Katharine Hepburn: 1907-2003

[ZUBi]

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hepburn,+Katharine


with all my respect, R.I.P.

Actress Katharine Hepburn, one of the silver screen's true legends and the actress considered the first lady of cinema, died at the age of 96 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. An iconoclast who worked the Hollywood system to her advantage, she was honored with 12 Academy Award nominations, the most for any actor until Meryl Streep broke that record last year. Hepburn won an unparalleled four Best Actress Oscars – one for the 1933 drama Morning Glory, two in a row in 1967 and 1968 for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Lion in Winter, and her final one for 1981's On Golden Pond. Known for her patrician New England accent, pioneering feminist stance, and unconventional bearing and beauty, Hepburn acted onstage in New York before being lured to Hollywood with a role in A Bill of Divorcement opposite John Barrymore. From there, her career hit both highs and lows, but she remained a Hollywood fixture well into the latter part of the 20th century. Early successes such as Alice Adams and Little Women were followed by financial failures like Bringing Up Baby (now a classic of the screwball genre) which labeled her "box-office poison." Going back to Broadway, she wowed critics and audiences with her turn in The Philadelphia Story, and bought the rights for the 1940 screen adaptation, which revived her film career. The '40s saw her paired with longtime lover Spencer Tracy (a relationship she rarely discussed) in films like Woman of the Year and Adam's Rib, while the '50s saw her star in the classic The African Queen, among other films. After her Oscar wins in the late '60s, Hepburn worked less, and also turned to the small screen in acclaimed television films. Her career was capped with her turn in On Golden Pond opposite Henry Fonda, and she made her last screen appearance in 1994's Love Affair. In the '90s she retired to her home in Connecticut, where she spent her remaining years in declining health.

source: main page on IMBd

[Lafce]

Sad news . First Gregory Peck, now Katharine...RIP.

[Kat]

Rest in Peace.

[radstar]

i loved "Bringing up Baby", she wuz very good in that. It's very sad to hear what happened. Wow, she wuz really old... well she's in a better place now.

R.I.P.

[Granite]

For my 500th post I wanted to do more than a simple post, so here is a few words from the great Katherine Hepburn

(Courtesy cnn.com)

Quotes from Katharine Hepburn's 1991 book, "Me."

(On her failed marriage; she says she spent years "using" her husband.)

I am looking back and realizing what the truth was. The motives back of the action. I don't think that it was all as cold-blooded as it sounds. I hope not. But the truth has to be that I was a terrible pig. My aim was ME ME ME. All the way -- up -- down -- all about.

------
(On John Wayne, with whom she worked on "Rooster Cogburn"

He was always on time. Always knew the scene. Always full of notions about what should be done. Tough on a director who had not done his homework. Considerate to his fellow actors. Very impatient with anyone who was inefficient. And did not bother to cover it up. ...

And with all this he has a most gentle and respectful gratitude toward people who he feels have contributed very firmly to his success. His admirers. ... None of that complicated Self-Self-Self which seems to torment myself and others who shall be nameless when they are confronted with the Prize for good performance.

------
(On her parents

The were indeed amazing, these two. The door of our house was always open. Come In. Well, tell us about it. Come with us -- spend the night -- stay to lunch. No no, there's plenty of room, always.

And I think, How I miss you two. I was so used to turning to you. It was heaven. Always to have you two to turn to in despair, in joy. There you were: strong -- funny. Two rocks. What you did for me -- wow! What luck to be born out of love and to live in an atmosphere of warmth and interest.

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I never look at notices. So they don't exist. Or at movies that I have made. They don't exist. My past sins, so to speak.

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(On her first major acting job, as an understudy

I learned the part and sat on the sidelines quite convinced that I would be far superior to the leading lady. ... She was a very competent actress who did not have the advantage of being very young and absolutely outrageous and full of a sort of wild confidence based on nothing but energy and ego. (Hepburn wrote she eventually got the part, but then overconfidence ruined her opening night performance and the original leading lady was hired back.)
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Makes "Tea at Five" all the more important

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/71916.html

You will be missed Miss Hepburn.

[radstar]

Originally posted by Granite

(On her parents

The were indeed amazing, these two. The door of our house was always open. Come In. Well, tell us about it. Come with us -- spend the night -- stay to lunch. No no, there's plenty of room, always.

And I think, How I miss you two. I was so used to turning to you. It was heaven. Always to have you two to turn to in despair, in joy. There you were: strong -- funny. Two rocks. What you did for me -- wow! What luck to be born out of love and to live in an atmosphere of warmth and interest.