Happy Birthday to Classic Movie Legends, Katharine Hepburn, born May 12, 1907!
The Great Katharine Hepburn
While growing up, pretty much every teenager looks for an idol – that unobtainable being that serves as both mentor and deity. For some people, it’s an actual deity. For others, it comes in the form of a professional NBA player. For me, it came in the form of an actress named Katharine Hepburn.
Katharine Hepburn with Cary Grant in The Philadelphia Story (1940, George Cukor director)
My first Katharine Hepburn film was The Philadelphia Story. I remember watching it because, at the time, I was in the midst of my Cary Grant obsession. However, after watching it, my obsession shifted from its lead actor to its leading actress. Although Hepburn’s Tracy Lord is pretty much the embodiment of so many things I politically rally against, personally I became fascinated with the woman. Her strength of character, her assertive personality and her need of independence (almost to a fault) were awe-inspiring to a shy, film-geek traversing through that most awkward time in everyone’s life called high school. After that, I moved on from Grant and began to devour any and all of Hepburn’s films that I could get my hands on. She became my on-screen mentor and my personal idol, even going so far as to dress up as her for my high school’s “dress as your hero” day.
And today, I keep a 7” by 10” plaque of an elderly Hepburn propped up next to my computer as a reminder to myself – a reminder that by staying motivated, assertive, and strong, I too can be as accomplished at 70 as she was.
Just workin’ with my buddy, Katharine Hepburn
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Minoo Allen for Classic Movie Hub
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