Katherine Hepburn
The First Lady of Cinema, known as The Great Kate, Katharine Hepburn is recognized as one of the best, if not the greatest actress of all time. Enjoying a privileged upbringing, she was born to a doctor father and a suffragette mother in Hartford, Connecticut on May 12, 1907. This background included a good education with emphasis on the ability to be able to state her thoughts and ideas clearly and with conviction. Even though she was home-schooled for a time, this did not impact her academic abilities one bit. She had the combination of book smarts and athleticism. Even at a young age, her athletic abilities shone through. She garnered the bronze medal for figure skating from the Madison Square Garden Skating Club and reached the semi-finals at the Connecticut Young Women’s Gold Championship. Katharine Hepburn’s father had insisted that his daughters be well-rounded and strong women. So, sports were a big part of their activities growing up. Katharine skated, she played golf competitively, she learned to ride, she played tennis, and she learned to swim. She maintained the practice of swimming into her old age; well past into her eighties. The death of an older sibling was a major propane tankless water heater event in Katharine’s life. Her older brother, Tom, whom she idolized, died in 1921 from what appeared to be a suicide. Many reports say that he had hanged himself. Still, the Hepburn family rejected this explanation and asserted that Tom’s death must have been the result of some freak accident; an experiment gone awry. This episode brought Katharine to a state of depression. She was thoroughly devastated and pulled away from others of her age. This was the reason she was home-schooled for a short metal detectors period of time. This was also why she started using Tom’s birthday as her own (November 8th). It was only after the release of her own autobiography that she revealed that her own birthday was the 12th of May. Acting for Katharine began when she was in college, in Bryn Mawr. Although a somewhat scandalous student—getting in trouble and earning suspension for smoking and breaking curfew—she did finish with a degree in philosophy and history in 1928. At the same time, she managed to microdermabrasion machine snag a role for her Broadway debut in a bit part in Night Hostess. All this plus getting married after a short engagement to socialite and businessman Ludlow “Luddy” Ogden Smith. Katharine pursued her career and took everything else that came her way. The couple did not have children and ended up getting a divorce in 1934. Their divorce was amicable and “Luddy” remained a lifelong friend to Kate and the rest of the Hepburns. Working on various stage productions finally landed Katharine some excellent reviews—good enough to catch the attention of Hollywood doggie wheelchair studios. She got a screen test for an RKO project called A Bill of Divorcement, which was set to star John Barrymore. Even back then, when she was a stage thespian earning between $80-$100 a week, that classic Hepburn chutzpah showed up when she demanded $1,500 a week for film work from the studio. Perhaps thinking that the studio will turn her down flat—or negotiate her to something way better than her weekly stage fee, nobody knows. To her surprise, after seeing her screen test, RKO agreed. Maybe the studio bigwigs at RKO saw it even then; Katharine Hepburn was extraordinary. Her combination of raw physicality, acting chops, that mix of strength and vulnerability, and the undeniable beauty wrapped up in one long and tall package—for her day, at 5 foot 7 inches, Hepburn was a practically Amazonian. She was one of Hollywood’s tallest leading ladies. Her wispy silhouette disguised it most of the time, but the strength of her physique is undeniable. After her first film with RKO, they immediately renewed her contract. In an age where studios had control over their contract players, Hepburn was distinctly non-conformist and quite un-Hollywood. This put her at odds with studio executives. Her confidence and self-possession was not viewed favorable by the Hollywood higher ups. Good thing she had her accolades to fall back on. Garnering the Academy Award for Morning Glory in 1933, a major box office hit in Little Women, and an Academy Award nomination for Alice Adams in 1935. Additionally, she did plenty of stage work in between films. Still, as her career progressed, she did hit a slump. In the late thirties, some of her movies were not as big a hit as her previous ones; even when they were well received by the critics. She came back in a big way in 1940 wit the release of The Philadelphia Story. After starring on it on the stage, she got the film rights and sold it to MGM. The result was the biggest hit of 1940 and another Academy Award nomination for Miss Hepburn. She defied an era’s conventions, preferring to go her own way, often with take it or leave it attitude. It wasn’t out of arrogance; it was out of convenience and comfort, or common sense. She even became a trendsetter, unintentionally. Her trousers and pantsuits were comfortable and convenient, so she wore them. It became her trademark look. She’s a style icon way ahead of her time and she probably didn’t even know it. Individualist, straightforward, unconventional, non-conformist, outspoken, and intellectual, these are some of the traits that has made Katharine Hepburn an enduring icon.