gene Tierney.
During the next four years, Tracy and Hepburn spent a total of no more
than six months together. By 1956, alcohol and drugs had wreaked havoc
with Tracy's career, and MGM finally canceled his contract. Physically and
mentally deteriorating, he was moved by Hepburn into a rented house on
Trancas Beach in June 1963. On July 21, he began to have system failure
and was rushed into ER. When he returned to his Hollywood cottage, Hepburn
moved in to nurse him. On March 13, 1967, they showed up for the first day
of rehearsals for "Guess Who's Coming for Dinner." No one knew whether
Tracy would be able to last through the picture, or whether he would
physically collapse. His hair-trigger temper flared often, and he had
trouble remembering his lines.
At about 3:00 AM on June 10, 1967, she was awakened by Tracy. By the
time she reached him, he had crashed to the floor, dying of a heart
attack. She did not attend his funeral. When she called Tracy's wife,
Louise said, "I thought you were just a rumor." Her 26-year relationship
eventually was that to the world, a rumor.
Alone over the following decades, she was a lady of sheer magic and
rugged independence. She had enduring star power all of her life, the
grande dame of American stage, screen and television. The three more
Oscars that she won made her the most honored actress in Academy history.
As she neared 90, she retired to the area of her childhood home near the
sea, although in 1994, Warren Beatty convinced her to leave retirement for
a role in “Love Affair.” She died surrounded by family and friends.
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Hepburn Quotes:
- Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only
what you are expecting to give - which is everything. What you will
receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you
give. You give because you love and cannot help giving.
- If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the
criticism of one, go ahead, get married.
- Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps
they should live next door and just visit now and then.
- Without discipline, there's no life at all.
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