Profile of the Month

Katharine Hepburn



Born: May 12, 1907 in Hartford Conecticut, USA (Katharine Houghton Hepburn)
Died: June 29, 2003 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, USA

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Nickname -

First Lady of Cinema
Kate

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Mini biography-


Born May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut, she was the daughter of a doctor and a suffragette, both of whom always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a child, she was also very close to her brother, Tom, and was devastated at age 14 to find him dead, the apparent result of accidentally hanging himself while practicing a hanging trick their father had taught them. For many years after this, Katharine used his birthdate, November 8, as her own. She then became very shy around girls her age, and was largely schooled at home. She did attend Bryn Mawr College, however, and it was here that she decided to become an actress, appearing in many of their productions.

After graduating, she began getting small roles in plays on Broadway and elsewhere. She always attracted attention in these parts, especially for her role in "Art and Mrs. Bottle" (1931); then, she finally broke into stardom when she took the starring role of the Amazon princess Antiope in "A Warrior's Husband" (1932). The inevitable film offers followed, and after making a few screen tests, she was cast in Bill of Divorcement, A (1932), opposite John Barrymore. The film was a hit, and after agreeing to her salary demands, RKO signed her to a contract. She made five films between 1932 and 1934. For her third, Morning Glory (1933) she won her first Academy Award. Her fourth, Little Women (1933) was the most successful picture of its day.

But stories were beginning to leak out of her haughty behavior off- screen and her refusal to play the Hollywood Game, always wearing slacks and no makeup, never posing for pictures or giving interviews. Audiences were shocked at her unconventional behavior instead of applauding it, and so when she returned to Broadway in 1934 to star in "The Lake", the critics panned her and the audiences, who at first bought up tickets, soon deserted her. When she returned to Hollywood, things didn't get much better. From the period 1935-1938, she had only two hits: Alice Adams (1935), which brought her her second Oscar nomination, and Stage Door (1937); the many flops included Break of Hearts (1935), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Mary of Scotland (1936), Quality Street (1937) and the now- classic Bringing Up Baby (1938).

With so many flops, she came to be labeled "box-office poison." She decided to go back to Broadway to star in "The Philadelphia Story" (1938), and was rewarded with a smash. She quickly bought the film rights, and so was able to negotiate her way back to Hollywood on her own terms, including her choice of director and co-stars. The film version of Philadelphia Story, The (1940), was a box-office hit, and Hepburn, who won her third Oscar nomination for the film, was bankable again. For her next film, Woman of the Year (1942), she was paired with Spencer Tracy, and the chemistry between them lasted for eight more films, spanning the course of 25 years, and a romance that lasted that long off-screen. (She received her fourth Oscar nomination for the film.) Their films included the very successful Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957).

With African Queen, The (1951), Hepburn moved into middle-aged spinster roles, receiving her fifth Oscar nomination for the film. She played more of these types of roles throughout the 50s, and won more Oscar nominations for many of them, including her roles in Summertime (1955), Rainmaker, The (1956) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Her film roles became fewer and farther between in the 60s, as she devoted her time to her ailing partner Spencer Tracy. For one of her film appearances in this decade, in Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), she received her ninth Oscar nomination. After a five-year absence from films, she then made Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), her last film with Tracy and the last film Tracy ever made; he died just weeks after finishing it. It garnered Hepburn her tenth Oscar nomination and her second win. The next year, she did Lion in Winter, The (1968), which brought her her eleventh Oscar nomination and third win.

In the 70s, she turned to making made-for-TV films, with Glass Menagerie, The (1973) (TV), Love Among the Ruins (1975) (TV) and Corn Is Green, The (1979) (TV). She still continued to make an occasional appearance in feature films, such as Rooster Cogburn (1975), with John Wayne, and On Golden Pond (1981), with Henry Fonda. This last brought her her twelfth Oscar nomination and fourth win - the latter currently still a record for an actress.

She made more TV-films in the 80s, and wrote her autobiography, 'Me', in 1991. Her last feature film was Love Affair (1994), with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, and her last TV- film was One Christmas (1994) (TV). With her health declining she retired from public life in the mid-nineties. She died at the age of 96 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.




IMDb mini-biography by
Tommy Peter
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Spouse -

Ludlow Ogden Smith (12 December 1928 - 1934) (divorced)

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Trade mark -

Playing strong independent women with minds of their own


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Trivia -

Graduated from Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1928, with a degree in history and philosophy.

Was named Best Classic Actress of the 20th Century in an Entertainment Weekly on-line poll, just barely (21.5% to 20.6%) beating out runner-up Audrey Hepburn. [September 1999]

Has never watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) because it was Spencer Tracy's last film.

Ranked #1 woman in the AFI's '50 greatest movie legends'. [June 1999]

Walked around the studio in her underwear in the early 1930s when the costume department stole her slacks from her dressing room. She refused to put anything else on until they were returned.

She was nearly decapitated by an aeroplane propeller when she was rushing about an airport, avoiding the press.

Was a leading choice to play "Scarlett O'Hara" in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Had a relationship with Spencer Tracy from 1940 until his death in 1967.

Ranked #68 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Born at 3:47pm-EST

Aunt of actress Katharine Houghton, who portrayed her character's daughter in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).

Admitted to using her brother's birthdate as her own for years.

Does not suffer from Parkinson's disease. She set the record straight in the 1993 TV documentary Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993) (TV), which she narrated herself. Quote: "Now to squash a rumor. No, I don't have Parkinson's. I inherited my shaking head from my grandfather Hepburn. I discovered that whisky helps stop the shaking. Problem is, if you're not careful, it stops the rest of you too. My head just shakes, but I promise you, it ain't gonna fall off!"

Was admitted to a Hartford hospital for treatment for a urinary infection. Her release was delayed because doctors wanted to monitor her walking. [18 July 2001]

Is a direct decendant of Britain's King John through one of his illegitimate children.

Great-aunt of Schuyler Grant.

Turned down the role of Marilla in Anne of Green Gables (1985) (TV), but recommended her great-neice, Schuyler Grant for the role of Anne. Schuler ended up playing Diana instead.

On American Film Institute's list of top 100 U.S. love stories, compiled in June 2002, Hepburn led all actresses with six of her films on the list. (actor Cary Grant, co-star with her in two of them, led the male field, also with six films on list). The duo's Philadelphia Story, The (1940) was ranked #44 and their Bringing Up Baby (1938) ranked #51. Hepburn's four other movies on AFI Top 100 love movies list are: #14 African Queen, The (1951) #22 On Golden Pond (1981) #58 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) #74 Woman of the Year (1942)

Meryl Streep beat her in the number of Oscar nominations, when she received her 13th Oscar nod for Adaptation. (2002). However, Hepburn still reigns as the only 4-time Oscar recipient for acting.

As of 2003, "Only Tie in Oscars For Best Actress", Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968) and Katharine Hepburn for _Lion In Winter, The (1968)_ in 1969.

Her father's name was Thomas and her mother's name was Katharine.

Was nominated for 2 Tony Awards. Once for the musical Coco and once for the play West Side Waltz. She lost both times.

Her maternal grandfather; her father's brother, Charlie; and her older brother, Tom, all committed suicide. These tragedies were never talked about in her family. Ms. Hepburn said of her parents, "There was nothing to be done about these matters and [my parents] simply did not believe in moaning about anything."

Measurements: 34B-22-33 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Made nine films with Spencer Tracy, the first of which was Woman Of The Year (1942).

Admitted that she was menstruating while making the African Queen which resulted in giving her fellow crew members the impression that she was moody and difficult.

On June 2004 Sotheby's auction house hosted a two-day estate of Katharine Hepburn, auctioning of personal belongings of the legendary actress to collectors. The auction included her furniture's, Jewelries which included the platinum, diamond and sapphire given to her by then-boyfriend Howard Hughes which fetched $120,000, six times its estimated price, paperworks such as personal checks, telegrams, birth certificates, letters, film contracts, movie scripts and nomination certificates from the Academy Awards. Among other items were casual clothes, and gowns that included her unusual wedding dress to Ludlow Ogden Smith in 1928, made of crushed white velvet with antiqued gold embroidery, sold for $27,000. Also consisted in the lot were house decorations drawings and paintings done by the actress herself, glamour portraits, and a glass bronze sculpture entitled "Angel on a Wave" sold for $90,000 while a self-portrait entitled "Breakfast in Bed and a Self-Portrait in Brisbane, Australia, fetched $33,000, some 40 times the estimated price. Movie Memorabilia's comprised of a ring from her 1968 film "The Lion in Winter", "Gertrude," the canoe from the film "On Golden Pond" sold for $19,200 to entertainer Wayne Newton and the most sought after piece and the most expensive item was the bronze bust of Spencer Tracy that Hepburn created herself and was featured in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". The audience cheered when the 3-inch sculpture sold for $316,000, compared to an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. The only awards that were won by the actress to be auctioned of were the 1958 Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, the annual Shakespeare club of New York City, the Fashion Desinger Lifetime Achievment, a few Box Office Blue Ribbons, the Walk of Fame plaque and the 1990 Kennedy Center Honor. Her four Oscars were not included due to contract reasons.

She was one of the few great stars in Hollywood who made no attempt to sugarcoat her true personality for anyone, a personality that was by all accounts feisty and some would say nasty. She was infamous for letting those who she disliked know it.

Was a natural red head

Her affair with Howard Hughes is being portrayed by Cate Blanchett and Leonardno Dicaprio in The Aviator

She was voted the 2nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Was a self-confessed fan of John Gilbert and Greta Garbo.


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Personal quotes -

"People have grown fond of me, like some old building."

"I'm a personality as well as an actress. Show me an actress who isn't a personality, and you'll show me a woman who isn't a star."

"Wouldn't it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?"

"I don't regret anything I've ever done; As long as I enjoyed it at the time."

"Love' has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything."

"I often wonder whether men and women really suit eachother. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

"I've been loved, and I've been in love. There's a big difference."

"Not everyone is lucky enough to understand how delicious it is to suffer."

"There are no laurels in life...just new challenges."

On Hollywood: "They didn't like me until I got into a leg show."

"I can't say I believe in prizes. I was a whiz in the three-legged race - that's something you CAN win."

"Afraid of death? Not at all. Be a great relief. Then I wouldn't have to talk to you."

"Once a crowd chased me for an autograph. 'Beat it, ' I said, 'go sit on a tack!' 'We made you, ' they said. 'Like hell you did, ' I told them."

On fashion: "I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear."

"My father, a surgeon and urologist, studied sex professionally all his life. Before he died at 82, he told me he hadn't come to any conclusions about it at all."

On marriage: "It's bloody impractical. 'To love, honor, and obey.' If it weren't, you wouldn't have to sign a contract."

"At my age, you don't get much variety - usually some old nut who's off her track."

"With all the opportunities I had, I could have done more. And if I'd done more, I could have been quite remarkable."

"I find a woman's point of view much grander and finer than a man's."

"I remember as a child going around with Votes For Women balloons. I learnt early what it is to be snubbed for a good cause."

"Life is full of censorship. I can't spit in your eye."

"Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done."

"Acting is a nice childish profession - pretending you're someone else and at the same time selling yourself."

"It's a bore - B-O-R-E - when you find you've begun to rot."

"Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do."

"Life is hard. After all, it kills you."

"I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they're good - or because they're lucky."

"I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be inferior."

"Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don't do that by sitting around wondering about yourself."

"If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married."

"The lack of work destroys people."

"Life's what's important. Walking, houses, family. Birth and pain and joy. Acting's just waiting for a custard pie. That's all."

"Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh."

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."

"It's life isn't it? You plow ahead and make a hit. And you plow on and someone passes you. Then someone passes them. Time levels."

"If you survive long enough, you're revered - rather like an old building."

"Enemies are so stimulating."

"I can remember walking as a child. It was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition."

"I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid."

"I welcome death. In death there are no interviews!"

"I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other."

"I'm what is known as gradually disintegrating. I don't fear the next world, or anything. I don't fear hell, and I don't look forward to heaven."

"Listen to the song of life."

"Who is Katharine Hepburn? It took me a long time to create that creature."

"I don't fear death, it must be like a long sleep."

"I always wanted to be a movie actress. I thought it was very romantic. And it was."

'Isn't it fun getting older' is really a terrible fallacy. That's like saying I prefer driving an old car with a flat tyre.

"I have loved and been in love. There's a big difference." (1993)

"In some ways I've lived my life like a man, made my own decisions etc.. I've been as terrified as the next person, but you've got to keep going." (1993)

"The lack of work destroys people." (1993)

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Salary -

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) $200,000
African Queen, The (1951) $130,000 + 10% of profits
Spitfire (1934) $60,000
Bill of Divorcement, A (1932) $1,500/week

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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:

She was branded "box-office poison" by the nation's exhibitors in 1938, but Katharine Hepburn has come to be regarded as a national treasure. One of the most frequently honored screen actresses (with eight Academy nominations and four Oscars to her credit), Hepburn came to films in A Bill of Divorcement (1932), as John Barrymore's daughter, following a sometimes tempestuous career on stage in amateur theatricals, college shows, stock, and finally on Broadway. Her unusual looks and manner-and her unique New England voice-put off some moviegoers at first, but her endearing performance as a naive, impulsive young actress trying to crash Broadway, in 1933's Morning Glory won her her first Academy Award. Hepburn proved her versatility in such pictures as Little Women (1933), The Little Minister (1934), Alice Adams (1935, for which she received an Oscar nomination), Mary of Scotland (1936), and the wonderful Stage Door (1937, an interesting companion piece to Morning Glory But for every success in her early Hollywood career, there was also a major misfireincluding such all-time oddities as Christopher Strong (1933, in which she played an aviatrix) and Sylvia Scarlett (1935, in which she disguised herself as a boy).

By the time she made the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938, for which the understandably nervous actress took comedy "pointers" from veteran screen funnyman Walter Catlett) and the equally delightful comedy-drama Holiday (also 1938), Hepburn's film career was on the skids. (Although it was that same year that Walt Disney immortalized her in cartoon form, as a haughty Little Bo-Peep in his animated short subjectMother Goose Goes Hollywood She returned to Broadway to star as spoiled socialite Tracy Lord in Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story," forsaking a huge salary for a percentage of profits and title to the screen rights. Her successful gamble paid off, and led to an equally triumphant return to Hollywood in the 1940 film version, which earned her another Oscar nomina tion. She was nominated again for her next film, Woman of the Year (1942) which cast her as an opinionated newspaper columnist opposite Spencer Tracy (as a down-to-earth sportswriter). It was a match made in movie heaven; the two would star in eight subsequent films over the next 25 years. (They also commenced an offscreen relationship that lasted until his death.)

Some of the early Tracy-Hepburn collaborations were heavy dramas such as Keeper of the Flame (1942) and The Sea of Grass (1947). Dramatic fireworks flew as well in State of the Union (1948), but the team is best remembered for its humorous skirmishes in the battle of the sexes with Without Love (1945), Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957). While Hepburn's work in the 1930s and 1940s receives the most attention today, many of the star's peak achievements were realized in the 1950s and 1960s. She picked up Oscar nominations for her work in The African Queen (1951, opposite Humphrey Bogart, as a missionary whose personality she patterned after Eleanor Roosevelt), Summertime (1955), The Rainmaker (1956), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959, as Elizabeth Taylor's shrewish, sinister aunt), and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). Offscreen for five years, she returned to costar with Tracy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), which proved to be his final film; it won her a second Oscar. Hepburn received her third gold statuette the following year for her work in the period drama The Lion in Winter as Eleanor of Aquitaine, which showed the aging actress in full command of her inestimable talent. She followed this triumph by making her Broadway musical debut as couturier Coco Chanel in "Coco." Other films around this time include The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), The Trojan Women (1972), and A Delicate Balance (1973).

A much-anticipated pairing of Hepburn with John Wayne yielded disappointing results, as Rooster Cogburn (1975) turned out to be a watered-down retread of The African Queen But her teaming with another screen giant, Henry Fonda, in On Golden Pond (1981), brought her a fourth Best Actress Academy Award, and proved to be her finest latter-day film. Hepburn's TV work has largely been confined to long-form dramas. She received Emmy nominations for Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" (1973), and "The Corn Is Green" (1979), directed by her longtime friend and collaborator, George Cukor. She won an Emmy for "Love Among the Ruins" (1975), also directed by Cukor and costarring Laurence Olivier. Since that time she has starred in several "star-vehicle" TV movies, including Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988), The Man Upstairs (1992), and This Can't Be Love (1994). Her 1991 autobiography, "Me," was a best-seller, as was her more specific 1987 memoir, "The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind." After years away from the big screen, Hepburn was coaxed back to do Love Affair (1994); she provided that film's highlight, as Warren Beatty's aunt.

Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.


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Filmography-

One Christmas (1994) (TV) .... Cornelia Beaumont
Love Affair (1994) .... Ginny
This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV) .... Marion Bennett
Man Upstairs, The (1992) (TV) .... Victoria Brown
Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988) (TV) .... Laura Lansing
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) (TV) .... Margaret Delafield
Grace Quigley (1984) .... Grace Quigley
On Golden Pond (1981) .... Ethel Thayer
Corn Is Green, The (1979) (TV) .... Lilly C. Moffat
Olly, Olly, Oxen Free (1978) .... Miss Pudd
Rooster Cogburn (1975) .... Eula Goodnight
Love Among the Ruins (1975) (TV) .... Jessica Medlicott
Delicate Balance, A (1973) .... Agnes
Glass Menagerie, The (1973) (TV) .... Amanda Wingfield
Trojan Women, The (1971) .... Hecuba
Madwoman of Chaillot, The (1969) .... Countess Aurelia
Lion in Winter, The (1968) .... Eleanor of Aquitaine
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) .... Christina Drayton
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) .... Mary Tyrone
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) .... Mrs. Venable
Desk Set (1957) .... Bunny Watson
Iron Petticoat, The (1956) .... Vinka Kovelenko
Rainmaker, The (1956) .... Lizzie Curry
Summertime (1955) .... Jane Hudson
Pat and Mike (1952) .... Patricia 'Pat' Pemberton
African Queen, The (1951) .... Rose Sayer
Adam's Rib (1949) .... Amanda Bonner
State of the Union (1948) .... Mary Matthews
Song of Love (1947) .... Clara Wieck Schumann
Sea of Grass, The (1947) .... Lutie Cameron Brewton
Undercurrent (1946) .... Ann Hamilton
Without Love (1945) .... Jamie Rowan
Dragon Seed (1944) .... Jade
Keeper of the Flame (1942) .... Mrs. Christine Forrest
Woman of the Year (1942) .... Tess Harding
Philadelphia Story, The (1940) .... Tracy Samantha Lord
Holiday (1938) .... Linda Seton
Bringing Up Baby (1938) .... Susan Vance
Stage Door (1937) .... Terry Randall
Quality Street (1937) .... Phoebe Throssel, aka Olivia 'Livvy' Throssel
Woman Rebels, A (1936) .... Pamela 'Pam' Thistlewaite
Mary of Scotland (1936) .... Mary, Queen of Scots
Sylvia Scarlett (1935) .... Sylvia Scarlett, aka Sylvester Scarlett
Alice Adams (1935) .... Alice Adams
Break of Hearts (1935) .... Constance Dane Roberti
Little Minister, The (1934) .... Barbara 'Babbie'
Spitfire (1934) .... Trigger Hicks
Little Women (1933) .... Josephine 'Jo' March
Morning Glory (1933) .... Eva Lovelace
Christopher Strong (1933) .... Lady Cynthia Darrington
Bill of Divorcement, A (1932) .... Sidney (Credits)/Sydney Fairfield