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Now She Really Is a Goddess
Posted by Stephen Green · 30 June 2003
My childhood sweetheart died yesterday. Sadly, the news came as no surprise to me, or to anyone else. Katharine Hepburn was 96. In the Age Before Cable, we had five TV stations to choose from six, if you counted PBS, which I didn't and don't. Saturday afternoons, you could watch sports, sports, sports, sports, or old movies on KPLR-11. I chose old movies. What was my first Kate movie? Hell if I can remember now. Probably something with Spencer, but maybe Cary or Jimmy. I do remember falling in love right then.
Kate wore a lot of men's shirts, too. Your standard broadcloth dress shirt, only Kate rolled up the sleeves and turned up the collars. My Grandmother Macon, who grew up partly in Kate's shadow, often did the same thing. They both made it work, but Kate made it hers. You could doll her up and Hollywood did all you wanted, and she'd be the prettiest belle at the ball. But it was when she was wearing her own clothes in her own style that my heart skipped a little. Her face. . .words fail me. Cheekbones to cut glass with, framed below two of the piercingest eyes I ever saw. That flawless nose, a jaw line forged from some amazing alloy, and history's most perfect, sensuous, and inviting lips. Kate, in short, was a knockout. And not a knockout in the lazy way we've grown too used to, with boobs falling out everywhere and microskirts with a slit all the way up to the left ovary. Kate was probably smarter than you, and not shy about letting you know it. She was almost certainly better-bred and better-mannered, and equally forthcoming when it came time to put boors in their place. But then you'd see her in an interview, and realize that she wasn't at all aloof or cruel. Kate was warm and kind and funny in the shocking kind of way only a real lady can manage. Kate said she didn't believe even married men and women should live together, but rather, "should live next door and visit from time to time." Not that she was much fond of marriage. Her advice to young ladies was, "If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married." Not even Myrna Loy had more sass than Kate. But then Kate never did like to come in second. Spencer Tracy, her longtime lover, died in Kate's kitchen late one night, pouring himself a drink. Upon finding his body, she called Spencer's wife and said, "I presume you know who I am. Spencer has died." She was tough before tough was cool, a feminist before feminism was cool, independent before independence was cool, and cool before even cool was cool. All that goodness, however, isn't what made Kate my very first crush. Whoever help me, I've always loved, and always will love, that voice. It's easy to mistake her brittle New England accent for something less sexy or less sophisticated. But listen closely, and you'll hear whisky and smoke poured through velvet, with a delivery that could soothe like a gin martini or burn like acid. Most people might prefer Lauren Bacall, and she's such a fine pick that I couldn't argue. But I'll take Kate. In its Golden Age, Hollywood made only three movies I consider perfect: The Philadelphia Story, Casablanca, and The African Queen. Bogart is the only actor to star in two of the three and Kate is the only actress. And when you consider Kate had to share the screen with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, without somehow getting lost in the shuffle, you'll realize she had a harder job than Bogart ever did. And unlike Bogey, sometimes Kate had to do it all in a skirt. Comments
I would add to what you said, but you already covered all the reasons I thought she was the best actress of that era, or really IMO of any era. And why she was such a beauty. Like you said, we all knew it was coming, but it's still a sad day. Posted by: david at June 30, 2003 02:51 AMI believe your wife now knows she got you on the rebound. Posted by: Lionel Mandrake at June 30, 2003 03:12 AMDid you see that 60 Minutes interview with her a few years back? She went from being a wonderful young woman to being a Great Old Broad, and I mean that in the most complimentary way, as I'm sure you know. Great Old Broad=Absolute National Treasure as far as I'm concerned, and that's just what she was till the end. France has one of those as well, and she was on TV last night too, if you didn't know.... Posted by: Mike at June 30, 2003 06:17 AMMy personal favorite is Woman of the Year--which predated, and articulated all the debates about feminism that people assume are new. She played an independent, successful executive who marries (Spencer Tracy) and then abandons the foster child they've adopted in order to attend an award ceremony. Tracy refuses to go with her in order to stay home with the child. In the ensuing blowup he says, as she angrily heads off to get her award: "You're not a woman at all". So the conflict between the demands of independent business success, and parenthood and femininity are all succinctly presented. She is great because she captures the inner tension as she tries to reconcile the conflicting roles. Posted by: Stephen at June 30, 2003 07:26 AMShe played my all-time favorite literary hero, Jo March, in "Little Women." After seeing her in that role I couldn't help but believe that Louisa May Alcott looked and talked just like her. Posted by: sulizano at June 30, 2003 09:17 AMHeroine. I meant heroine. Posted by: sulizano at June 30, 2003 09:17 AM"The calla lillies are in bloom again." Stage Door? W/Ginger, Lucy, Eve, Kate and others too numerous to mention, if I remember correctly. But the best scene (IMHO) in Philadelphia Story is Grant & Stewart when Stewart is drunk. Watch Cary and his hands, not Jimmy. I do not know how they could not laugh. "Oh, C. K. Dexter Haven!" And if you want a really old Jimmy and Penny Singleton (Blondie) w/Myrna Loy and William Powell, I think it's The Thin Man #4. A Lion in Winter, a must not miss. And Bringing Up Baby. Well, we'll see how PEOPLE rates Katherine, cover or no. No one's left and the current crop can't hold a candle, much less be in the same room. They acted, weren't background for special effects. Posted by: Sandy P. at June 30, 2003 10:17 AM"No one's left and the current crop can't hold a candle, much less be in the same room. They acted, weren't background for special effects." You said it, Sandy. And might I add that in the old movies, their romantic scenes were sexier than the ones today, in spite of the fact (or more probably because if it) that they kept their clothes on! The passing of an era. Posted by: Barbara Skolaut at June 30, 2003 10:23 AMThe two most beautiful women in Hollywood are dead. Dear Audrey died a few years ago, and now beautiful Katherine. Will we ever see their like again? Posted by: Keith McComb at June 30, 2003 02:36 PMYour post names all so great, I'll steal it. Posted by: Lilli Marleen at June 30, 2003 02:48 PM"No one's left and the current crop can't hold a candle, much less be in the same room. They acted, weren't background for special effects." My two favorite actresses were Kate and Audrey Hepburn. Kate is one of the reasons my first daughter is named Katherine. (Though to quote one acquaintance on hearing that our daughter was a Katie, "They're awfully willful, aren't they?") If she grows up to be half what Kate Hepburn was, I'll feel I did a good job raising her. Posted by: LibraryGryffon at June 30, 2003 05:14 PMOne of my all-time fav Kate Hepburn movies is Holiday, w/Cary Grant, Edward Everett Horton and some other great folks. I believe it was originally a stage play written for Kate and then made into a movie. Some great acrobatics and some wonderful adlibs are thrown in. And as for the movies with Spence, surely Adam's Rib has to be at or near the top. Fare-WELL, Amanda! Adios, Adio, Adieux! Posted by: RLG at June 30, 2003 06:45 PMThere's a really great movie Katherine Hepburn made after the Lion in Winter--Euripides "Trojan Women" scripted in Edith Hamilton's translation. I could go on and on. Instead, I'll quote Joe Bob Briggs: Check it out! Posted by: Brooks at June 30, 2003 09:47 PMCan't really agree, RV. Kate, Bette, Ginger, Maureen, Myrna did a lot of good and enjoyable/lite stuff when they were young. The real problem isn't the part, it's the writers. They have no concept. One of the best comparisons I can make is watch Barefoot in the Park w/Fonda/Redford and Mildred Natwick. Natwick's character was supposed to be 52(?) Compare the stereotype 52 y.o. in the late 60s and Cher. Meg Ryan might be one of the few who can have a long career. Sigorney, she'll be wonderful as the rich matriarch. Sarandon, I won't watch, except for certain parts of Rocky Horror. Streep will still get the good parts. There's no depth. I think I'd rather be Mary Wickes, at least I'd work until I died, she voiced one of the gargoyles in Disney's Hunchback. They shone even then. I see Charlie's T&A redux didn't pull in as much as hoped. Posted by: Sandy P. at June 30, 2003 10:56 PMMy first wild thought after seeing Ms Hepburn in "The Lion in Winter": "My God, they could say that back then?!?!?!?!" Some of the dialogue pushed the censor envelope as much as the "bathing scene" in Spartacus did (y'all know which one I mean). And "Lion" kept said dialogue up for a couple of hours, too. She really *was* a lady -- thanks for pointing that out. Posted by: jim at July 6, 2003 08:09 AM |
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Kate wore pants, and she wore them well. Man's-style trousers, too pleated and cuffed. And she wore them in an age when any glamorous woman had to wear skirts. I think those pants are what turned me into a leg man at the tender age of eight. Or it could have been that flash of leg she showed wow! getting back into Bogart's African Queen after a swim. The gal had gams.
