Katharine Hepburn, 1907-2003 ~ Actress, Activist

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun."
~ Katherine Hepburn

Link: Quote Me On It

"I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex."


"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

"Life is hard. After all, it kills you."

"If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you."

"What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving."

"To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time."

"Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do."

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."


"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)

Plot Summary: The answer to that question is – your new son-in-law's parents. A wealthy white family is informed that their daughter's intended is coming to meet them, and he's black. Scripted in the late 60s, the idea of a bi-racial marriage was still fairly shocking. To smooth this over, the son-in-law to be is a prince. He's a Doctor who lives in Switzerland and intends to take their daughter there to live. Set in California, it's not quite a return to Selma, Alabama, but was controversial in its day. ~ Summary written by John Vogel

Tracy and Hepburn's last film together

Trivia

• Katharine Hepburn's character's daughter is played by Hepburn's actual niece Katharine Houghton.
• Spencer Tracy died 17 days after filming was completed.
• Katharine Hepburn never saw the completed movie. She said the memories of Tracy were too painful.
• When Portier and Houghton arrive at SFO on a United Airlines flight, they take Yellow Cab #1850 in town. The phone number of the cab company is painted on the side of the car. Today, the same number (626-2345) will still get you in touch with Yellow Cab.
• Katharine Hepburn had to use her salary as backing in order to make this movie because Spencer Tracy was so ill that the studio didn't think that he would make to the end of the picture.
• Mr Prentice ( Roy Glenn) says to his son John ( Sidney Poitier) "You'll be breaking the law in 17 states. You'll be criminals." By the time people saw the movie this was no longer true. On June 12th, 1967, the US Supreme Court in the case Loving v Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional.
• The 3-inch bronze sculpture of Spencer Tracy featured in the film that Katharine Hepburn created herself was one of the items that were included in her estate auction in 2004. The bust was the most sought after item and fetched the most money which was sold for $316,000, compared to an estimate of $3,000-$5,000.
• In some shots, Katharine Hepburn clearly shows some head and hands trembling related to her hereditary shake, for example when she is pouring a drink to the Reverend right after his second arrival.
  
  "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" poster

"An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story Of Katharine Hepburn And Spencer Tracy" ~ by Christopher Andersen

Entertainment Weekly: To Andersen's credit, though a Hepburn fan … he doesn't whitewash Tracy's drinking binges, his violent outbursts, his verbal abuse, and Hepburn's seemingly masochistic embrace of him. ~ This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Ingram: During their 26 years together, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tray mesmerized audiences worldwide wit their famous on-screen chemistry like no other couple. Yet their private love affair--which ended only with Tracy's death in 1967--remained shrouded in secrecy. Now, Christopher Andersen draws on his extensive conversations with Hepburn as well as others who knew the legendary duo intimately to tell the poignant love story of these American icons and the life they shared. Includes a 24-page, color photo section.

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only with

what you are expecting to give — which is everything."

~ Katherine Hepburn

DVD ~ yet to be released

Katharine Hepburn's Signature