Guess what day today, May 12th, is?! It is the Great Katharine Hepburn's birthday. I know she is not a current Oscar topic, but I thought she would be a fun topic to discuss for a throw back Thursday topic. Kate would have been 109, and I am sure still as feisty as she was in her 80's in the 80s. Why do I have this strange obsession with America's greatest actress? Where did it start you ask? I blame the book sale, working over nights, and the love of reading. I had always known who Katharine Hepburn was; she grew up and lived roughly 45 minutes from where I grew up in Connecticut, and knew she held the record of most Oscars for Best Actress, but that was about it. Oh, I had watched On Golden Pond in middle school after seeing the play at the local senior center with my grandmothers.
It was not until I was working over nights at a hotel and bought a bunch of entertaiment biographies at the local book sale, that I found the wonder, the depth, the glory of Katharine Hepburn. The first of about 12 books dedicated to Kate that I explored was Garson Kanin's Tracy & Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir; a gossipy, slightly trashy inside look at the legendary relationship between Kate and Spencer Tracy. Kate had worked closely with Garson, his wife, Ruth Gordon, on several screenplays for the magical screen duo. The couples had bonded over dinners, shared their lives with one another, and poured over scripts together. Then in 1971, Kanin published the tell-all book and Kate flipped her wig! At this point she was still very much a private person; it was not for another 15 years or so before she started talking to the media about her personal life. (She did, however give a lengthy interview with Dick Cavett in 1973) Spencer had died in 1969, his passing must have been still fresh on her mind. Her sorta dirty laundry was aired, she was in the right not to speak to Garson for over 20 years after the book came out. And who cares if he only lived a few blocks away from her in New York City! Speaking of which, here are some pictures I took when I visited Kate's townhouse in Turtle Bay, Manhattan. It was empty and for rent at the time.
I always admired Kate for her forthrightness, such a Yankee attribute to have. Kate grew up in Hartford, the same area my paternal grandmother was raised. Even tho my grandmother was 12 years younger than Kate, she and her siblings could have been contemporaries of the younger Hepburn brood. The Hepburn's were a family of comfortable means; Kate's father being the head of Urology at Hartford Hospital, and her mother being a member of the Houghton family, a prominent New York family associated with Corning Glass (you know how much I love vintage Pyrex; I love this connection to Kate!)
With Kate's well-to-do background, she still had to fight for most things in her life. All during her childhood she was shunned by most other children in the neighborhood because of who her parents were, who they associated with (Mrs. Hepburn was close friends with Margaret Sanger, a fore-mother of the birth control movement.) and what they dabbled in. Dr. Hepburn was on the forefront of educating the public about venereal diseases and Kate's mom, well, she was a HUGE women suffragette and a founding member of what would become Planned Parenthood. With Planned Parenthood in the news recently, I am 100% sure that Kate would be out there, like her mother, taking swings at the morons who have been trying to take down Planned Parenthood. She would tell it like it is and would not care would others would have to say about her. Another event that shaped her actions for the rest of her life was the suicide of her older brother, who she idolized. He hanged himself in a family friend's apartment in New York. It was not until she published her autobiography in 1991 that her real birthday of May 12th was revealed. She has been using her brother's birthday, November 8th, as her own, her whole career.
Kate's directness and her ability to take control of the situation is one of the many things that keep me coming back to her. When she was labeled box office poison in 1938, she took time off from Hollywood, found a play just right for her, opened it on Broadway, then toured the country with the show. The show was so popular, Hollywood was calling to get the rights of the play. Since Howard Hughes bought the rights for Kate, she could sell the rights to the highest bidder, and she did. MGM won the battle; Kate winning twice since she had the most creative control over the movie. And that, Hilary, is how The Philadelphia Story came about and how the Great Kate burst back into America's heart.
Out of her 44 feature films, 10 made-for-tv movies and 2 short movies Kate did, I have only seen 23. I have seen all her Oscar winning movies, Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981) and I believe she deserved every single one! I even made a special trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C. to see her Oscars which are on display next to Kate's favorite portrait of herself. Take a look at them yourself!
Notice how the Oscar on the left is shorter and darker than the rest? Two reasons; (a), the early Oscars were of different design, and (b), the award was buried under the sands of Long Island Sound during the Hurricane of '38. Kate and her mother barely escaped their family house in Old Saybrook, Connecticut as the house was pulled into the ocean. Kate spent the next few days digging thru the sands searching for her family's possessions. She found her Oscar, the family tea service, and other family items buried under the wet sand of the Connecticut shore. Kate showed true New England spirit; she did not let Mother Nature defeat her. She rose to the challenge and played Mother Nature's cruel game of hide-n-seek and won! The two stories I have heard about where she kept her Oscars are: she lent them to the Empire State Building to be on display and one from her housekeeper and cook, Norah, who once showed the statuettes to her daughter. The golden statues were in an upstairs bedroom closet, tucked away from prying eyes. Upon her death, the Hepburn family donated the Oscars to the Smithsonian for public display.
Kate never once showed up to receive one of her Oscars. Ever. On her surprise interview with Dick Cavett in 1973, she admitted she was afraid she wouldn't win. In Kate's words "too gutless." But she was far from gutless in 1974 when she surprised the Academy with an Oscar ceremony appearance. She was there to present Lawrence Weingarten with the Irving G. Thalberg Award. If Weingarten was not so ill, and Kate not such a loyal friend, she would have never showed her face at the Academy Awards. At this appearance, I LOVE how she wore her gardening sandals. The Academy offered to send over outfits to wear, but she refused, and wore something comfortable and sensible, in true Hepburn fashion.
We know Kate had the most Oscar nominations of her time. 12 noms. Meryl Streep is reigning champ in that department with 18. Meryl has three wins under her belt, and probably another good 25 years of acting left in her. Will she beat The Great Kate in award count? Yes. Meryl has to win three more Oscars to properly beat Kate, in my opinion. Kate has four Best Actress awards. Meryl has only TWO Best Actress awards and a Best Supporting Actress award. Yes, Meryl has three statues on her mantel, but she only has TWO, while Kate has FOUR Best Actress awards. Will Meryl get a nom for the Florence Foster Jenkins biopic coming out soon? The GOWD's at the Academy love her! Maybe 19 for Meryl, I would not be surprised!
While Meryl is the Kate of her generation, I believe that Jennifer Lawrence is the Kate of her/our generation. All three actress were awarded an Oscar early in their careers. Meryl and J-Law both show Hepburn-esque qualities. They are not the normal Hollywood types. They do not shun the shininess of SoCal as Kate did, but they are not fully splashed everywhere. Well, J-Law does get splashed around in the press sometimes, but she handles it in stride and has fun with the media, much like Kate did when she was younger. One of my favorite press quotes from Kate is when she was asked if she had any children and she replied "Yes, two white and three colored." Imagine if J-law said that today in this day and age?!? All Hell would break out in the media and J-Law hung out to dry! I think Jennifer Lawrence will have a very long career, similar to Streep's and Hepburn's.
One of my favorite Kate Oscar stories was told by Jane Fonda. Both Jane and Kate were nominated for On Golden Pond. At that point in their careers, Kate had three Oscars and Jane had two. If Jane won, she would be tied with Kate. Jane lost while Kate won. After the Oscar's, Fonda received a phone call. It was Kate, who cackled "You'll never catch me now!" in to the phone and abruptly hung up. What a fucking bad ass!!! If Jane wants another Oscar, maybe she should redo On Golden Pond opposite Bruce Dern with Laura Dern playing the daughter. I smell Oscar nominations all around!
Hollywood has come along way since 1932. From powerful studios owning the actors and basically the whole movie making process, to the 100's of indie film production companies running rampant nowadays, could Katharine Hepburn survive in the film industry today? She would still have a niche, but I doubt she would be a household name like she was. She would be nominated here and there for an Oscar, but twelve times? Probably not. Since Kate did not want to play the Hollywood publicity game, she would have a hard time being in a major Hollywood blockbuster; she would HATE the press junket. A small indie film is where Kate would fit right in.
So to you Hil, what do you think of The Great Kate? Think she would be a star if she started her career today? Is she the greatest actress of American cinema like most notable lists and institutions seem to say? Will Meryl and/or J-Law surpass Kate's winning record? Only time will tell.
Cheers to you for making it thru all my ramblings,
Stephen
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