Hollywood’s Katharine the Great

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 22

Hollywood’s Katharine the Great

Katharina Hepburn. By Anne Edwards. Hodder and Stoughton, 1988. 395 no. illusta. $52.95. (Reviewed by Hans Petrovic) The newspapers called her “Katharine of Arrogance.” Eccentric and overbearing at times, she gave the impression of aloofness, yet always proved loyal to her friends and family. Katharine Hepburn openly fought all her life for what she wanted and believed in, and thought that everyone else did the same. Now in her late 70s, Katharine the Great has become one of Hollywood’s living legends. Kate was once reviewed by Dorothy Parker as running the “gamut of emotions from A to B,” but as the winner of four Academy Awards, her cinema acting ability is now undisputed. Since the death of Spencer Tracy in 1967, their discreet, loving relationship, during his years of alcoholism and illness, has become as much a subject for popular nostalgia as their successful collaboration in nine films — from “Woman of the Year" (1942), through “Adam’s Rib” (49) to "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (67), which was Tracy’s Is st film. Anne Edwards, who has also written extensive biographies on Vivien Leigh and Judy Garland, gives us all the above information in its proper perspective in “Katharine Hepburn” — plus much more. We are told of Kate’s early, brief marriage to the Pennsylvania socialite, Ludlow Ogden Smith; and of

the later attempts by the millionaire aviator and film producer, Howard Hughes, to woo her, even teaching her to fly. Kate’s ties to her family were always strong, and there was nothing she loved more than to visit Fenwick, their Connecticut summer home. The Hepburns were a clannish group. Wealthy, with a doctor as head of house, they also espoused freethinking, leftist views which were considered outre at the time. Her mother, Katharine Houghton Hepburn, was an early suffragist and an advocate of birth control. The daughter continued fighting for causes, lending her name and support to the Planned Parenthood organisation for its fund-raising and letters campaign. In 1949, Kate’s name was included on a list of Hollywood actors, writers and directors considered Communist sympathisers by the House Committee for Un-American Activities. Her eccentricities can be traced back to the liberal atmosphere of the family home, where she began wearing boys’ clothes at an early age, and even shaved her head at the age of nine. It was her penchant for men’s clothing and her striking features, with protruding jaw and cheekbones, that set her apart right from the start of her slow, but steady climb as a stage actress, and her later recognition in Hollywood. Her 43 feature films included many memorable performances, including

the four Oscar winners, starting with her third movie, “Morning Glory” (1932-33) and later, "Guess, Who’s Coming to Dinner” (67), "The Lion in Winter” (68) and “On Golden Pond” (81).

The book gives delightful accounts of the hardships of film-making, such as on-location shooting in darkest Africa with John Huston and Humphrey Bogart for “The African Queen.” Her watery eyes in the later films is explained as the result of an infection she contracted in a fall into a filthy Venice canal during the filming of “Summertime” (a.k.a. “Summer Madness”), with Rossano Brazzi. Kate also had considerable success on the live stage, going so far as to tour Australia with the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in 1955. Her major departure, however, was the title role in Alan Jay Lerner’s musical, “COco,” about the French fashion designer, Coco Chanel. Her latest film listed is "The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley,” a black comedy with Nick Nolte, which has still to be seen in Christchurch.

Katharine Hepburn has had a remarkable career which rightly classifies her as an institution in the annals of film history. It is also refreshing to read about a still-living Hollywood actress who can boast success and admiration at a time when one usually reads of the selfdestructive lives of other film stars, such as Marilyn Monroe and Rachel Roberts.