HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHARINE HEPBURN
(May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)

KATHERINE HOUGHTON HEPBURN was born to wealthy and educated parents in Hartford, CT. Her career on stage, film and television spanned over 66 years earning her 4 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTAs, 1 Emmy Award and a total of 57 nominations for awards of excellence. The product of a liberal and socially conscious environment, her parents were instrumental in shaping her vibrant and headstrong personality. Her father, a surgeon, fought for birth control and the eradication of sexual diseases and her mother marched with suffragists for voting rights for women. Katharine was the second child of a large family whose athletic activities and zest for life provided her with a love of sports and a self-confidence that would exhibit itself often both on and off stage. Hepburn was known for performing all stunts herself and for being an expert swimmer, golfer and tennis player.

Following in her mother's footsteps, she attended Bryn Mawr College, the all women's institution in Pennsylvania where she majored in history and philosophy. She struggled with college life; her grades were poor and she considered dropping out.  Then, after appearing in several student productions, her focus changed and her grades excelled.  She became determined to be an actress on the stag and despite the disapproval of her father; in 1928 she began her professional career in earnest.  Upon the recommendation of John S. Clark, a man who lived next door to Bryn Mawr's campus and who had witnessed her performance as "Pandora" in The Woman in the Moon during the Elizabethan May Day celebrations, she travelled to Baltimore to meet Edwin H. Knopf, producer, with Clark's letter of introduction firmly in tow.  Initially rejected, she persisted and eventually was cast in a small role in Knopf's stock company.

Her acting training was non-existent and at this time it was evident that she needed vocal coaching and practical advice for appearing on the stage. Frances Robinson-Duff, the preeminent voice teacher of the day took her on and worked with her regularly to correct her inconsistent rhythms and often-high pitched and shrill sound.  After a somewhat rocky beginning on the stage, including being fired from no less than 4 productions, at the age of 25, she played the role of "Queen Antiope" in The Warrior's Husband on Broadway to glowing reviews and caught the attention of Hollywood agent Leland Hayward. He convinced film director George Cukor to see a screen test of Hepburn and as a result, she was cast opposite
John Barrymore in the young director's RKO film A Bill of Divorcement. Thus began Hepburn's film career; starring in over 44 features, and winning her first Academy Award for Best Actress in Morning Glory in 1933.

In spite of several major hits, many of her films were declared box office "flops" at the time (yet recognized today as classics).  Her love of the stage combined with her desire to resurrect her image from the failure of these films brought her back to the theatre time and again.  In 1938, after being labeled "Box Office Poison" by the Hollywood press, she returned to New York and collaborated with playwright Philip Barry to bring his new play The Philadelphia Story to Broadway. A sophisticated comedy about a privileged young woman from an A list society family, the role of Tracy Lord was written for Hepburn and fit her to a tee. During the successful run in New York, her then beau,
Howard Hughes, purchased the rights for the film version and through skillful negotiation, she orchestrated her salary, casting and full control of the project with MGM.

Hepburn's business acumen and savvy approach in contract negotiations secured her reputation as a woman who knew how to handle the male dominated profession many times throughout her career.  Never one to sit idle for too long, she performed Shakespeare on Broadway as Rosalind in As You Like It in 1950 and subsequently spent two seasons at the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, CT in the roles of Cleopatra, Portia, Beatrice and Viola. In 1969, almost two years after the death of her co-star and partner in life, actor Spencer Tracy, she starred in her first and last musical, Coco, playing the legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel. She received her first Tony Award nomination for her performance and her second in 1982 for The West Side Waltz.  Hepburn died at the age of 96 at her family home "Fenwick" in Old Saybrook, CT.

Happy Birthday, Katharine Hepburn

This bio was written by Paula Ewin for the program of Stage Struck From Kemble To Kate in which she portrayed the actress in a ten minute solo piece.  Since then Paula has appeared as Kate in her program A Date With Kate before appreciative audiences. She also performed on tour as Kate Hepburn in the one woman play Tea at Five.



POST SCRIPT

In a magazine interview (1969) with George Cukor, she said "...Magic can make anything survive. It's this mad endeavor to reduce everything to the physical facts.  Heart, soul and will make one survive. I was brought up in a hospital and talked endlessly to my father, who would operate on people who were very old, and he would say it was marvelous the way people with an "up" spirit and a determination would survive. They wouldn't die because they were going to leave someone who couldn't get on without them----and they lived! They lived. It's the spark of life."