P.S. Katharine Hepburn's "Guess Who" Oscar
Sunday, May 12, 2013 at 10:31PM Andrew here, shining a final light on Katharine Hepburn, a postscript to TFE's generous Katharine Hepburn week despite our host never having been a huge fan. Nathaniel’s write-up on Katharine’s twelve Oscar nominations nailed one of the key oddities of the icon's Oscary career. Her win in 1967 for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was only the second Oscar she picked up, a full 35 years after her screen debut. For perspective, by that time her biggest peers of the day - Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland and Ingrid Bergman had already picked up dual statues.
It must have seemed unlikely by then that Katharine was ever going to get a statue to keep her Morning Glory trophy company, especially since with Spencer Tracy’s declining health she was working less and less. Consider: she'd made 15 films in the thirties, 11 in the forties, 7 in the fifties but Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1967 was only her second film that decade. I'd argue that this win marks the only legitimate sentimental win for Kate, though Oscar's love for sentiment is not something new to any of us.
Like all of her Oscar wins, Katharine was not there to accept the prize but in Garson Kanin’s memoir of Katharine and Spencer ("Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir") he included a bit about her finding out the news.
She was in France, making The Madwoman of Chaillot when the news came through by telephone. Her housekeepers, Willie and Ida, phoned her from Hollywood, awakening her just before 7. A.M., French time.
“You won, Miss Hepburn!” they shouted. You won the Oscar!”
“Did Mr. Tracy win it, too?” she asked.
There was a pause before Willie replied, “No, Madam.”
“Well, that’s okay,” she said. “I'm sure mine is for the two of us.”
The following day, Gregory Peck received a cable:IT WAS DELIGHTFUL A TOTAL SURPRISE I AM ENORMOUSLY TOUCHED BECAUSE I FEEL I HAVE RECEIVED A GREAT AFFECTIONATE HUG FROM MY FELLOW WORKERS AND FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH BEING SPENCER STANLEY SIDNEY KATHY AND BILL ROSE. ROSE WROTE ABOUT A NORMAL MIDDLE AGED UNSPECTACULAR UNGLAMOROUS CREATURE WITH A GOOD BRAIN AND A WARM HEART WHO’S DOING THE BEST SHE CAN TO DO THE DECENT THING IN A DIFFICULT SITUATION. IN OTHER WORDS SHE WAS A GOOD WIFE. OUR MOST UNSUNG AND IMPORTANT HEROINE. I’M GLAD SHE’S COMING BACK IN STYLE. I MODELLED HER AFTER MY MOTHER. THANKS AGAIN. THEY DON’T USUALLY GIVE THESE THINGS TO THE OLD GIRLS YOU KNOW.
How ironic that last line seems now considering, as Nathaniel says, she gained two more awards at such an old age. By that age Oscar has always fallen out of love with actresses which is one of the reasons I’ve never much minded that her Dinner win is wrapped in sentiment. Of her twelve nominations it’s the least showy of her roles, a steadfastly reactive role but for that delightful “firing” scene. it’s mere happenstance that her birthday fell on Mothers’ Day this year but even if the performance does not rise to the top in the annals of great Katharine Hepburn performance it takes on a lovely, if sentimental, meaning as a reminder of great mothers everywhere. Kate had no children herself but between domineering mothers in Suddenly Last Summer, drug addled ones in Long Day’s Journey into Night and generally perfect ones in On Golden Pond, Christina Drayton in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is perhaps her best one. True, that stands as little reason to hand out Oscars but who’d have imagined one year later she’d be breaking the record for most Best Actress wins?
In 1967 this second Oscar must have seemed like the ultimate reward to an actress who was already a legend and that acceptance telegram does read as particularly charming. Happy birthday, Kate.
Reader Comments (16)
Funny how srreep's oscar trajectory is mimicking Kate's. Especially,
True if meryl should win for August...
Believe it or not she has more screen time than Tracy.
Also note she won the British Oscar that year for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner also.
great post, Andrew.
BTW Nathaniel’s not being a big fan was fairly common. My grandmother and her eight sisters made reference to her always speaking with marbles in her mouth. Or snidely saying she is "So posh." They were New Yorkers - if the truth be know she was a bit too independent. A bit too in your face for this family during the 30's and 40's. They truly loved it when Tracy spanked her in Adams Rib. I heard the stories. Of course their favorite was Bergman- "now there was a lady. "
There was a "Yankee Educated Brittleness" that may have out classed them.
This to the end is the era of Hepburn that I did not like. The clip reminded me.
hepburn reacting to an oscar win reminds me of a great bit from jane fonda's book 'my life so far'.
both were nominated for 'on golden pond' and at that stage kate had three oscars, jane two. of course, kate won and jane didn't and the next day when jane called to congratulate her kate's first words to jane were "you'll never catch me now!"
I have loved Katharine Hepburn posts. Hepburn was my gateway to the classic Hollywood cinema. Her movies are among the first ones I remember watching partly because she was such a huge presence on AMC and TCM. Suddenly, Last Summer was probably the first movie of hers that I watched. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is the only movie of hers that I have watched multiple times. To my modern eyes, Guess Who hasn't aged well, and it is my least favorite Hepburn performance. The Oscar that year should have gone to Anne Bancroft for her iconic performance in The Graduate.
I'm with dela, here. 'Guess who's coming to dinner' is easily the movie of hers that I've seen the most times, having caught on TV at least 3 or 4 times. I also think that it's not her best at all and would also have given the Oscar to Bancroft, but I'm still fond on the movie. Specially for Hepburn's and Tracy's performances.
Also, my favorite bits are this scene and two with Tracy and Hepburn (at the drive-in ice cream parlor and when's shaving while drinking a glass of scotch). As ever, their work together was delightful.
I would think that Philadelphia Story is generally the most re-watched Hepburn film. I've seen it at least ten times. It's hard for me to watch Guess Who's Coming to Dinner all the way through without interruption, although somehow I've managed to see all of it more than once.
Great post, Andrew! I absolutely adore Kate's telegram. No wonder she's such a great actress, she can nail a role with just a few words.
It's not Kate's greatest performance but she is still very entertaining - and being a big fan of Kate, I would also watch her read the phone book! If anyone's interested, here are my thoughts on her performance: http://fritzlovesoscars.blogspot.de/2010/06/best-actress-1967-katharine-hepburn-in.html
I'm still curious why Nathaniel isn't such a big fan. But at the same time, I'm afraid of my reaction if he were to explain why.
Whenever anyone says a word against Katharine, I am just an elevator-ride away from arranging their lobotomy and going all Suddenly Last Summer on their asses!
I won't pretend that's rational - but between actressexual and rational, I choose Hepburnsexual (which is just a more rigid, haughtier version of an actressexual).
I think Katharine Hepburn really does deserve her Uber-Star distinction. She not only changed Hollywood to suit her, but she kinda changed America too.
But in a purely acting way, I thought she was equally adept at comedy as she was at drama. There are maybe a handful of people who could do that, particularly in Hollywood's "golden era."
goran -- i can respect that. even if i'll have to wear protective headgear from now on
@robertL
Actually, Dame Edith Evans won the 1967 Best Actress BAFTA for "The Whisperers."
Hepburn won the following year, for two films released in the UK during 1968.
It is unlikely that Hepburn would have won had she been competing with Evans (at least in the UK).