This tribute is the property of Worth Remembering Publishing
© 2006
Katharine Houghton Hepburn
1907 – 2003
My earliest memory of this feisty woman, that I would come to know as Katharine Hepburn, came as I watched Little Women. I found her to be fascinating. She was unlike other actresses of her time. She was loud, opinionated and utterly charming all the while. I soon found that I was not alone in my opinions. Millions more adored her too.
Katharine’s parents taught her to be independent, to discuss the deep issues and to speak her mind. They lived by those same principals. They lived in a stately home in Connecticut where her father, Dr. Thomas Hepburn was a successful urologist. Her mother Katharine (Kit) was heavily involved in women’s suffrage and family planning issues Mrs. Hepburn co-founded Planned Parenthood. Their dinners were loud and informative. Her parents encouraged lively debates nightly among her five brothers and sisters.
Her brother Tom Hepburn was two years older, the eldest child in the family. When Katharine was fifteen years old she found him hanging in the barn. She was never able to believe he had committed suicide. Years later she would admit to being two years younger than she had always claimed to be. She had taken her brother Tom’s birth date as her own to honor him. It was an event that she never recovered from entirely.
Dr. Hepburn insisted on his children being athletic. Katharine excelled at sports. She was adept at swimming, golf, tennis and figure skating. She once won a bronze medal in Figure skating from the Madison Square Garden figure skating club. Swimming and golf were sports she remained involved in heavily throughout her life. She would continue to swim in the frigid waters in Connecticut until well into her eighties. Sometimes breaking the ice to do so. She believed it kept her healthy.
While attending Bryn Mawr College, she met her future husband, Ludlow (“Luddy”) Ogden Smith. They married in 1928 when she finished college. She had achieved degrees in history and philosophy. That same year she landed a bit part on Broadway in Night Hostess. As an aspiring actress, she did not want to be know as Kate Smith. There was already a entertainer with that name. She demanded that her husband change his name. He became S. Ogden Ludlow. In the end Katharine decided to use her Maiden name. Their marriage was rocky from the start. Katharine would later say that marriage is an unnatural state. She is known to have once quipped, “Women and Men should live separately and visit often.” She believed every word to be true. They divorced six years after they married. Katharine would never marry again.
The four Oscars and twelve nominations she earned throughout her extensive career are proof of how much she was loved as an actress. One would never believe that in the early stages of her career she was blacklisted and labeled “box office poison”. Ever resilient, Katharine left Hollywood and return to Broadway until she could stage a comeback. Upon her return, she auditioned for a major film titled, A Bill Of Divorcement. In true Hepburn fashion, she demanded an outlandish $1,500 per week for film work. She had been earning just eighty dollars a week. After seeing her screen test, studio executives agreed to her demands.
In the 1930’s, with backing from her ex-boyfriend Howard Hughes, she bought the rights to a play she had starred in. Her performance in that film, The Philadelphia Story would bring her an Oscar nomination. Women of the time just didn’t do such things as that. Women didn’t buy stories and have them made; they dutifully did as they were told.
Defying tradition was the norm for Ms. Hepburn. She was outspoken in defense of herself, but also in defense of others. If she saw something that was unfair, she made sure to voice her opinion. She was gifted with a classic patrician beauty, and was a favorite with directors in spite of what they considered to be her loud mouth.
In 1942 she fell in love with Spencer Tracy. It was a controversial affair. He was a married man. They met while starring in the film Woman Of The Year. Their relationship would last until his death thirty years later. His strict Roman Catholic beliefs prevented him for divorcing his wife. It was agreed that they would be as discreet as possible out of respect for his wife. Katharine was content to be the love of his life. They would go on to become the most beloved couple in film, starring together in nine movies throughout their careers. Spencer Tracy is said to be the only person in her life that could quiet her. She literally sat at his feet gazing up at him as he spoke. Their chemistry on screen and off was captivating to see. Even the many critics who condemned them were won over by their deep affection for each other.
Just days after completing the film Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Spencer Tracy died. Out of respect for his wife and family, she did not attend his funeral. Ms. Hepburn always maintained that she never watched the film. It was just too painful.
Men loved this beautiful woman on the screen. Women admired her strength. They wanted to be as brash as she was. Her ability to not worry what others thought of her was envied. She wore pants almost exclusively long before it was the fashion to do so. Her reputation as an often-cantankerous star never bothered her. It was, in her opinion, very near sighted to object to strong women speaking their mind. It would not be possible for her to be any less; she was raised to be just as she was. She wouldn’t apologize for it.
Ms. Hepburn once said of her early ambition: “I didn’t have any desire to be an actress or to learn how to act. I just wanted to be famous.” The limelight thrilled her. Yet she wasn’t known to steal it. She often stood up for lesser-known actors. On the set of Adam’s Rib, she refused a close-up because the other female lead should have been featured. Her generosity was legendary. In an interview with Christopher Reeve he stated, “She used to say to me, “Be fascinating, Christopher,” and I’d say, “Well, that’s easy for you. The rest of us have to work at it.” She was fascinating to everyone who knew her.
In all the years of televised Oscar award shows, she only appeared once. To give a lifetime achievement award away. If she was the winner, someone else always accepted for her. One such award stayed in the paper bag that she suggested storing it in, on her living room table for over ten years. It meant little to her to be accepted in such a way. She would have been more impressed by an award for her character, not her acting.
While she was always somewhat reclusive away from cameras she became more so as she aged. Her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut became her haven. Friends were frequently invited in, but Katharine rarely left home. Her gardens, hobbies and friends became her only outlets. She was also an avid painter and sculptor. A bust she sculpted of Spencer Tracy was used in their last film together.
She had never wanted to have children. She believed that she would have been a terrible mother. Her siblings gave her nieces and nephews; they adored her and visited often. Several of them have followed in her footsteps and are actors today.
She was 96 years old when she died of natural causes. In honor of her extensive theater work, the bright lights of Broadway were dimmed for an hour. Lauren Bacall said of her friend; “Time with her was more than time well spent. A little bit with her was worth days and weeks and months with somebody else.”
Annie Thomas- Burke
It is a fact that in his lifetime he recorded and released nearly 300 songs, about 140 of which he had written. He was so much more than a singer and songwriter. His work touched and changed a world.
His music garnered fourteen gold albums and eight platinum albums in the U.S alone. In 1996 John was thrilled to be inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.
in film are profoundly felt. Lucy managed the successful production company Desilu. Desi held a lesser role, and when they divorced years later Lucy bought Desi’s share. She became the first female to head a production company in America. Her Desilu Productions went on to produce many hit sitcoms of the time. Among them were Make Room For Daddy, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Star Trek.
of being a radio show actress. It was her radio show role on My Favorite Husband that gave her the idea to pitch the same story line for a television show. Domestic comedies were just coming to television, and she wanted in on it. The executives however, did not like the choice of her husband as her leading man. They believed he wouldn’t be popular, and doubted if anyone would be able to understand his heavy accent. Lucy insisted that he would be a hit and set out to prove it to the executives. In true Lucy style she took the act on the road. When it was a sell out hit, the network relented and gave her a show.
