A Filmmaker's Guide to: Katharine Hepburn

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Katharine Hepburn

Who was she?

Born in 1907, Katharine Hepburn is often regarded as one of the greatest actresses of all time with her modern approach to females in cinema, her modern approach to acting and her incredible film work ethic on and off set being some of the accolades she received in terms of working on her career. Earning multiple Academy Awards and having an amazing list of different roles, Katharine Hepburn may have started acting in the early 1930s, but her performances live on almost one hundred years' later as being still some of the greatest of all time.

What did she do in film?

As I have already said, she modernised film not just for women, but she modernised acting. Moving away from the more vaudevillian sense of acting, Katharine Hepburn and her era brought a realm of realism to the screen alongside a more studious form of acting which required certain techniques to be followed and processes to be thought through. Not just that, but one of the things she did was made trousers fashionable for women. When she became the first famous woman to wear trousers, women everywhere started wearing them in order not just to copy Katharine Hepburn but also to be more of a modern woman, showing that they are not going to follow the rules any longer.

Let's take a look at some of her greatest performances on the screen then. I will only go through a few because there are so many great performances by Katharine Hepburn I will end up sitting here writing this article all day and all night:

Little Women (1933) dir. by George Cukor

Yes, she was in a Cukor film at that age and at the start of her career, that's how good she was. And yes, she portrayed the powerful Jo March. And yes she was amazing at it as well. Ever since, Jo March's characteristics have been based on the Katharine Hepburn version of her.

Bringing Up Baby (1938) dir. by Howard Hawks

I think everyone who loves classic Hollywood films remembers the comedic but powerful role of Susan portrayed by Katharine Hepburn. Possibly one of her best known performances, she is her classic powerful self but has the people around her gawping at her modernism. Something that will become a theme in her films from now on.

The Philadelphia Story (1940) dir. by George Cukor

Portraying Tracy, Katharine Hepburn stars in a romantic comedy that gives a whole new meaning to the genre of romantic comedy. At the peak of her career, this is one of the more well-known films of hers as it was a commercial success.

Keeper of the Flame (1942) dir. by George Cukor

Portraying Christine, Katharine Hepburn's character is in hot water when her husband dies suddenly and a journalist comes to the house to find out more about Christine's relationship with him. Cracking down, there is something strange revealed about the accident that her husband was involved in and things are constantly taking a turn for the worst. Possibly my favourite Katharine Hepburn performance, it is one of her most psychologically insane and paranoid roles

Adam's Rib (1949) dir. by George Cukor

In my opinion, this is the best film of a Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn team-up since "Keeper of the Flame" but this one is a battle of the sexes in a brutal comedy. We watch two married lawyers, one the prosecution and one the defence play out a theatrical case before the judge, putting their entire marriage on the line. Katharine Hepburn proves that her wittiness is also reserved for people who believe that women are not equal to men. Mostly, her best insults.

Other films:

1. The African Queen (1951) dir. by John Huston
2. Pat and Mike (1952) dir. by George Cukor
3. Summertime (1955) dir. by David Lean

Conclusion

Katharine Hepburn is one of the most decorated actors ever to grace the movie screen and since her death, her movies have not only come back into a revival but her entire career is being copied by our modern actresses today. Her path has left a ground of feminism in film when it was needed most and without her, we may not have the open roles in film that we have today. She was a leading lady in absolutely every sense of the word.