# Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227 "2003-06-29T22:27:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/41 "2003-06-30T01:58:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > Ah, well, a good long life. Hope she’s **up there** kicking Specer’s ass. Hmm, if I believed in that kind of thing (which I don’t) I would have said **down there** (for the infidelity). RIP Sylvia Scarlett. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/42 "2003-06-30T02:04:09Z")
I don’t think any of the jokes were mean spirited, more a tribute to someone who really lived her life. Nothing comes close to _The African Queen_ but I thought _The Desk Set_ was a favorite too. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/43 "2003-06-30T02:05:51Z")
See, I don’t see the whole Tracy & Hepburn romance as a Great Love Story, though they were terrific together onscreen. But offscreen, he refused to divorce his wife and Kate agreed to be the Other Woman, never able to live openly with him, marry him, have kids with him. Mostly, she nursed him through his bouts of alcoholism. I see this episode (well, pretty long for an episode!) as one of the _least_ admirable things about her, and it speaks against the whole “strong, independent feminist” character. But it does make her more human: like most of the rest of us, she made a fool of herself falling in love with the wrong man! I can certainly sympathize with _that._ ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/44 "2003-06-30T02:10:36Z")
… What is there to say? She was an icon. A true one. She was the woman every woman who didn’t want to be Marilyn, wanted to be, and the woman every man who wanted more than only beauty, wanted. She had guts. She had fire. She had a sardonic wit that will be missed. And she had beauty. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/45 "2003-06-30T02:22:19Z")
What a surprise. I watched a rented copy of _Pat and Mike_ this afternoon and hadn’t a clue until I came here. _The African Queen_ or _The Philadelphia Story_ I would have liked better as a tribute, but P&M was what was on hand. I liked **Eve** ’s OP. I can see Kate skiing at 96. Bungee jumping was a bit much. DD ---
**Author:** ![BooksWoods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooksWoods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooksWoods)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/46 "2003-06-30T02:42:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*See, I don’t see the whole Tracy & Hepburn romance as a Great Love Story, though they were terrific together onscreen. But offscreen, he refused to divorce his wife and Kate agreed to be the Other Woman, never able to live openly with him, marry him, have kids with him. \*\* Are you sure she wanted to? Seems to me I read that she wasn’t into marriage and had just what she wanted with Spencer. Though that could have been cognitive dissonance on her part. Or something. Anyway, marriages aren’t usually the great romances that affairs are. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/47 "2003-06-30T02:49:42Z")
**Eve** , I’ve always thought the Tracy’s mistress thing was totally at odds with Miss Hepburn’s preaching about independence and “I’ve lived like a man.” I do love The African Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/48 "2003-06-30T02:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*See, I don’t see the whole Tracy & Hepburn romance as a Great Love Story, though they were terrific together onscreen. But offscreen, he refused to divorce his wife and Kate agreed to be the Other Woman, never able to live openly with him, marry him, have kids with him. Mostly, she nursed him through his bouts of alcoholism. I see this episode (well, pretty long for an episode!) as one of the _least_ admirable things about her, and it speaks against the whole “strong, independent feminist” character. > > But it does make her more human: like most of the rest of us, she made a fool of herself falling in love with the wrong man! I can certainly sympathize with _that._ \*\* Didn’t he also slap her a few times? I’ve never been a fan of Spencer Tracy. (Well, except for _Inherit the Wind_, he was great in that!) Seriously, she was an icon. Of course, when it comes to Hepburns, I’m much more partial to Audrey, to put it mildly, but seriously, it seems like all the great ones are leaving us-Gregory Peck just what-two weeks ago? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/49 "2003-06-30T03:07:59Z")
How many people can you say this of: She was 96 and she went too soon. Eleanore, Regina Anglorum- Salus et Vita If there was a way of retiring an actor’s number, her’s would have been 50 years ago. What’s quite strange for a 35 year old movie is that she’s the first major cast member of THE LION IN WINTER to die. (The movie is being remade for Showtime with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close, incidentally.) ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/50 "2003-06-30T03:09:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Oh, and I bet she died from falling off her Harley. \*\* Nah. She fell off a **guy** named Harley. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/51 "2003-06-30T03:15:33Z")
Here’s what she wrote in “Me” about her relationship with Tracy: “People have asked me what was it about Spence that made me stay with him for nearly 30 years. And this is somehow impossible for me to answer. I honestly don’t know. I can only say that I could never have left him. He was there — I was his. I wanted him to be happy — safe — comfortable. I liked to wait on him — listen to him — feed him — talk to him — work for him. I tried not to disturb him — irritate him — bother him — worry him, nag him. I struggled to change all the qualities which I felt he didn’t like. … “We just passed 27 years together in what was to me absolute bliss. It is called LOVE.” Yes, there were bad times. She may have been physically abused by him. He was a drinker, and she took care of him until he died. She followed her heart, and paid the price. But she lived an independent life, and chose to do what she wanted at a time when women risked their reputations to do what she did. Who can criticize her decisions simply because they look bad to us? They didn’t to her, and it’s obvious that she didn’t regret them. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/52 "2003-06-30T03:20:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\* > > What’s quite strange for a 35 year old movie is that she’s the first major cast member of THE LION IN WINTER to die. (The movie is being remade for Showtime with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close, incidentally.) \*\* The Lion In Winter is my all-time favorite movie. And the news of this Grand Lady’s demise is no surprise, but it is sad to see a talent such as hers pass on. The flavor of the month actresses today could not hold a candle to Kate. She is one of those actors that I always thought would be so fascinating to talk too. RIP Katherine. You will forever be Queen Elinor. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/53 "2003-06-30T03:28:32Z")
A Lion in Winter is also my favorite K. Hepburn movie. The chemistry with all the cast was well…excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/54 "2003-06-30T03:32:42Z")
My favorite performances: THE LION IN WINTER (if only for the “what family doesn’t have it’s ups and downs?” line) ON GOLDEN POND SUMMERTIME THE RAINMAKER DESK SET (the official movie that 4 out of 5 reference librarians show their own children when asked “What do you do Mommy/Daddy?”) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/55 "2003-06-30T04:06:37Z")
What surprised me about _The Lion In Winter_ is how little it is known. There are so many excellent lines in that movie I cannot begin to quote them. I would like to think that Katherine went into heaven she was greeted by Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/56 "2003-06-30T04:14:18Z")
I really enjoyed her perfomance in Philadelphia Story alongside Grant and Stewart. Some of her early exchanges with them are priceless. Is this the only film with the three of them together? I wish there were more IMO some of the better known Tracy-Hepburn films like Adam’s Rib and Woman of the Year are rather clumsy and melodramatic but I liked the lower-key comedies like Pat and Mike and Deskset where there is a real sweetness and charm in the scenes between her and Tracy. I may be one of the few people who enjoyed the Tracy/Hepburn political drama: Keeper of the Flame where she plays the widow of a popular political leader. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/57 "2003-06-30T05:27:46Z")
My, she was yar. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/58 "2003-06-30T05:54:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*It _kills_ me that CNN is interviewing “biographer Barbara Leaming,” a dreadful researcher and equally dreadful writer . . . \* \*\* Amen. I read her crap-tacular “biography” of Bette Davis. Worst. Book. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![thatDDperson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@thatDDperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatDDperson)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/59 "2003-06-30T06:50:19Z")
One of the thrills of my life was seeing her on Broadway in Westside Waltz. We waited outside the stage door, and although she didn’t permit photographs, she would pause on the arm of her driver and chat for a moment. She was coming out, it had been raining, and she began to slip. The driver was trying to steady her, but having trouble. My husband, who was 6’4", caught her carefully and lifted her back to her feet. She smiled at him, and said, “My dear, i’ve never fallen for someone as young as you!” Mr. Goofy Grin just smiled and thanked her. She raised an eyebrow and said “No, thank YOU. You just saved a whole battallion of producers and investors from heart attacks they’d have had if i’d broken a hip.” She patted him on the arm, asked where he was from (New Orleans, at the time) and what he was doing in New York (honeymoon). And she got his name. We don’t know how she managed to find us, but the next day there was a huge basket of fruit and flowers delivered to the hotel with a card from Miss Hepburn, thanking him for his gallant effort, and apologizing to me (by name, and no, she had not asked) if by chance he’d thrown his back out. The note was written by someone else, but the signature was hers. A classy lady, all the way around. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227/60 "2003-06-30T08:26:40Z")
She and Spencer Tracey maintained separate residences but I think there may have been some sleepovers. 🙂 (He was separated from his wife.) She and Spencer’s daughter became good friends. The term _mistress_, although technically correct, seems a little inappropriate. He did not live with his wife and Tracey and Hepburn were a couple for over twenty-five years. I had never heard that he was abusive to her sometimes. That’s sad to know. Eve, a strong and independent woman can still sometimes find that her needs are met by putting someone else first. It’s a matter of _choice_. She didn’t actually have Parkinson’s Disease. It was something that was inherited. I’ve enjoyed reading the stories of the personal encounters here. Ten years ago I received a note from her thanking me for a letter and a very old postcard photograph of Maude Adams, her favorite actress and the original Peter Pan on Broadway. In the movie _Morning Glory_, she can be seen admiring a portrait of Miss Adams. The note was written on her personal stationary and hangs on the wall near where I am sitting. It is such a treasure. Inscribed on the mantel piece in the Hepburn family home in Connecticut: > [@](#): > > Listen to the song of life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/katharine-hepburn-1907-2003/185227.md?page=4)