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IN MEMORIAM
Katherine Hepburn, First Lady of
Cinema (1907-2003)
By
Sara Michelle Fetters
To many,
Katherine Hepburn was known simply as the First Lady of Cinema.
To others, she was simply known as Kate. Born on May 12, 1907 in
Hartford, Connecticut, to me Hepburn will always be one of the
grand dames of classic film and one of the main reasons I became
so addicted to cinema. From Bringing Up Baby to
Suddenly, Last Summer to On Golden Pond, I was raised
on the films of Miss Hepburn so her passing this past week was
truly a sad day.
Leaving
behind a legacy of classic after classic, it is interesting to
note that at one point in her legendary career Kate was labeled
"box office poison" for a string of financial disasters between
1935 and 1938. But her indomitable talent always shown through
and it was only a matter of time before she was back on top once
again. Starting with The Philadelphia Story, a theatrical
adaptation she personally shepherded from stage to screen,
Hepburn had a remarkable string of hits resulting in a career
that amassed an astounding 12 Academy Award nominations (a
record until Meryl Streep received her 13th nod last year) and a
still-record four wins.
The following
is a list of ten films I consider to be Katherine Hepburn
essentials. Unfortunately, much of her greatest work is still
not available on DVD. Luckily, you can find most of it on VHS
and even if that medium is only a pale alternative, any way you
can watch the work of this remarkable actress is worthwhile. Dig
in and enjoy.
Morning Glory
«««
(1933, Lowell Sherman, RKO, VHS only)
Kate won her
first Oscar portraying would-be-actress Eve Lovelace in this
splendidly witty comedy. Worth it just for Hepburn’s wondrous
reactions to the lecherous advances of philandering theatrical
manager Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou). Co-starring Douglas
Fairbanks Jr.
Little Women
«««1/2
(1933, George Cukor, MGM, Warner DVD)
During the
same year, Kate starred along with Joan Bennett and Paul Lukas
in this sublime adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel. Playing
title character Jo, looking back many film historians think
Hepburn should have won her Oscar here. Either way, this is
still an un-equaled telling (that includes the very-good 1994
Winona Ryder version) of the classic novel and well worth a
watch.
Bringing Up
Baby
««««
(1938, Howard Hawks, RKO, VHS only)
A box office
failure at the time of its release, Baby is now
considered to be one of the great screwball comedies of all
time. Hepburn and Grant are simply wonderful together and the
great Hawks holds things together with an assured and steady
hand. If you don’t laugh watching this than you might not have a
single funny bone in your entire body, and I’d put together an
entire dinosaur skeleton to prove it.
The
Philadelphia
Story
««««
(1940, Cukor, MGM, Warner DVD)
Ahhh – The
Philadelphia
Story.
Even just mentioning the title makes me start to grin. As a
return to the big screen, Hepburn could not have done better for
herself. And didn’t she know it. Buying up the rights to the
play after making it a hit on Broadway, she had final say in
regards to casting and who sat in the director’s chair. Winning
Oscars for actor James Stewart and screenwriter Donald Ogden
Stewart, this is one of the all-time greats. It’s hard to get
better than this, that’s for sure, and it’s all enough to make
me want to sail off into the sunset on the “True Love” with Cary
Grant.
Woman of the
Year
«««
(1942, George Stevens, MGM, Warner DVD)
Important for
many reasons, the chief being this is the first moment Spencer
Tracy first looked upon Katherine Hepburn. Eight films and
twenty-five years of romance later, we still talk about their
love affair as if it was the stuff of legend. Granted, it just
might have been at that.
The African
Queen
««««
(1951, John Huston, 20th Century Fox, VHS only)
Billed as
“the greatest adventure a man ever lived,” Huston’s pairing of
the forceful-yet-proper Hepburn and the rogue-ish Bogart has
gone down in film history as one the truly great romantic
adventures of all-time. Although it was Bogart who won his first
– and only – Oscar, it is Kate that’s asked to undergo the
biggest transformation. Brash, brave, frigid, warm and
completely human, Hepburn out does herself and Huston scored
with one of his greatest triumphs.
Desk Set
«««1/2
(1957, Walter Lang, MGM, VHS only)
My favorite
of all the Tracy/Hepburn pairings, Desk Set was also one
of the first films to follow the advent of computers into the
workplace. It also was a biting, ahead-of-its-time battle
of the sexes comedy that dared to suggest women could be a man’s
equal in the corporate office. Sure, that was more or less the
same shtick that the duo had been coasting on in their previous
outings, but for some reason it just seems sharpest to me here.
Suddenly,
Last Summer
«««1/2
(1959, Joseph L Mankiewicz, Columbia, Columbia Classics DVD)
Hepburn
should have won an Oscar for her slightly insidious turn as Mrs.
Veneble in the darkly perverse and stylish classic, but her vote
was split by Elizabeth Taylor whom played her daughter in the
film. No matter, this is a rare pre-MPAA Hollywood film that
dares to delve into some pretty intense subject matter, and
Kate, Liz and the wonderful Montgomery Clift outdo themselves.
Worth it just for the killer final scene – just try and watch it
without covering your eyes.
The Lion in
Winter
««««
(1968, Anthony Harvey, MGM, MGM DVD)
Made right
after the death of husband and compatriot Spencer Tracy, The
Lion in Winter proved to be just the right outlet for Kate
to release all of the pent-up emotion buried inside. A film full
of deception, treachery and regret, it is the re-blossoming love
between Hepburn’s Eleanor of Aquitaine and Peter O’Toole’s King
Henry II that makes the film truly resonate.
On Golden
Pond
«««1/2
(1981, Mark Rydell, Universal Pictures, Artisan DVD)
Over
twenty-years later, Rydell’s interpretation of the Ernest
Thompson play still continues to echo strongly in the hearts of
movie watchers. Hepburn and Henry Fonda both won their final
Oscars for their performances here, while Henry’s daughter Jane
also received a nomination for supporting actress. A movie full
of heart and passion, it is one tear jerker that earns those
droplets honestly.
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