Subject: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: GUEST,Sad Date: 29 Jun 03 - 07:20 PM Just read this obituary from Associated Press: Posted on Sun, Jun. 29, 2003 Actress Katharine Hepburn Dies at 96 Associated Press OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. - Katharine Hepburn, winner of a record four Academy Awards, died Sunday at her home, her executor and town authorities said. She was 96. Town authorities and the executor of Hepburn's estate, Cynthia McFadden, said Hepburn died Sunday at 2:50 p.m. She had been in declining health in recent years. During her 60-year career, she earned 12 Oscar nominations, which stood as a record until Meryl Streep surpassed her nomination total in 2003. She won the Academy Award for "Morning Glory," 1933; "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1967; "A Lion in Winter," 1968; and "On Golden Pond," 1981. Despite her success, Hepburn always felt she could have done more. "I could have accomplished three times what I've accomplished," she once said. "I haven't realized my full potential. It's disgusting." But, she said, "Life's what's important. Walking, houses, family. Birth and pain and joy - and then death. Acting's just waiting for the custard pie. That's all." Hepburn, the product of a wealthy, freethinking New England family, was forthright in her opinions and unconventional in her conduct. She dressed for comfort, usually in slacks and sweater, with her red hair caught up in a topknot. She married only once, briefly, and her name was linked to Howard Hughes and other famous men, but the great love of her life was Spencer Tracy. They made nine films together and remained close companions until Tracy's death in 1967. Her Broadway role in "Warrior's Husband" brought a movie offer from RKO, and she went to Hollywood at $1,500 a week to star opposite John Barrymore in the 1932 film "A Bill of Divorcement." The lean, athletic actress with the well-bred manner became an instant star. The voice Tallulah Bankhead once likened to "nickels dropping in a slot machine" became one of Hollywood's most-imitated. Hepburn's third movie, "Morning Glory," brought her first Oscar. A string of parts followed - Jo in "Little Women," the ill-fated queen in "Mary of Scotland," the rich would-be actress in "Stage Door," the madcap socialite of "Bringing Up Baby," the shy rich girl in "Holiday." Then a theater chain owner branded her and other stars "box-office poison" and her film career waned. Undaunted, Hepburn acquired the rights to a comedy about a spoiled heiress, and, after it was rewritten for her, took it to the New York stage. "The Philadelphia Story" was a hit. She returned to Hollywood for the 1940 film version, which featured James Stewart and Cary Grant. Once again she was a top star, with a contract at MGM for "Woman of the Year," "Keeper of the Flame," "Sea of Grass," "Dragon Seed," "Without Love," "State of the Union," "Pat and Mike" and "Adam's Rib." Her first film with Tracy was "Woman of the Year," in 1942. Legend has it that when they met she commented, "I'm afraid I'm a little big for you, Mr. Tracy." His reply: "Don't worry, I'll cut you down to size." One critic compared them to "the high-strung thoroughbred and the steady workhorse." Tracy never divorced his wife, who outlived him by 15 years; Hepburn, though she led a PBS tribute to Tracy in 1986, rarely mentioned their private relationship. "I have had 20 years of perfect companionship with a man among men," she said in 1963. "He is a rock and a protection. I've never regretted it." In another interview, she discussed their special screen magic, saying they represented "the perfect American couple." "The ideal American man is certainly Spencer - sports loving, man's man, strong-looking, big sort of head, boar neck and so forth. And I think I represent a woman. I needle him, and I irritate him, and I try to get around him, and if he put a big paw out and put it on my head, he could squash me. And I think that is the romantic ideal picture of the male and female in this country." After leaving MGM in 1951, Hepburn divided her time between the stage - she appeared in Shaw's "The Millionairess" and Shakespeare's "As You Like It" - and film. She coolly braved a jungle for "The African Queen" and did her own balloon flying in the low-budget "Olly Olly Oxen Free." She co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in "Suddenly Last Summer," with Jason Robards Jr. in "Long Day's Journey into Night," with Laurence Olivier in the TV movie "Love Among the Ruins" and with Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond," which won both of them Oscars. She coaxed the ailing Tracy back onto the set for their roles as wealthy, liberal parents faced with the interracial marriage of their daughter in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Tracy died before the film's release. Though an early appearance in "The Lake" promoted Dorothy Parker's famously scathing remark that Hepburn "ran the gamut of emotions from A to B," she worked as tirelessly on stage as in movies. She starred in the musical "Coco" in 1969. When she broke an ankle during "A Matter of Gravity" in 1976, she went on in a wheelchair. Fans flocked to see her on Broadway in "West Side Waltz," in 1982, and when the show moved on to Boston, Hepburn displayed her outspokenness by ordering out a spectator who disturbed her by taking pictures. Hepburn nearly lost a foot in a car accident in late 1982 and spent almost three weeks in a hospital. But by the end of the year she was back before the cameras, co-starring with Nick Nolte in "Grace Quigley," a comedy about a woman teaming with a hit man to help old people who want to die. "I don't believe in shocking people, but if I got sick and was no longer of any use to myself or anyone else, I would find a way of ending it," she once said. For many years, she divided her time between New York and Connecticut. Even well into her 70s, she was restless with energy, arising at dawn and going to bed at 7 p.m. when she wasn't appearing in a play or making another film. She took to writing; her first book, "The Making of `The African Queen': Or, How I Went To Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind" made her a best-selling author at 77. She followed it up with "Me: Stories of My Life" in 1991. In 1994, Warren Beatty persuaded a reluctant Hepburn to fly out to Los Angeles and play his aunt in the romantic comedy "Love Affair." She also appeared in a television movie, "One Christmas." Among the honors coming her way in later years: In 1999, a survey of screen legends by the American Film Institute ranked her No. 1 among actresses. She was born in Hartford, Conn., on May 12, 1907, one of six children of Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, a noted urologist and pioneer in social hygiene, and Katharine Houghton Hepburn, who worked for birth control and getting the vote for women. "My parents were much more fascinating, as people, than I am," the actress once said. "Mother was really left of center; women's suffrage was her great cause, and I remember appearing at all the local fairs carrying huge flocks of balloons that said `Votes for Women.' I almost went up with them." Young Kate was educated by tutors and at private schools, entering Bryn Mawr in 1924. After graduating, she joined a stock company in Baltimore. She made her New York debut in "These Days" in 1928, the same year she married Philadelphia socialite Ludlow Ogden Smith. She divorced him in 1934 and later remarked, "I don't believe in marriage. It's bloody impractical to love, honor and obey. If it weren't, you wouldn't have to sign a contract." But she also lauded "Luddy" for opening doors in New York for a raw young actress. She berated herself as behaving like "a pig" toward him. "At the beginning I had money; I wasn't a poor little thing. I don't know what I would have done if I'd had to come to New York and get a job as a waiter or something like that. "I think I'm a success, but I had every advantage - I should have been," she said. She had various health problems in later years, including hip replacement surgery and tremors similar to Parkinson's disease. In a 1990 interview, she told The Associated Press: "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." "There comes a time in your life when people get very sweet to you," she said in another interview. "I don't mind people being sweet to me. In fact, I'm getting rather sweet back at them. "But I'm a madly irritating person, and I irritated them for years. Anything definite is irritating - and stimulating. I think they're beginning to think I'm not going to be around much longer. And what do you know - they'll miss me, like an old monument. Like the Flatiron Building." |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: wysiwyg Date: 29 Jun 03 - 07:37 PM Kate & Spence, lighting up heaven, or hell, if they both landed in the same place. Love to be a fly (angel, whatever) on the wall! ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Jun 03 - 08:17 PM Thanks for posting this. Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Naemanson Date: 29 Jun 03 - 08:59 PM Goodbye, Ms Hepburn. You'll be missed. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: GUEST,amergin Date: 29 Jun 03 - 09:08 PM wow...i always thought she was top notch...dont think there is any one alive today who even comes close... |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Ebbie Date: 29 Jun 03 - 09:29 PM Flash!!!! The Great Britney Spears/Eminem/Madonna/what-have-you dies... Wouldn't have the same impact, I should think. A very interesting woman. All of the icons of my youth are disappearing into the ether. But I guess that's fair- I'm 67 years old. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jun 03 - 10:03 PM I have a tape of Desk Set that has been viewed so many times I've about worn it out. And I need a tape of African Queen, since I watch it anytime it comes on televison. Lion in Winter--how old was she when she made that film? Still playing attractive powerful women. She was one of a kind. SRS |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: bflat Date: 29 Jun 03 - 10:19 PM She was an origional. And these days, there aren't many origionals, so it seems to me. I am saddened by the news. Such a classy woman to have had a paramour,who was a public person, been a public figure, herself, and maintained privacy in an almost regal way. She was great. Ellen |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Amos Date: 29 Jun 03 - 10:57 PM What a sobering passage -- a genuine gem among the glitter, a true character, the Real McCoy, ...what can you say? I hope she catches up with Tracy somewhere. A |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: katlaughing Date: 29 Jun 03 - 11:18 PM Out of all of the great actresses, she is the one I held the most dear, the one I longed to emulate in my life, in attitude, forthrightness, devil-may-care, and surety of self. To me, she represented the Individual one could be. I am deeply saddened she has gone on. Thanks for posting this, kat |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Melani Date: 30 Jun 03 - 12:30 AM Don't be sad. She had a long, wonderful life. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: JennyO Date: 30 Jun 03 - 12:43 AM She is not gone - her spirit is still with us. Imagine the joyful reunion with Spencer Tracy wherever they are! What a woman! She was one of the best! Jenny |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Morticia Date: 30 Jun 03 - 12:55 AM What sad news, I would walk a mile over broken glass to watch a Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn movie. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: alanabit Date: 30 Jun 03 - 01:21 AM One of the greatest. Farewell and thanks for everything. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Hrothgar Date: 30 Jun 03 - 03:37 AM They broke the mould when they made her. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katherine Hepburn From: Joe Offer Date: 30 Jun 03 - 03:41 AM I talked my 14-yr-old stepson into watching Philadelphia Story with me this evening. He liked it as much as I did. What a wonderful, beautiful woman Hepburn was! -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: fat B****rd Date: 30 Jun 03 - 04:44 AM If she had only made "The African Queen" she's still be great to me. RIP Miss H. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Fiolar Date: 30 Jun 03 - 05:08 AM God. There can't be many more of idols of my youth left. 2003 is certainly winnowing the last of the legends. To paraphrase the song - "..when I was 90+ it was a very bad year." Trust she and Spencer are reminiscing over old times. Farewell Katharine. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: SINSULL Date: 30 Jun 03 - 06:43 AM A great and elegant lady. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Alba Date: 30 Jun 03 - 06:52 AM I was gone for a few days and came back to hear of Ms Hepburn's passing. Sad News indeed. She was a truly great Actress and I admire her enormously, both as an Actress and as a Woman. No matter where you are Ms Hepburn, I Thank you for the pleasure you have given me through the Years. You are and will remain one of the Greats. A |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: MMario Date: 30 Jun 03 - 08:39 AM We are luckier then most previous generations in that the 'greats" of our lives have been preserved in film,DVD, etc. Joe can *share* with his 14 year old the great roles of Ms. Hepburn, rather then just try to decribe to him the performances that impressed so many. But somehow the world seems a little dimmer. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Greycap Date: 30 Jun 03 - 10:27 AM She had style - you can't say that for many actresses of today. Happy Trails |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Peter T. Date: 30 Jun 03 - 10:36 AM I suppose we can now draw the final curtain on the "old Hollywood" -- thanks to her it lasted a very long time, long past the time that it flourished, but I think we can now say is at last gone to its rest. A strange manufactured world of Gables and Grants, of Loys and Powells, of rich playboys, gumchewing dames, open roads and Manhattan dance floors. Smart talkers, dangerous vamps, farm women up to their elbows in suds, policemen breaking into song and dance, gangsters and schoolteachers, aristocrats and bums. Now we can put it away in tissue paper, into its shiny box, into the glass bubble of memory that only requires a shake, and there comes raining down "more stars than are in the heavens". "Oh Dext', I'm such an unholy mess." "That's no good, that's not even conversation". yours, Peter T. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: bbc Date: 30 Jun 03 - 10:59 AM I always admired her--a talented woman w/ a strong personality, a great role model. Thanks for everything, Katherine! best, bbc |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Sorcha Date: 30 Jun 03 - 05:26 PM She was our Kates' namesake............and our Kate is a LOT like her. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Walking Eagle Date: 30 Jun 03 - 07:25 PM Ms. Hepburn once said ( on the subject of marriage )" I think men and women should just live next door to one another and visit each other every once in awhile." We are all the poorer for her passing, but all the richer for having had her at all. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Jun 03 - 09:14 PM Two significant women of the century in my mind and one of them (Dorothy Parker) wrote of the other (Katherine Hepburn): "Her emotions ran the gamut from A to B." Oh well...... Karen and I are great fans. We have known for some time that her passing was near but she certainly had a great run. If I'm ever asked what love is I will suggest that listening to and reading Katherine Hepburn's letters to Spencer after his death put it far better than anyone I can think of. She was indeed the last of the old Hollywood, but she was also the best. Spaw |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: GUEST Date: 30 Jun 03 - 09:34 PM Odd not much mention has been made of her radical feminist upbringing in all this memorializing. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Walking Eagle Date: 01 Jul 03 - 06:00 PM Slight thread creep, but Lauren Bacall is still around from some of the 'old Hollywood.' |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 01 Jul 03 - 10:11 PM Katharine Hepburn was always THE actress in my book. When I was in high school I never missed watching one of her old films on TV and I would drag my friends to see her movies at some of the old revival houses in the city. Once my high school girlfriend and I were in the city and we happened to find ourselves on the block where she used to live. No, I wasn't a stalker, her address was rather well known. My girlfriend, who was an artist, drew a sketch of her townhouse for me. I no longer have the sketch, or the girlfriend, but I have great memories. I had the opportunity to see her in her last Broadway performance, West Side Waltz back in 1981. I remember there was one scene where she had to make a stage fall, using a walker - which can be very dangerous for anyone. The audience gasped as it appeared that she had actually hurt herself, but it was all part of a convincing performance. All of us have been touched by her art and life. Thank you Kate! Ron Olesko |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Tam the Bam (Nutter) Date: 02 Jul 03 - 02:19 PM She's with Spencer Tracey forever now. Tom |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Walking Eagle Date: 02 Jul 03 - 03:43 PM ...and John Ford. |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Joe Offer Date: 03 Jul 03 - 12:30 AM We watched High Society (1956), a remake of Philadelphia Story (1940) with music by Cole Porter. Grace Kelly did a good job, but she couldn't match Hepburn. And Frank Sinatra didn't come close to the outstanding performance by James Stewart. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Mrrzy Date: 03 Jul 03 - 09:28 AM Another sad, sad loss, and coming right on the heels of that other lovely, Gregory Peck. I was rooting for her to make it to 100... |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: catspaw49 Date: 03 Jul 03 - 09:49 AM Comparing the acting of Frank Sinatra to Jimmy Stewart is like comparing a Yugo to a Cadillac... Spaw |
Subject: RE: Obit: The Great Katharine Hepburn From: Peter T. Date: 03 Jul 03 - 10:12 AM Oh, Sinatra had his moments in some of those grittier films of the 50s, but, agreed, he was no Stewart. To see him and Hepburn and Grant together on the screen in The Philadelphia Story is pure bliss. I think it was Joseph Cotton who played Dexter on Broadway -- can you imagine!! I think Stewart's best performances are in Destry Rides Again and Vertigo. Destry may be the best -- it is so understated, very beautiful acting, great charisma. But Vertigo is such a great film, and the scenes where he makes over Kim Novak are terrifying. yours, Peter T. |
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