KATE REMEMBERED is aptly titled as it is presented as conversations with the author, Scott Berg, and Katharine Hepburn from 1983 until her death in 2003 at age 96. Her remembrances seem to reflect how she remembered life through the filter of the author. While many criticized the book as having too much of the author interjected into the discussion, I liked it. I felt that he was relating the stories her heard, saw and coaxed out of Hepburn. Overtime, the author, got to know the family and friends of Hepburn, was a welcomed guest at her homes ( in New York’s Turtle Bay section, 244 49th St. and at Fenwick, a neighborhood of Old Saybrook, CT) so as time progressed, he was included in their personal lives.
With a biography such as this, I truly felt that I was an insider. I learned snippets of what Hepburn said, things she ate/drank, places she loved to go and insight into her family. It turns out that I knew very little about her earlier film career, her turns on the stage, her romances and the lulls in her career when she was considered “box office poison.” Thus, I closed this book with a list of movies I have to view and a desire to investigate people who touched her life.
The book is written in a very easy reading style and engages the reader through various stories from all periods of Hepburn’s life. For readers familiar with the area – Hartford, Connecticut Shore, New York City – the book also offers some insights into local events and figures.
“I’m endlessly fascinating.” The product of generations of strong women and a supportive yet bullying father who encouraged an athletic lifestyle and activist mother, the author outlines her youth including college, the tragedy of her Brother Tom’s suicide and her origins that made her outspoken, demanding and smart. Long before actors started funding their own projects or commanding high salaries, Hepburn was working out the numbers. She knew the egos of other actors and she counseled directors on how to get the talent. She considered her parents great examples of courage, common-sense and unconformity, and led her life with these tenets.
All-American Garbo. Silent film stars were revealed with heavily accented voices when talkies hit the screen and many producers wanted All-American talent. Hollywood courted Hepburn at the age of 25. She began a wild ride with film, stage and television that made her the most nominated actress for the Best Actress Oscar (12) winning the honor four times. While she considered her performances like a meal – Little Woman, her 4th movie, was a “main course” performance while Morning Glory was a “dessert performance” – she was not blind to the poor performances in her filmography. We see that was fired from jobs and learned from other actors crediting Hope William with changing her acting style and greatly influencing her career.
For context, at the height of her career, Hepburn commanded $50,000 for four weeks of work. At her low, she was paid $10,000. She rose to the top of her career with RKO and worked with key actors and directors. The author provides a steady flow of tales during her Hollywood years – with detail on the houses she rented and the men she romanced.
Kate Smith. Married when she was young, she went to Hollywood for her career and her husband stayed back East. To avoid a public relations nightmare, she made her husband change his name from Luddy Ogden Smith to S Luddy Ogden so she would not be Kate Smith. But, working independently in the West, she finally cut her husband loose in 1934. [He promptly remarried.] We see Hepburn selfishly hold on to her husband – who really was a supportive friend – and find enchantment with many leading men in the late 30’s – Joel McCrea, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Howard Hughes. Further, the author provides insight into Howard Hughes’ latter years through his interaction with Hepburn.
Box Office Poison. Bringing Up Baby – today a fun romp of a movie, in1938 ended Hepburn’s wild, Hollywood years with the movie deemed a failure. The author brings us back to Fenwick and the New York stage scene where Hepburn lays low until 1940. She finds an opportunity with the play The Philadelphia Story and buys the film rights for this play in partnership with Howard Hughes. The author notes that Hepburn was ahead of her time with acquiring material to later produce in Hollywood. She demonstrates her savvy and her ability to affect her destiny.
Dream Team. Hepburn did not know Tracy until they worked together in Woman of the Year. He was considered a drunk and a womanizer. The author provides insight into Tracy through his youth and his family life with Louise Treadwell. The romance of Hepburn and Tracy, however, did not unfold until the movie. Then, it unfolded on screen. Tracy, with a ranch in escrow in Encino for his family, never went back. He and Hepburn would make eight movies together and their romance would last for 25 years.
Hepburn came into Tracy’s life and stuck with him. She hoped to help improve his sense of low self-esteem. She knew he was not perfect, but was devoted to him. When she traveled back east or for work, she knew Tracy would especially binge. Often seated at his feet while at home, she commented that they sometimes were just quiet together like an old married couple. The largest gap in Hepburn’s career was 1962 to 1967. This was the last five years of Tracy’s life, and the author describes her reluctance to talk about this time with Tracy. Her work to get him on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner , and her role in using her funds to secure the production if he should fail to make it – is a poignant story about his last hurrah. The film for Tracy was wrapped May 26th, and he died of a heart attack June 10 – 15 days later.
The 4th Act. At age 60 – Hepburn continued to work. She mixed more television into her performances and won two more Best Actress Oscars. The author reviews her television roles and the long ‘romancing’ from Warren Beatty to play a role in his remake of An Affair to Remember. It was not until she was well into her 80’s that she slowed. She believed that in her life she had good fortune. She never lost her work ethic or her love of nature’s beauty. She swam every day summer or winter until it was physically impossible.
Encore. The author writes of Hepburn’s golden years as an insider to her declining health. In her 90’s, she was plagued with the same slow-down of most seniors as they age: Her mind wandered as if it were going on a short voyage in her memory. She grew weak, less interested in food, unable to exercise, and more child-like with bright-eyed expressions but no coherent comments.
Tidbits:
- Alcoholic drink of choice: Scotch
- Favorite wild flower: Queen Anne’s Lace
- Her mother started Planned Parenthood with Margaret Sanger.
- “Listen to the Song of Life” by Charles Dudley Warner was inscribed into her childhood home’s fireplace. She kept it close to her on an embroidered pillow.
- Brother Tom committed suicide on NYC trip when she was a teen. They were visiting an aunt. The family believes it was an experiment gone wrong.
- May 12, 1907 birthday but she often used Tom’s Nov. birthday as her own.
- Vowed to not attend the Oscars after 1934 because she was unwilling to lose.
- Surprised the 1974 Oscar attendees by appearing to present the Irving Thalberg award to Lawrence Weingarten.
- Tracy’s son was born deaf and he blamed himself for this disability
- As understudy to Hope Williams on stage – she learned how to act with style.
- Hepburn never bought a house in Hollywood. She only rented.
- First Movie: A Bill of Divorce w/director George Cukor
- Best Performance: Alice Adams
- Worst Movie: The Iron Petticoat
- Hated Movie: Suddenly Last Summer – but knows it was considered trailblazing.
- Niece Katharine Houghton (Grant) played in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” with her and Spencer Tracy. Houghton is her middle name.
- Befriend news broadcaster Cynthia McFadden and maintained a life-long friendship.
- Befriended Michael Jackson. Had him over for dinner. An odd scene.
- First met Henry Fonda during filming of On Golden Pond
- Worked with a young Timothy Dalton in Lion In Winter and a young Christopher Reeve on stage in A Matter of Gravity
- On meditating twice a day: “Christ – how much is there to think about?”
- On retirement: “As long as people are buying what I’m selling…I’m still selling.”
Vocabulary: unguents, avers, canard, perusing, post-prandially, anodyne, equanimity, phylum, encomiastic, pedicels, peduncle.
By: Joanne
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