Katherine Hepburn dies, aged 96

[fable]

Just heard, on the BBC. She was from Connecticut, and came from a wealthy family. (Her father was a prominent surgeon, her mother, an advocate of women's rights and birth control.) However, Hepburn made her successes entirely on her on, with great talent, pushiness, and a willingness to voice her opinions that made her both friends and enemies. She was active until just a few years ago, but in her prime was truly a formidable actress.

[C Elegans]

She was a great actress, I loved her in "African Queen". In one way it's amazing that she didn't die until now, it really feels like she was from another era...

[fable]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans She was a great actress, I loved her in "African Queen". In one way it's amazing that she didn't die until now, it really feels like she was from another era...

You're right: she was. I've got a collection of reviews by Robert Benchley, who wrote for Life and the New Yorker back in the 1920s and 30s. Benchley actually reviewed her Hepburn's broadway stage debut, which was made after she'd had several hit films. (He was only moderatedly impressed, and reminded her that stage acting was not identical with film acting.) This puts her back through three cultural or four major cultural swings in the US. She grew up in a very different world.

[smass]

My wife's grandmother is still alive at 101 years old. It is fascinating to converse with her - like going into a time machine...

Anyway - Hepburn was a very important woman - she evolved with times and became a true matriarch. Too bad my two daughters are too young to know her - she was a great rolemodel for women and she will be missed...

[Morlock]

My Mother remembers talking with her great grand father, aged 106, about the civil war. This was in 1956 (the year he died). He had stories about how his house was constantly full of Union soldiers on the way back from the battlefield. Talk about a time machine. (one of his prized prosessions was a letter from Truman on his 100th B-Day, which was a special occasion back them)
BTW, this man was amazing- he retired at age 97 from his printing press and was still totaly coherent and was able to walk on his own at the time he died. His son died at 89. My father grand fathers died at 87 and 92. All four of my grand parents are still alive at 91, 88, 82, 77. Talk about good genes.

Sorry for boring you with my history.

On to Hepborn.
Unfortunately, I have only seen her in 4 movies, and in the 3 I liked- she was overshadowed by the male performers- those being Spencer Tracy in Adam's Rib, Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter and Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond. I really didn't like Bringing up Baby.
Some obituary, I know- but I'm sure She's great in 'Guess Who's coming to Dinner', 'The Philadelphia Story' and 'The African Queen', which are impossible to find here.

Either way, she will be missed.

[Scayde]

Kate Hepburn was perhaps my favorite actress of all time. She brought something to the roll of leading lady that none before had managed to do. I admired her for her talent, her work, and her personal convictions. The love affair she carried with Spencer Tracy is truly one of the great Love stories of all time.
At once when I heard the news, I was stunned that she could actually die, and at the same time in awe that she had still been alive.


My favorite movie in which she starred was 'Tragic Garden'.

[fable]

Quote:

Originally posted by Morlock Sorry for boring you with my history.

Boring? I only wish my family had the kind of interest in both the culture and personalities of their own past that yours did. My parents never bothered asking their parents about life in the Ukraine. That sense of the past as something precious, something that belonged to them, was completely missing. All that exists now are a few photos. So good on you. And may you pass on that gift of knowledge to your children, in turn, when the time comes.

Unfortunately, I have only seen her in 4 movies, and in the 3 I liked- she was overshadowed by the male performers- those being Spencer Tracy in Adam's Rib, Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter and Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond. I really didn't like Bringing up Baby.

Adam's Rib is a fun film, and the interplay between Hepburn and Tracy on so many levels shows why their on-screen partnership was such a tremendous success. (I think they did 7 films together, but they may have done more.) Offscreen, of course, they husband and wife in all but name. Tracy, a staunch Roman Catholic, didn't believe in divorce, and was already married.

Hepburn possessed enormous willpower. I remember hearing that she had been hospitalized about 8 years ago near physical exhaustion, because she had insisted on going ahead with a tour that would have taxed someone thirty years younger. She probably didn't want to stop; I know she said once something to the effect that all there is, is work. Kinda reminds me of Duke Ellington's comment when he was very ill, towards the end of his life, but still refused to give up the big band to his son and enter the hospital. A writer (maybe Gunther Schuller? I'm not sure) claimed the Duke said, suddenly serious, "If I go in there, I'm not going out, again." So he tried to draw out the work as long as he could. And he was right, too.

[Galuf the Dwarf]

One thing I must confess.

I actually live in Connecticut myself. Finding out that Hepburn lived here was quite an amazement. A legend in film and entertainment, a resident of such a state as the one I reside in?

Sadly, I haven't seen much of Hepburn except for a few scenes of 'African Queen' I saw on TV one day. Still, I cannot doubt that she was a true revolution and milestone in acting, and for women as well.

*bows head, mouths a silent prayer to Dumathoin to let her spirit see the wonderous secrets of the dwarves and rest in peace*

[fable]

Don't know about a revolution in acting, but she was one of the few women in Hollywood in her time who bucked the national image of women and stayed employed. I think she did this by being very canny. She never fought the studio bosses, like Louise Brooks. (Brooks, who was once the leading female talent in German and American films, was blacklisted by the powerful Louis B. Mayer because she asked for a raise after turning in several blockblusters.) Instead, she concentrated on speaking her mind about women and their role in society. She also provided a role model for the working woman, while people like Doris Day were more stereotypically publically praising women who stayed at home and raised very large families. (I still remember one image from the Doris Day Show, in the late 1960s: Day interviewing a woman from the audience who had seven children. Day turns to the audience and squeals, "Seven children! Isn't that just marvelous!" Loud applause.)

She maintained her base in New York and Connecticut, avoiding the typical Hollywood scene. She was articulate, stubborn, forceful, eccentric, thin-skinned, intelligent, shrewd, hardworking, and well-meaning. She supported countless charities with all her extraordinary vigor. Few actresses possessed her combination of individuality and genuine talent, and she had little time for the empty heads that were made into stars by the studios. Definitely one of a kind, Hepburn. She wins my O Rare Ben Jonson award for 2003.

[fable]

Two postcript, short bits on Hepburn, which came to mind shortly after the above. The first may seem complimentary and the second condemnatory, but in retrospect I think they merely show a defining element of character in Hepburn which displayed itself positively or negatively, depending upon circumstances.

First, Cary Grant--who, despite his suave image, actually came from a lower class English background, and never developed the pretensions of a Hollywood insider--once referred to Hepburn during an interview as "The most honest person in Hollywood that I ever met."

Second, an incident which occurred on a film set in the 1930s. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the lighting director who is the reference for the story, but he was extremely important in defining the clear-cut, Art Deco style of the times.

Apparently, Victor Fleming (important film director, very popular with tech folks) was having a brief disagreement with Hepburn on a stage set. She was in the first flush of her big success, and told Fleming, "Remember, I'm the star, here. Cross me, and you'll be off this film." Whereupon the lighting director (who was poised above, with his crew, on the catwalk where the lights were installed) yelled out, "Hey, Mr. Fleming! Better move aside. We almost lost hold on this light. Sure would hate to hit you with it." Hepburn threw a vicious look at Fleming, and stalked off-stage.

[Galuf the Dwarf]

Quote:

Originally posted by fable Don't know about a revolution in acting, but she was one of the few women in Hollywood in her time who bucked the national image of women and stayed employed. I think she did this by being very canny. She never fought the studio bosses, like Louise Brooks. (Brooks, who was once the leading female talent in German and American films, was blacklisted by the powerful Louis B. Mayer because she asked for a raise after turning in several blockblusters.) Instead, she concentrated on speaking her mind about women and their role in society. She also provided a role model for the working woman, while people like Doris Day were more stereotypically publically praising women who stayed at home and raised very large families. (I still remember one image from the Doris Day Show, in the late 1960s: Day interviewing a woman from the audience who had seven children. Day turns to the audience and squeals, "Seven children! Isn't that just marvelous!" Loud applause.) She maintained her base in New York and Connecticut, avoiding the typical Hollywood scene. She was articulate, stubborn, forceful, eccentric, thin-skinned, intelligent, shrewd, hardworking, and well-meaning. She supported countless charities with all her extraordinary vigor. Few actresses possessed her combination of individuality and genuine talent, and she had little time for the empty heads that were made into stars by the studios. Definitely one of a kind, Hepburn. She wins my O Rare Ben Jonson award for 2003.

Oh yes.

No wonder she's such a legend.

[Morlock]

@Fable: What exactly do you mean by 'The Ben Johnson Award'?
I know little about him, and have only seen him in Three movies- The Last Picture Show, The Wild Bunch, and Dillinger, although I really want to see The Sugarland Express.

[fable]

Not Ben Johnson, but Ben Jonson. Different guy. As you'll find out if you check our old poetry threads, my favorite poets are all dead Brits, including people like Jonson, Donne, Shakespeare, Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Dylan Thomas (several old friends used to actually pub crawl with him). There are some live Brits and Yanks, live or dead, whom I like, but only middling well. Nothing compared to this bunch.

Concerning Jonson, he was a remarkable character as well as a superb playwright and a fine poet. He was the son of a clergyman, went to war in Flanders as a soldier, fought several duels (only escaped hanging for murder by pleading benefit of clergy!), wrote extremely funny lampoons of his enemies, and had a notoriously quick and edgy wit in common conversation. He was learned in Latin and Greek, and knew the classics well. He was a wild drinker, and his jests spread across the length of merry, sinful, delightful old Londontown.

In old age, he was poor and largely forgotten by the court that gave him so much attention in his youth. Upon his death, he was buried beneath a plain slab in Westminster Abbey. But someone came along later and carved the words, "O Rare Ben Jonson!"

So I periodically give out O Rare Ben Jonson awards (and have, for my own enjoyment, over the last four years) to people that do unusual, delightful, and quirkily personal things that manifest originality and character.

Damn, I've gone and spammed up my own thread.

[nael]

quick note...her name was Katharine Hepburn. not Katherine Hepburn.

[fable]

I hope she'll forgive us, @Nael. While we're at it, what did you think of her?