Remembering Katharine Hepburn

It was a sad day when on June 28, 2003 four time Oscar winner for Best Actress Katharine Hepburn died at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut at the age of 96. I loved most of her movies since I have always been interested in the movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

She came into this world as Katharine Houghton Hepburn on May 12, 1907 in Hartford. Connecticut. She never lost her New England accent and was always thought to be a beauty but very tomboyish. After receiving her education at Bryn Mawr College in 1928 the lights of Broadway in nearby New York City beckoned to her. Unlike other girls she succeeded in getting onstage and made her Broadway debut in “Night Hostess” billed as Katharine Burns.

Her first major success on Broadway was in the 1932 comedy “The Warrior’s Husband”. As a result she was seen and got a Hollywood screen test and signed on with RKO Studios. Her debut movie was “A Bill of Divorcement” starring with John Barrymore. The director of the movie was George Cukor who became her close friend and directed a lot of her other movies including “Little Women”, “Sylvia Scarlett”, “Holiday” and “Adam’s Rib”.

Hepburn received her first Oscar as Best Actress after her third movie “Morning Glory” in 1933. She was an actress with a mind of her own and unlike other starlets would appear in public in pantsuits and no make-up. She also refused to sign autographs and give interviews. After she had filmed “Stage Door” and “Bringing up Baby” she decided to take control of her own career and bought out her contract at RKO.

Hepburn had great success in the movie “The Philadelphia Story” starring with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Some years later she starred with Spencer Tracy in “Woman of the Year”. It was fate that brought these two actors together and she and Tracy fell in love and began a romantic relationship. Onscreen they starred together in nine movies including “Desk Set”, “Adam’s Rib”, “Pat and Mike” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. Unfortunately Tracy died just four weeks after filming was completed on the last movie. Hepburn won her second Oscar for this movie.

Among her best known and loved movies are “The African Queen” in 1951 in which she played opposite Humphrey Bogart. She portrayed a missionary escaping from German troops with the help of a riverboat captain played by Bogart. “Summertime” in 1955 that was a love story set in Venice. Italy and in 1962 adapted from Eugene O’Neill’s play “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in which she portrayed a drug-addicted mother.

Her third Oscar was for her portrayal in “The Lion in Winter” in 1968. She continued to star in movies and TV and gave an Emmy award winning performance in “Love Among the Ruins” in 1976. During the years that she had been together with Tracey he had remained married to his wife and when Tracey’s widow died in 1983 Hepburn finally spoke about their relationship. In a TV tribute to Tracey she read a letter which she had written to him about his drinking and their last years together. This letter was included in her best-selling autobiography Me: Stories of My Life.

Hepburn received a fourth Oscar for her portrayal in “On Golden Pond” with Henry Fonda. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she appeared in different TV movies. Among them was her performances in the Tennessee William’s play “The Glass Menagerie”.

Hepburn’s final appearance on the big screen came in 1994 in “Love Affair”. The American Film Institute named her the greatest female actress in the history of American cinema in 1999. When she passed on the lights on Broadway were dimmed for an hour to honor one of entertainment’s brightest stars.

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