Joan Fontaine, a gifted and beautiful actress from Hollywood’s Golden Era was born in Tokyo, Japan on October 22, 1917. Her mother, Lillian Ruse Fontaine had been an actress before marrying, and her father, Walter de Havilland was a successful British patent attorney. They divorced when Joan was two years old. She is the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland, but they never enjoyed the kind of friendship that most sisters do. They were the first sisters to win Oscars and the first sisters to be nominated in the same year. They never appeared in a film together, and to this day, they are estranged. Joan is reportedly estranged from her daughters as well because they keep in touch with Olivia.

Joan was nominated for three Academy Awards and won one. She was the only actress to win an Oscar in a Hitchcock-directed film. The movie was “Suspicion,” in which she starred with Cary Grant. Alfred Hitchcock and George Cukor were the actress’ favorite directors.

She made her acting debut on the stage in a production entitled “Call It a Day” in 1935. Shortly thereafter, she signed a contract with RKO Studios. Her first film was “No More Ladies” in 1935. Then in 1937, she was given a major role in “A Damsel in Distress,” but the film flopped. She made several more forgettable movies at RKO, and they chose not to renew her contract in 1939.

One night at a dinner party when she was seated next to David O. Selznick, he asked her to audition for a role in “Rebecca.” She landed the role, and the film was an extraordinary success. Joan was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as the unnamed new wife of Maxim de Winter. Her success continued through the forties. In the fifties and sixties, she appeared on television and on the stage.

Joan was married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to actor Brian Aherne (1939-1945). Then she was married to producer William Dozier (1946-1951). She and Dozier had a daughter together. Her third husband was producer Collier Young (1952-1961), and they adopted a daughter. She was then married to journalist Alfred Wright, Jr. (1964-1969).

She became an American citizen in 1943 and worked as a nurses’ aide during World War II. A woman of many interests, Joan is a licensed pilot, expert rider, interior decorator, golfer, champion balloonist, and Cordon Bleu chef. She also loves to garden.

Since the death of Katharine Hepburn in 2003, Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland are sadly the only living actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Era. It is indeed fortunate that Joan graced the public with her wonderful gift. Her great films will be enjoyed by many generations to come.

Natalie Wood’s tragically short life began July 20, 1938 in San Francisco, CA. The daughter of Russian immigrants, her birth name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. She had two sisters, Olga and Lana.

As a child star, Wood enjoyed tremendous success in films such as “Miracle on 34^th Street” and “Tomorrow is Forever. At 16 years old, she was cast in “Rebel Without a Cause” opposite James Dean and Sal Mineo and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. She was nominated again in 1961 for her brilliant performance in “Splendor in the Grass,” and again in 1963 for her role in “Love With a Proper Stranger.” She starred in over forty films during her career and may be best known for her critically acclaimed performance as Maria in “West Side Story.” In addition to her acting accomplishments, she is also credited with discovering director Sydney Pollack and actor Robert Redford.

Wood married Robert Wagner, the love of her life, in 1958, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1962. They remarried in 1972 and remained together until her death. Between the marriages to Wagner, she married producer Richard Gregson, and this union lasted for only two years. Wood had one daughter, Natasha, with Gregson and another daughter, Courtney Brooke, with Wagner.

Earlier in her career, she was romantically linked to actors Warren Beatty, Dennis Hopper, James Dean, and Raymond Burr. She also dated Elvis Presley for a short time.

She was beautiful, graceful, and stylish and was called the “Most Beautiful Teenager in the World” by Life Magazine in 1955. People Magazine named her as one of the 25 Most Intriguing People in 1976, and Entertainment Weekly named her #70 on their list of the 100 Greatest Stars of All Time.

She died tragically on November 29, 1981. The official cause of her death was accidental drowning. She had reportedly had a few glasses of wine and accidentally fell overboard from her husband’s yacht. Christopher Walken, with whom she was doing a movie at the time, Dennis Davern, the boat’s skipper, along with her husband were on board at the time of her death.

Wood was once quoted as saying “You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady.” Even at her petite height of 5’, she was most likely able to take care of herself in the competitive and cutthroat film industry.

This 1957 drama was deservedly nominated for four Academy Awards including one for Best Picture. It clearly illustrates how a person’s preconceived notions and past experiences affect his/her opinions and judgments. Of the twelve middle-classed men on the jury, eleven believe from the beginning that the defendant is guilty of killing his father. There is one juror who believes in the defendant’s innocence, or at the very least has a reasonable doubt and must try to change the minds of the other eleven in order to save the young man who would face the death penalty if convicted.

As the movie moves along, it becomes a study of the jurors’ personalities and character flaws as much as it is a courtroom drama. The jurors’ differences become more and more apparent throughout the film. Some are compassionate and honorable while others are more worried about how much of their time is being taken up by the deliberations. One is worried that he will be unable to attend the baseball game for which he has tickets. Some are thorough and moved to make the correct judgment, while others are not as conscientious. There are self-absorbed, stubborn members as well as open-minded ones. Some are prejudiced, some are fair, and some are arrogant and others humble.

The fact that one’s baggage is carried into every aspect of life and that care must be taken not to let past experiences and hurts influence one’s sound judgment is proven by this wonderful film. Racial prejudice, class division, and negative personal relationships can, and almost certainly do, cause verdicts to be swayed one way or the other.

Brilliantly, the jurors’ names are not used until the end of the movie when they are leaving the courthouse, and even then, only the names of two jurors are revealed. The fact that they remain nameless during the deliberations adds to the dysfunction of several of the jury members. The trial and subsequent deliberations irrevocably changed each juror whether they knew they needed to change or not.

Sidney Lumet directed 12 Angry Men, and it starred Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Klugman. Each of the actors portrayed his character, flaws and all, impeccably. Interestingly, this film was shot primarily using only one set, the jury deliberation room. It received critical acclaim, but did not enjoy success at the box office. It is considered one of the best movies of all time, and it is certainly one of the most thought-provoking films ever made.

Cary Grant was the perfect example of the dashing leading man.  He was suave, debonair, sophisticated, and handsome, with a sexy mid-Atlantic accent.  Only one name is before his on the American Film Institute’s list of Greatest Male Stars of all time, and that is Humphrey Bogart. 

Born Archibald Alec Leach in Horfield, Bristol, England in 1904, Archie was an only child.  He had an unhappy childhood, and when he was nine years old, his mother was committed to a mental institution.  He was told that she had gone to a resort, and he did not discover the truth until he was in his twenties when he found her at the institution.

He left school at the age of 14 and forged his father’s signature on a letter so that he could join the Bob Pender Stage Troup.  He traveled to the United States with the troupe, but when the rest of them returned to England, he stayed in the U. S.  He worked on the stage under his birth name until 1931 when he went to Hollywood.  He changed his name to Cary Lockwood for a while, but when he signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, they did not like the name Lockwood.  It was then that Cary Grant was born.

Grant starred in some of Hollywood’s best and most memorable films – from screwball comedies such as “Bringing Up Baby,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and “His Girl Friday,” to Hitchcock suspense films like “Notorious,” “Suspicion,” and “North by Northwest.”  He was equally great in comedies, dramas, suspense films, and light-hearted chick flicks.  He had the versatility, as well as the talent, to do it all.

Alfred Hitchcock, who was known for not liking actors, directed Grant in several films.  He said that Grant was, “the only actor I ever loved in my whole life.”  Grant’s reputation with directors, producers, and fellow actors was that of being a gifted actor and a wonderful man.

He was married five times.  His first wife was Virginia Cherrill (1934-1935), then Barbara Hutton (1942-1945), Betsy Drake (1949-1962), Dyan Cannon (1965-1968), and finally Barbara Harris (1981 until his death).  His only child was with Dyan Cannon, a daughter named Jennifer.

Unusual for someone in the acting profession, Cary Grant was a Republican.  After his retirement from acting, he was active in numerous Republican causes.  He supported Nixon and his good friend, Ronald Reagan.  He also introduced First Lady Betty Ford at the Republic National Convention in 1976.

Grant received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1981.  He was also nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940’s, but the award would not be his until 1970 when he received the coveted Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

He was quoted as saying, “Everybody wants to be Cary Grant.  Even I want to be Cary Grant.”  That sums it up.  Cary Grant was what all men secretly wish to be – sexy, handsome, suave, and sophisticated, the perfect leading man.

Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, the sixth of seven kids. He was born in Florida, Missouri, but his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri when he was four years old. Hannibal would later become his inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in which “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” were set.

John Marshall Clemens, Twain’s father, died when he was only eleven years old. He worked as a printer and typesetter and wrote articles for the Hannibal newspaper owned by his brother. He left home at the age of eighteen and worked as a printer, educating himself by visiting libraries in the evenings. During this time he lived in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. After four years, he returned to Missouri.

Twain became inspired to be a steamboat pilot after going on a steamboat trip from Missouri to New Orleans. He studied for two years to obtain his license. He also got his brother into this occupation, and he was tragically killed in an accident. Twain had experienced a dream one month earlier in which he saw his brother’s death, and he became interested in parapsychology at that time.

He traveled in the western United States and in Europe and the Middle East writing for a San Francisco newspaper. He met Olivia Langdon, the sister of a friend, in 1968 and they were married in 1870. Olivia was from a wealthy, yet liberal family, and he met many progressive thinkers through them. The two had one son, Langdon, and three daughters, Suzy, Clara, and Jean. Sadly, their son died of diphtheria when he was only 19 months old.

Twain was known for his stance against racism and for supporting the abolition of slavery, but he was oddly prejudiced against Native Americans. He was also critical of organized religion, and very much in favor of labor unions. He also belonged to the Freemasons.

He made a large amount of money in his career, but he often made bad investments, which resulted in serious financial problems. In 1893, he had to be saved by his friend, finance expert Henry H. Rogers, who convinced him to file for bankruptcy. Rogers then took complete control of Twain’s money and brought him out of the financial crisis.

Although he is best known for “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Twain wrote many other novels, political satires, non-fiction essays, and non-fiction accounts of his travels. He was a great lecturer and humorist in addition to being a talented author.

Twain had been born two weeks after the 1835 appearance of Halley’s Comet, and he always said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet.” His prediction came true, and the man whom William Faulkner called “the father of American literature” died one day after the comet’s closest approach to the Earth in 1910.

 

 

 

After graduating from the local high school in Salinas, Steinbeck attended Stanford University to major in English, but before completing his college education, he dropped out and moved to New York.  He soon returned to California, though, where he held odd jobs such as printing, fruit picking, and he even worked as a night watchman, while he pursued his writing career.

His first novel, “Cup of Gold,” published in 1929, was not well received by critics.  After a few more unsuccessful attempts, “Tortilla Flat,” a novel published in 1935, would prove to bring him his first taste of critical success.  He would go on to write many wonderful and memorable novels over the years including  “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Cannery Row,” and “East of Eden,” and others, most of which were critically acclaimed.

Steinbeck also worked as a war correspondent during World War II for the New York Herald Tribune, and again during the Vietnam Conflict.  He was requested by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to go to the war zone so that he could provide accurate reports.  Both of his sons served in Vietnam, so he was happy to go.  He wrote articles about the conflict for “Newsday,” and was criticized by the “New York Post” for betraying his liberal past because he agreed with the Vietnam policies of President Johnson.

One of Steinbeck’s last works was a travel journal from a 1960 road trip that he took to rediscover America.  Called, “Travels with Charley,” the book chronicles his coast-to-coast trip with his beloved poodle named Charley.  His last major novel, “The Winter of Our Discontent,” was published in 1961.  The critics did not like the book and began to view Steinbeck as a has-been.

Over his career, Steinbeck, whose love of literature and reading was fostered by his mother, wrote 25 books, including novels, non-fiction, and short story collections.  He won the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal for best novel by an author from California for “Tortilla Flat,” and he won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Grapes of Wrath.  He also won the Nobel Prize in 1962 and the Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Steinbeck was a private person, and he didn’t enjoy the limelight and the publicity that came with being a successful author.  In addition, he never really felt that he deserved the honors that his work brought.  He was married three times.  In 1930, he married Carol Henning, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1942.  His second wife, singer Gwynn Conger gave him two sons, Thomas Myles Steinbeck and John Steinbeck IV, but this marriage also ended in divorce.  He married Elaine Scott Steinbeck, former wife of actor Zachary Scott in 1950, and they remained married until his death in 1968.

 

 

The mystery novel, “Rebecca,” is arguably one of the best tales of suspense that has ever been written.  Penned by Daphne Du Maurier and published in 1938, the successful book was also adapted for the stage and the screen.

 

The story begins in Monte Carlo in the South of France where the two main characters meet.  They enjoy a whirlwind romance and marry within a week of their meeting.  He is a rich and sophisticated, but tragic, widower.  She is a shy, timid companion/secretary to an overbearing older woman.  Wisely, Du Maurier never names the heroine, which adds to the overall impression of her as a meek, unsophisticated woman.

 

After a European honeymoon, the newlyweds go to Manderley, Maxim’s palatial estate in Cornwall, to begin their new life as a married couple.  Upon their arrival, the entire staff, which is quite large, is in the front hall to greet the happy couple.  The new Mrs. De Winter is obviously intimidated by this, but becomes increasingly intimated upon meeting Mrs. Danvers.

 

As the head of the household staff, Mrs. Danvers is stern and hard.  She had been the personal maid to Rebecca, the first Mrs. De Winter, and she makes it very clear from the beginning that she was quite fond of Rebecca, almost to the point of obsession.  She has left Rebecca’s stationary in the desk, and she has continued to maintain her room exactly as it had been before her death.  It was almost as if she expected Rebecca to return.

 

The new Mrs. De Winter tries very hard to learn the day to day routines of the household but runs into roadblocks at every turn.  She also, thanks to the evil Mrs. Danvers, seems to run into reminders of the late Rebecca at every turn.  Rebecca had been a glamorous, outgoing woman, the exact opposite of the new Mrs. De Winter.  Unfortunately, she soon becomes convinced that her new husband will love her more, and be more attentive if she becomes more like Rebecca.  She does not realize that Maxim was initially attracted to her because her quiet, unassuming, and shy nature makes her the exact opposite of Rebecca.  The poor girl is very nearly driven mad by a combination of her own insecurities and Mrs. Danvers. 

 

She tries several times to get the situation in hand and to show Mrs. Danvers that she is the new mistress of the house, and that she is therefore, in charge, but these attempts meet with no success.

 

The reader is skillfully guided by Du Maurier to champion the cause of the new Mrs. De Winter and to hope for her to win out over the horrible Mrs. Danvers.   Du Maurier’s writing skills also shine with her ability to portray Maxim De Winter, the perfect example of the man who has everything as tragic, insecure, and lonely.

 

Rebecca is a wonderfully crafted mystery with suspense to spare and should be on everyone’s must read list.

As a classic movie fan, it’s difficult to pick favorites. But after much thought, my Top 10 Movies of the 1940’s are listed below.

Adam’s Rib (1949). Directed by George Cukor, this film pits husband and wife attorneys against each other. Katharine Hepburn portrays Amanda, a lawyer who defends a woman being tried for shooting her philandering spouse. Amanda’s husband, Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy), is the prosecutor. The case becomes a feminist cause for Hepburn’s character, and the ensuing battle is hilarious. This film is progressive for its time and makes a loud statement for women’s rights. One of my favorite scenes is where, in an attempt to manipulate his wife, Tracy’s character is able to make himself cry to gain her sympathy.

Casablanca (1943). Directed by Michael Curtiz, it stars Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund Laszlow), and Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlow). Rick, a cynical bar owner becomes conflicted when his former love shows up in Casablanca with her husband, a resistance leader fighting against the Nazis. Does he help his former love, Ilsa, and her husband continue their fight or take this opportunity to reunite with his love. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and several memorable quotes came from this movie. Among them are, “We’ll always have Paris,” and “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947). This film won three Oscars, including best picture. Starring Gregory Peck and Dorothy McGuire, it was directed by Elia Kazan. Peck portrays journalist, who poses as a Jew so that he can write an accurate account of anti-Semitism. He quickly realizes what it is like to suffer at the hands of intolerance. Not only is he treated differently, his son is also singled out and abused. He even realizes that the woman he loves is prejudiced and judgmental. The truths revealed and the lessons learned are as relevant today as they were when the picture was made.

Maltese Falcon (1941). Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet, this is one of the best detective dramas ever made. It deserves its spot in the top half of the American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 Movies. Bogart’s character, detective Sam Spade, is trying to find out why a group of lowlifes desperately want the jewel-encrusted falcon, and he’s surprised to learn what they’ll do to get it. I love mysteries, and Bogart, so I can’t imagine anyone else playing the role of Sam Spade.

Notorious (1946). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this is one of the best suspense films ever made. It stars Cary Grant as Devlin, an American agent, and Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a treasonous, convicted Nazi spy. Devlin convinces Alicia to use her connections to help him trap a Nazi mastermind by making him fall for her. Because she’s in love with Devlin, she agrees, putting her life in danger. Almost too late, he realizes that he has fallen in love with her, and that the danger he has put her in could end her life. Nominated for two Academy Awards, the fast pace of this film adds to its already taut suspense.

Philadelphia Story (1940). Voted one of the Top 100 Films of all time by the AFI, this movie stars Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord, Cary Grant as C.K. Dexter Haven, James Stewart as Macaulay Connor, and Ruth Hussey as Elizabeth Imbrie. Directed by George Cukor, this is one of the funniest films ever made. Katharine Hepburn plays a rich, spoiled, judgmental socialite who, by the end of the movie, learns much about life and love. Cary Grant plays Hepburn’s recovering alcoholic, marginally self-righteous ex-husband brilliantly. It is fun, entertaining, and makes me laugh out loud.

Rebecca (1940). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this film won two Oscars. Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, it stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, a troubled, wealthy widower and Joan Fontaine, who is never named, as a shy, ordinary, working class woman. The two meet on vacation and marry after a whirlwind romance. The trouble starts when they return to his estate. The deceased ex-wife still has a hold on everyone, and the estate’s housekeeper, the cruel, intimidating Mrs. Danvers, has some secrets of her own. Hitchcock’s talent for suspense shines.

Spellbound (1945). This film is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best. Nominated for six Oscars, it is filled with plot twists that will surprise at every turn. Ingrid Bergman plays Dr. Constance Petersen, a psychiatrist trying to help Gregory Peck, an amnesiac, who is mistakenly believed to be famous psychiatrist, Dr. Edwards. He must regain his memory and solve the mystery of what happened to the real doctor. Hepburn and Peck give superb performances.

To Have and Have Not (1944). Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, this movie sizzles. There couldn’t have been a better debut film for the sultry, nineteen year old Bacall. Bogart’s character helps French resistance fighters while trying not to fall in love with Bacall’s character. One of the AFI’s Top 100 quotes comes from this film. “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” The chemistry between the two stars is undeniable.

Treasure of Sierra Madre (1947). This film, a study in greed and the dark side of human nature, is the story of three prospectors and their search for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, and Bruce Bennett, and directed by Walter Huston’s son, John, it was not a huge box office success. It was, however, nominated for four Oscars and won three. Though not nominated for an Oscar, Bogart’s performance as the greedy and paranoid Fred C. Dobbs is perfect. The famous movie quote “Badges, we don’t need no stinking badges,” came from this film. In the movie, the bandit actually said, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”

The “Great Gatsby” is on the required reading list of many high school and college students for good reason.  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about love and betrayal and excess is widely believed to be the perfect example of the Great American Novel.  The book, published in 1925, chronicles the materialism and lack of morality that existed in the period known as the Roaring Twenties.

 

The tale is narrated by Nick Carraway and takes place when he moves to New York to study the business of selling bonds.  He rents and inexpensive cottage in West Egg, a nouveau riche community that is considered much less fashionable than its neighbor, East Egg, which is inhabited by the long-established wealthy, those with old money and endless connections.

 

Nick’s cousin, Daisy lives in East Egg in an opulent mansion with her husband Tom.  Daisy is shallow, spoiled, and extremely unhappy.  Tom is arrogant, racist, and unfaithful.  Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker, a well-known golfer, tells Nick that Tom is involved with a married woman in New York.  His lover, Myrtle, is the wife of automobile mechanic, George Wilson.  The Wilson’s home/automobile shop is located on the road from Long Island to New York.

 

Without any hint of shame, Tom takes Nick to the apartment that he rents for his affair with Myrtle.  They have a party at the apartment, and the evening ends with Tom getting angry at Myrtle and breaking her nose, proving his complete disregard for anyone other than himself.

 

The cottage that Nick rents is next door to a huge mansion owned by the mysterious Jay Gatsby.  There is much speculation about where Gatsby got his money, and everyone loves to gossip about it.  Gatsby throws elaborate parties, but rarely attends them himself.  Nick soon gets an invitation to one of the parties where he meets Gatsby, and they become close friends.

 

Nick learns from Jordan that Gatsby throws these parties with the hope that Daisy, his former love, will attend one of them.  Then, Jordan is asked by Gatsby to influence Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy.  Nick arranges the meeting, and after the reunion, Daisy and Gatsby begin an affair.  She admits to Gatsby that she has never loved Tom.

 

Tom becomes suspicious, and it does not seem to matter he is also having an affair.  He is outraged that Daisy would be unfaithful to him.  During a luncheon at the Buchanan’s mansion, Tom insists that the group, consisting of Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan, Nick, and himself go into New York City.  They rent a suite at the Plaza Hotel where Tom confronts Gatsby.  After the confrontation, Daisy and Gatsby drive back to East Egg together.  They must pass George Wilson’s auto shop on the way.  At the same time, George has realized that Myrtle is having an affair and is excessively angry.  Myrtle, trying to get away from her angry husband, runs into the road and is struck down by Daisy and Gatsby.

 

Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby plans to take the blame.  However, the next day, Tom tells George, Myrtle’s husband, that Gatsby was driving, and George mistakenly concludes that Gatsby must have been the man which whom Myrtle was having an affair.  George goes to Gatsby’s mansion, finds him in the pool, and fatally shoots him.  He then turns the gun on himself.

 

Nick plans a small funeral for Gatsby and soon returns to the Midwest, disgusted by the excesses, lack of morals, and shallowness of the wealthy.

 

 

Katharine Houghton Hepburn may very well be the best actress of all time.  She is a legend, an icon, and it’s difficult to imagine that there could ever be another actress with the level of talent that she possessed.  In addition to being a wonderful actress, Kate was a graduate of Bryn Mawr, a dedicated civil rights activist, and she fought, alongside her mother, for women’s rights from a very young age.

 

Born May 12, 1907 to Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn, a successful surgeon, and Katharine Houghton Hepburn, a suffragette and women’s rights advocate, she was named after her college-educated mother.  The family lived in Hartford, Connecticut and often spent time at their summer home, Fenwick, on Long Island Sound.  She had three brothers and two sisters.  All the children were free thinkers because Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn were extremely liberal parents. There were few rules, and the children were given an unusual amount of freedom.  The entire family was considered a bit eccentric.

 

When Kate was fourteen years old, her beloved brother, Tom, committed suicide by hanging himself.  Kate was the one who discovered his body, and her perfect childhood was shattered.  But she was strong and did not allow the tragedy to destroy her.

 

Kate appeared in a few stage productions during her college years at Bryn Mawr, and just a few days after she graduated in 1928, she left for Baltimore to pursue acting.  She appeared in many stage productions between 1928 and 1932 when she got a film contract with RKO studios.  Her first film role was in “A Bill of Divorcement,” co-starring with John Barrymore.  In 1933, Kate won her first Academy Award for her performance in “Morning Glory.”

 

Several of her next films did not enjoy box-office success, and for a time, she was labeled as “box-office poison.”  During this time, she decided to go back east and resume her stage career.  In 1939, she landed the stage role of Tracy Lord in “The Philadelphia Story.”  Then, in 1940, she returned to Hollywood to star in the film version with Cary Grant and James Stewart.  The role of Tracy Lord in this film is one of her best performances, and it not only breathed new life into her film career, it also earned her an Oscar nomination.

 

Kate was married only once, to Ludlow Ogden Smith.  The marriage lasted for six years, and she never had any children.  She was later romantically linked to poet H. Phelps Putnam, Howard Hughes, and director John Ford.  But there was no greater love in her life than the legendary actor Spencer Tracy whom she met in 1942 on the set of “Woman of the Year.”  Tracy was married and was prone to heavy alcohol use, but Kate took care of him and nursed him through many of his infamous drinking binges.  He never divorced his wife, but Kate continued her relationship with him until his death in 1967.  He died two weeks after the completion of their last movie, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.”  Ironically, Kate was the one who discovered his body, just as she had found the body of her brother many years earlier.  She never saw “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” because it was their last movie together. They starred in nine films together and were known for their on-screen, and off-screen, chemistry.

 

Katharine Hepburn passed away on June 29, 2003, but she left over forty wonderful films for future generations to enjoy.  She was nominated for twelve Oscars and won four, and she was nominated for two Tony Awards.  She was also nominated for five Emmy Awards and won one.  In addition to being known for her impeccable acting skills, she was also known for her straightforwardness, independence, intelligence, and beauty.  She had a determined spirit, and she lived life on her own terms.  She was her own person at all times much like the strong, independent women she played in films.  Her independence, strength, and determination should be an example to women of all ages.

 

Source:  Katharine Hepburn, A Life In Pictures by Diana Karanikas Harvey and Jackson Harvey