All language subtitles for Call.Me.Kate.2023.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX].Sdh

[gentle wistful music playing]

[TV host 1] Katharine Hepburn.

[TV host 2] Katharine Hepburn.

- [TV host 3] Katharine Hepburn.
- [TV host 4] Katharine Hepburn.

Four Oscars, which is
more than anybody else.

[TV host 5] A true
American eccentric.

[TV host 6] Every time
somebody compiles a list

of the most admired women,
there's Katharine Hepburn.

[Kat] She wasn't afraid to say, "I
really just wanted to be famous."

[Robin] She would use
her own intelligence

and her own savvy to negotiate
deals and changes in scripts.

She's opening doors that she
doesn't necessarily realize

are going to be there for
other women to walk through.

[typewriter keys clacking]

[Glenn] She was one of the
first women to wear pants

and to wear sometimes
rather masculine-looking,

tailored clothes that
women were not wearing.

[Angela Lansbury] She was
told by the heads of RKO,

"No self-respecting actress would
ever wear Dungarees in public."

She stripped them off and strolled
through the lot in her undergarments.

[audience laughs]

[Katharine] The wardrobe is
a self-indulgence, isn't it?

That everybody's been smart
enough to copy. [chuckles]

[Mundy] Kate was always
an intense person.

She was a lot of fun and fascinating
and deep-thinking and mischievous.

"Come on, let's go break in that
house and see what's in there."

[Katharine] I could
get in anywhere.

The only time I nearly lost my life
was dropping through a skylight.

Shoplifting. I didn't know
that she ever did that.

No, she's not a shoplifter.
She may be other things.

[Claudia] What happens to women's
ideals and how they see themselves,

how they dream about themselves?

There's nobody more than Hepburn
who tells you about that story.

Thank you, of course,
to Ms. Hepburn.

The longevity of her career I
think is inspiring to everyone.

[Angela] She dared to say no to
how the system wanted to mold her.

Now, how you feel
about being you?

I feel very good about it.

She confused the industry.
She confused the movie-goer.

She confused the press.

Katharine Hepburn refused
to be an influencer.

Influence yourself.

[gentle wistful music continues]

[Katharine] When I was starting
out, all I wanted was to be famous.

But I soon realized
that if I wanted to last

more than five minutes
in this industry

and survive to tell the tale,

I had to put in the work
to never stop pushing.

I still try to swim
every day I'm out here.

It helps me get out of my head.

Feels like only yesterday
I was just a child

climbing trees and
fighting with the boys.

It's my safe place.
Always has been.

Through it all, I
always come back.

I've lived a good life.

I remember when I was young,

I'd look at old
people and think,

"That will never happen to me."

But I tell you, it goes like...

[fingers snap]

You always call me Miss Hepburn.

So why don't you shift
and call me Kate?

[gentle string music]

Now, here I am, and I've
been here quite a long time.

The feet have a few
more steps in them.

One leg is a bit shaky.

I keep bumping myself. I
don't know what that means.

Certain things have
maintained themselves.

I can see pretty well,
and I still seem to have

a wild amount of energy
that I can still go on.

But I can't tell you the
things that have made me

do this or this or this.

You know, how the hell could
I tell the story of my life?

[Dick Cavett] Katharine Hepburn,
never having been on television,

she agreed to come into
my studio for a test only.

No, I think I go the other way.

[Dick Cavett] She
checked the cameras,

the lights, these chairs, the
temperature in the studio.

She pronounced the carpet ugly.

- Can we have a table that's...
- John.

Nobody answers.

[Dick Cavett] Then she
surprised me by suddenly saying,

"Why don't we just go
ahead and do it now?"

I have a feeling that
millions of people,

they feel that you probably
have some guiding principles,

some secret that if
only they knew them,

they could be as successful and
as content as you seem to be.

But you say it's luck. That
there aren't two or three rules.

No, well, I think it's in the first place,
it's lucky if you have an intelligent

and brilliant and inspiring
father and mother.

- Yeah.
- And it's lucky if you've had experiences

before the age of 15,

which teach you
not to be afraid.

[bright jazz music playing]

It's changed a lot around
here since I was a kid.

I grew up wild and free
with one brother Tom, older,

and my two younger,
Dick and Bob.

Being a girl was a torment.

I would shave my hair every
summer just like them.

I always wanted to be a boy.

Dad taught us gymnastics
and how to swim and wrestle.

When I think back, it really was the
most perfect, happiest of childhoods.

[bright jazz music continues]

One of my earliest memories
was that of my mother

getting me and my brothers
to give out red balloons

at the local fair.

She had a stall and asked
us to hand out leaflets

promoting the women's vote.

Their radical beliefs caused
quite a scandal in the town.

That was one of dad's gems.

Mother was one of
the top debaters.

She was quick-witted
and a lot of fun.

She would read us
all the greats,

Bernard Shaw, Emerson, O'Neill.

Our house was a meeting ground

for all the progressive
radicals of the time.

[Katharine, on tape] We
kids were allowed in,

but we didn't do much talking.

We met Emmeline Pankhurst,
Rebecca West, Richard Bennett,

any number of distinguished
doctors and professors.

The door of our house
was always open.

[Bonnie] She was the daughter of what
we now consider progressive parents.

Her father was a doctor and
he advocated birth control.

Her mom was a suffragette.

They told her basically,
"You do what you want."

So she called herself
by a boy's name.

I think it was Jimmy
or Billy or something.

Cut her hair and she learned
to play golf, she swam.

Because her parents say, "You
just do what you wanna do.

I mean, we're not
gonna stop you."

And so that's how she
felt about her life.

[Katharine] All us children
were incredibly close,

but Tom, Dick and
I were inseparable.

[bright jazz music]

[ship horns blaring]

[Katharine, on tape] I've come to
the conclusion it was an accident.

[Glenn, on tape] Based on
the fact that your father

had taught him or kind of-

[Katharine] Taught him,
taught us, to hang ourselves.

[Glenn] Just as a stunt.

[Katharine] As a stunt, and this
was at games and various events.

- [Glenn] Had you ever tried it?
- [Katharine] No.

[Glenn] But your brother, it
would seem decided to try.

[Katharine] He was fascinated
by it. He could do it.

[Glenn] Excuse me. I just
wanna turn this over.

[Katharine] We were in New
York visiting our aunt.

We went out to see
a play one evening,

and when we came back, Tom,
who was 16 at the time,

came to me before bed and
told me how much he loved me.

I didn't think anything of it.

The following morning
when I went to his room

to fetch him for breakfast,
I found him hanging.

- Dead.
- [gentle pensive music]

I took him down and lay
his cold body on the bed.

I felt detached from everything
that was happening around me.

I was devastated.

The hardest part about it all

was that we weren't only
told to not talk about Tom.

We had to pretend that he was
not ever part of our family,

to act as if he'd never lived.

This was how our father
managed the family's grief,

to pretend it never happened.

[gentle pensive music]

[Mundy] They were an amazing,
bright, capable, cohesive family.

But her father came
from a different era.

The reality of what happened
in the Hepburn household

was that everybody was
horrified and quiet.

Dr. Hepburn loved his children,

he wanted to be a good father,

but he was really
tough on his kids

in an idealistic way.

But by today's standards,
really harsh, probably abusive.

You have to heat it slowly,

or else it'll pop.

I remember my mother
talking about Tom's death,

and my mother said,

"Well, they told the
newspapers it was an accident."

He had been to the
circus a few days before

and watched a hanging thing
where there was a fake way

to hang yourself and appear
as though you were hanging.

But then...

That's what my mother
said when I was young.

But then as time passed, I
asked my father about it,

and that's when he said
he remembered his father

sitting in the chair
in the front hall,

the straight back chair with
his head in his hands going,

"Why did he do it?
Why did he do it?"

And my father said, "Well," to himself,
my father said, "Well, you big ass.

It's because you
were so mean to him."

Dr. Hepburn was on some level,
aware of his contribution.

And to have his eldest
son die of his own hand

was deeply troubling and
obviously, horribly painful.

Our family had a
lot of troubles.

Kate's mother's father
committed suicide.

Dr. Hepburn's older brothers
died under suspicious conditions.

But it was considered
in bad taste

to go around with
your tragedy evident.

So his way of being
strong was to go,

"Well, it's a nice day. We
got work to do. Let's go."

[Katharine's brother] Our father
moved us to a new neighborhood

to try and help us all
move on with our lives.

"A fresh start," he said.

But Tom's death seemed to separate
Kate from the outside world.

She became more
introverted and withdrawn,

like Tom was, sinking into
a deeper kind of depression.

She told me she'd made a promise
that she would never forget him

and would live her life
secretly for the both of them.

She started getting anxiety
attacks, which made her sick.

She found it hard being around
the other kids at school.

So our parents let
her be homeschooled.

Dad thought if they kept
her busy, it would help.

But she started
withdrawing into herself.

They eventually became so worried,
they made her go back to school.

[Katharine] I hated college.

I wasn't used to the discipline,

the regular hours and classes.

I started getting into trouble for
smoking and breaking into houses.

Anyway, after about two years,
they called in my parents

and practically
asked me to leave.

One night soon after,
I decided that's it.

I'd pull myself together,
get on with life,

but also do what I wanted.

In my junior year, I won
a role in the school play.

Nerves, fear, applause.

I finally felt fascinating.

It was right there and then
I decided to be an actress.

[Bob] Dad always felt that
if a girl went into theater,

it was as though she had announced
that she was going to be a prostitute

and that she would
not get anywhere

or any good jobs unless she
slept with the director.

[Katharine] When
I told my parents

I was moving to New
York, dad hit the roof.

But mom was just glad
to see me do something

other than what was
expected of women.

She was a true feminist, and
just told me to do what I wanted.

So I went.

And I had started
out as an understudy,

and I was always a
pretty good flash actor.

I could read a part without
knowing what I was doing,

and I could always get a part.

Never could keep it, 'cause
I would get so excited

that my voice would shoot
way up in the top of my head

and I would get red in
the face, talk too fast,

and couldn't act.

When they were all sitting out
there, it just petrified me.

So I wrote Dad and said, "Would
you back me with lessons?"

He wrote me and said he was
winning bets on the golf course

and he considered that
that was bad money,

so he'd send it to me.

[gentle bright music]

[Katharine] The first real friend
I made there was Laura Harding.

I met her through my
acting coach Robinson-Duff.

She was part of New
York's High Society

and heir to the American
Express fortune.

She knew all the highbrow
customs of the time

and introduced me to
her circle of friends

in the theater world.

Then Luddy, my old
friend from back home,

moved to New York,
and in no time at all,

he'd become part of our gang.

He was my beau,
too, from then on,

and he was a real sweetheart.

He made it his mission
to do everything he could

to make me a star.

He paid for lessons,
drove me to rehearsals,

and helped me film my auditions.

[Robin] Kate was
landing understudy roles

in some great plays, but
she kept getting fired.

She finally had the chance to
step into the leading role,

and after delivering an amusing line
where the audience exploded with laughter,

her overconfidence
found its way in.

Her voice rose to a high
pitch and she spoke so quickly

that no one could even understand her
through the remainder of the performance.

So she was fired.

[Katharine] After about
a year of knock backs,

getting dropped from shows,
and with only understudy roles,

I was just about
ready to give up.

Sensing my sinking mood,
Luddy proposed to me,

and I thought,
you know, why not?

We had a simple wedding,
and I even convinced him

to bring our friends, Jack
and Laura on our honeymoon.

[Mundy] Kate wanted to
do all the normal things

like have a life and have
children and have a mate.

But when she really tried
to do that with Luddy,

she realized that
she was different,

that her enormous energy would
drive her insane very quickly.

And within two weeks, she
needed to move back to New York

and continue her efforts.

And he, for his part, understood
that he had married a mad woman

with 10 times the energy,

and so he packed up
and moved with her,

throwing his own life aside

and just going, "Whatever
you want, Kate. Let's do it.

I love you. I'm gonna help."

[bright jazz music]

[gentle orchestral music]

[crowd chattering]

[Robin] Kate had understudied
for Hope Williams

in several New York productions,

and she studied Hope's style and
persona from the wings each night.

Her masculine dress sense
in what Kate would call

the half boy, half
woman persona.

Like a chameleon, Kate adopted
some of these mannerisms.

So when Hope abandons The
Warrior's Husband production,

Kate's given the
lead role chance

and she channeled everything
that she had practiced.

The play was a huge success and
catapulted her into the public's eye.

[Katharine] I was finally starting
to get the recognition I had craved.

My career skyrocketed.

My headshot was sent to L.A.

and I was asked to go out
to test for a part in a film

called A Bill of Divorcement,

to be directed by George Cukor
and starring John Barrymore.

I got a train with Laura

and we both arrived in
L.A. in a hot, sweaty mess.

I don't think the head
of RKO, David Selznick,

was very impressed when he
picked us up from the station.

[gentle piano music]

- [camera beeps]
- [reel clicking]

[Katharine] Every actor in
America had gone up for this part,

and I knew George would've
seen hundreds of tests.

So I decided to do
something different,

a scene from Holiday.

I'd understudied Hope and watched her
play that scene night after night,

and I took a lot of her
into my performance.

I knew I'd made an impression.

John Barrymore came straight
to see me after they watched it

to tell me what he thought.

I was going to be a star.

[camera beeps]

[Katharine] A few days
later, the call came in.

Laura was to play
the supporting role,

and I was given the leading
part in my first ever picture.

Laura and I decided
to move to Hollywood,

and that was the beginning
of the end for me and Luddy.

[bells dinging]

[beeping]

[bright orchestral music]

[Katharine] Then shooting
started on A Bill of Divorcement,

and the first shot
was a party scene.

In a beautiful chiffon dress,

I came floating down the stairs
and into the arms of David Manners.

[Robin] In her very first film she
played John Barrymore's daughter

in a creaky melodrama called
A Bill of Divorcement.

She was 24 making her film debut.
He was 50, a long established star.

He was one of the famous
Hamlets of his generation.

He was also an infamous
alcoholic, a womanizer,

and like other powerful men in Hollywood,
used to getting exactly what he wanted.

[Katharine, on tape] He asked me to come
to his dressing room on the lot one day.

I went, and there he
was lying on his couch

in a, what shall I say,
comparative disarray.

There was a pause, a quick
shuffle of the blanket.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry. See
you later," he said.

I went, "Oh, my.
How very strange."

I'll make it up to you.

[Katharine] Anyway, he
was an angel after that.

His main object really seemed

to be absolutely certain
that I made a big hit.

He held my face to the camera
in our many scenes together.

[bird whistling]

What's that?

Nothing.

[plane whirring]

[Robin] After working on
A Bill of Divorcement,

Kate and Laura became part of
George Cukor's close circle,

attending his parties, making
friends in the industry.

Kate said that George would
always sit her next to people

that could help
her in her career,

but no one in Hollywood
knew she was married.

She was courting several
big players in the industry,

including her agent,
Leland Hayward,

who taught her the ins and outs
of negotiating with the studios.

[interviewee] She was
anything but a big star,

but she treated herself like
a star in the negotiations.

She wouldn't sign
a term contract,

and her agent, Leland
Hayward, wouldn't let her.

So she signed a contract

that gave her a very big
salary, $1,500 a week.

[Katharine] One day, I was
hanging out between meetings

in Pandro's office,

and I spotted the script for
Morning Glory on his desk.

I started to flick through
it. It was incredible.

I called Laura and
told her to drive over.

We read the script together
and she was as convinced as I

that no matter what, I
had to play the lead.

Leland told me they'd
already cast it,

but I said, "No, it's for me."

Well, he went off and
managed to get me the part.

[gentle string music]

Good morning, Tom.

[Robin] In 1933, she
stars in Morning Glory,

and Kate was perfect for the
role of a small town actress

who arrives in New York,
hungry for stardom.

And in this performance,
you really see Kate

trying to prove to the world that
she could be a serious actress.

And all of you, be
quiet. Be quiet.

[gentle string music]

Romeo. Romeo.

Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

Deny thy father and
refuse thy name.

[Robin] As the Katharine
Hepburn Cultural Art Center,

affectionately
known as the Kate,

the most significant
contribution to our collection

was in February, 2020, when
Ms. Hepburn's grand-niece,

Skylar Grant, gave to us
several boxes of items

that had been at the
Grant home in Fenwick.

Let's see.

To our delight, we opened the
boxes and found dozens of letters

that Ms. Hepburn had
written to her family,

as well as some
wonderful photos.

I felt like her voice was in
my head after a little while

of transcribing letters.

This is a very typical letter

that she would have
written home to her mother.

This is from July of 1933.

Morning Glory is about to open,

and, you know, she's
talking in this letter

about, "I hope
people will like it."

"I hope," again,
"it's well received."

And Morning Glory becomes
her first Academy Award.

[Katharine, on tape] The first week
or two that I was in Hollywood,

I got all my money in cash

and I put it in the bureau
drawer and I spent it all.

And Dad said, "Where's the money?
We'd better put it in the bank."

And I said, "It's gone."

So he said, "You better
have them send it to me."

So until the day he died, he took
my money and sent me an allowance.

[jovial piano music]

[Katharine] The press started
calling Laura my other half,

because when things kicked off,

she helped take over
every aspect of my life,

becoming my wardrobe
designer, press agent,

and even negotiating with
the producers and directors,

putting her career on
hold to look after mine.

[jovial piano music continues]

[Robin] Kate was off to a flying
start, making back-to-back films.

A Bill of Divorcement is a hit.

She's immediately offered a
part in Christopher Strong.

Then she makes Morning
Glory, which as we all know,

is a hit, and then
"Little Women.

But in one of the letters
in our collection,

she writes to her mother, "I'm not
decided yet on 'Little Women, '

so I'm stalling about
as long as possible."

It's going to be
a long production.

It means she may have to
give up theatrical roles

in New York if she
decides to make the film.

It was never cut and
dry decision making.

But Little Women became the most

commercially successful
film that Kate made,

and the money she earned,
still managed by her father,

allowed her to rent
increasingly extravagant places.

[water sloshing]

[woman] "Dear Brimsl,"

your house is beyond
my wildest imagination.

I beg to see it and
I'm wildly jealous

of that cat, Pollocks.

I wish you were
here or I with you.

I dare not think of
what I'm missing."

[gentle wistful music]

[Robin] There's a
break where she goes

back to the stage and
she makes The Lake.

This is not a success.

She actually has to buy her
way out of this contract

so that she doesn't have
to continue performing

in this production
that is going nowhere.

She gives the producer
every last cent that she had

in her checking account in order
to get out of that contract

and get back to Hollywood.

[Katharine, on tape] That was
a very, very difficult thing

for me to deal with.

From defeat, I learned you have to
know a little bit what you're doing,

and you can't move on saying,

"Well, I don't want
to go this way.

I'm going this way because
you are pushing me."

Don't do that.

There's one person to blame,

and that is you.

Every girl has a time in
her life when she's positive

she's divinely
talented for the stage.

[Robin] After The Lake,

it's miss, miss, miss,
miss, unfortunately.

Spitfire.

I'm the best thief
in the country.

[Castmate] Oh,
Trigger, you're sinful.

I ain't sinful. I'm hungry.

[Robin] The Little Minister.

I suppose one must be very
clever to be a minister.

[Robin] Break of Hearts.

[dramatic emotional music]

Stop.

[Robin] And then
Sylvia Scarlett.

But what a role in
Sylvia Scarlett.

She portrays a young woman,
masquerading as a young man

so that she can travel
with her father.

And the transformation
is amazing.

Oh, I say that's marvelous.

I say.

I wonder what it'd be like to kiss
anybody with a mustache like that.

- I don't know.
- Let's try.

[Robin] That was a movie
that was very controversial

and unfortunately, I don't
think a lot of people understood

the premise of the film,
and so that was a miss.

Michael. Michael.

[Robin] They filmed a lot of the
scenes outdoors and on the beach.

And that's where she meets
Howard Hughes for the first time.

Howard was an inventor,
a businessman,

a film producer, and he was
a friend of Cary Grant's.

He wants to meet
her, so he flies in,

and she thought it was so
obtrusive. How dare he.

[waves crashing]

[Katharine] My relationship with Leland
felt like it was getting serious,

and I felt awful for
stringing Luddy along.

I knew it was time
to let him go.

Poor Luddy.

He had done everything to
help me get to where I was.

I took his money, used his
car, then broke his heart.

[Mundy] She was always
friends with Luddy,

and I get the feeling,
ultimately honest with him,

probably after being found
out or something like that.

But I don't think that she
ever worked to deceive.

And as she said, the attitude was, "I'm
going over there. Get outta my way."

[cars whizzing]

This letter was as she
was sailing to Mexico

for her divorce, to
have it done hush hush.

And she's of course, sailing
with her friend Laura.

She tells her mother,

"I hope we do not get bitten
by snakes and tarantulas."

And, you know, she says here,
"I've spoken to no one."

She would always
tell her mother,

"Don't ever talk to the press,"
even before she was a star.

"Don't talk to anybody."

And it's when Kate returned to Hollywood,
we presume Leland proposed to her.

But by then she had figured out
she wasn't marriage material.

After she turned him down,
he started to drift away.

Then the story goes one day
while he was away in New York,

she received a telegram
out of the blue

saying that he had
married another actress.

[plane whirring]

[Katharine] I was heartbroken
and couldn't stop crying.

But mother told me to
stop moping and get busy.

So I accepted a theater role
in Boston playing Jane Eyre.

I saw in the press that
Howard was in town,

and I must have been lonely or something,
because I invited him to dinner.

Then we had dinner
every show thereafter.

He moved into the same hotel,

and then he followed us on tour.
Conducting his work on the telephone.

After the play finished, we headed
back to California together,

and I moved into his house,
proving that persistence pays.

[Toyah] Howard Hughes collected women
the way most people collect ornaments.

And he had them scattered
around Hollywood.

These young starlets
that he promised work to,

and work never, ever came.

And Katharine had quite a long and
very deep relationship with him,

and she held her ground.

[Glenn, on tape] Sounds like you
two had a lot of fun together.

[Katharine, on tape] Yes, he was
a good golfer, good tennis player.

[Glenn] Flew planes.

[Katharine] Yeah, yeah.

[Glenn] Even you flew one
under the 59th Street Bridge.

Do you think it was that you
liked his adventurousness?

[Katharine] I suppose
he opened doors for me.

[Glenn] Were you an opportunist?

[Katharine] I think
everyone is an opportunist.

If they have an opportunity
to be opportunistic.

[both laughing]

[solemn ambient music]

[Bonnie] Katharine Hepburn scared
people and she frightened people.

She was a threat.
She was Lilith.

She was this thing that was going
to come down and sort you out.

And oh, oh, by the way, guys,

she actually didn't
need you to live either.

So in that arc of time, and we're
talking about the middle '30s,

when she had three films
in a row that flopped,

there was no mercy.

[Robin] The '30s killed
a lot of careers.

She made a lot of bad movies and
some movies that are terrific,

that weren't appreciated at the
time, like Bringing Up Baby.

She said, "I think moviegoers
thought I was just too la-dee-da.

And there were a lot of
people who just wanted

to see me fall flat on my face."

[Katharine] My going rate
had nose dived from 150,000

to Paramount offering
me just 10,000.

Howard was pressuring
me to accept.

He was worried about what
people were saying about him.

It was the only offer I had,

but I knew it would be the
end of my career if I took it.

So I called them
back and declined,

then retreated back to Fenwick
to figure out my next move.

[wind whooshing]

And then the hurricane came.

And we watched as our family home got
swept up and carried down the river.

It was when Howard sent
water over in a plane

but didn't visit, that I knew
our relationship was over.

To say that I was feeling sorry
for myself was an understatement.

[Mundy] Kate said to Mama, "Oh,
I'm ruined. I'm done," and,

"they all are mean to me."

And Mama said to Kate, [laughs]

"You've gotten rich and famous, and
now you're complaining about it.

You've been knocked
down. Get up."

[Katharine] Not long after
starting to rebuild our home,

the phone rang.

It was an old friend of mine,
Philip Barry, the playwright.

He had heard I was back
home and wanted to come

and pitch me a new idea.

So he joined me for tea and
described in great detail

a play called The
Philadelphia Story.

It was so good, I
signed up right away.

Afterwards, I called Howard. We were
still speaking almost every day,

and he told me to act fast
and buy the movie rights

before the play opened.

So I did, and worked closely
with Philip to finish the script.

[Claudia] She is a
smart businesswoman.

She is in charge of this
image that she presents,

and she has a friend
called Philip Barry.

And he writes this play when
she has no movies to make

called Philadelphia Story.

And she reads it and says, "Not
only am I playing this role,

I'm investing in the
Broadway production,

and I'm buying
the movie rights,"

which has gotta be one
of the most brilliant

business decisions any
woman in movies ever made.

Never mind a movie
star in movies.

She borrows the money,
as I understand it,

from Howard Hughes, but
she gets the movie rights.

She's a huge hit on Broadway.

Everything is
looking good again,

and she sells the movie to MGM.

The studio of studios in
Hollywood to Louis B. Mayer.

She can insist on being
the star, which is obvious.

She can tell him what director
she wants, which is Cukor.

She knew what she
wanted exactly,

but she was officially
box office poison.

[Bonnie] What male
was box office poison?

I can't think of anybody.

I mean, it was even known
that John Barrymore,

who was a big star, was a drunk.

He wasn't box office poison as
far as the industry was concerned,

but she was box office poison.

So she's what's called a Yankee,

and I mean it not the way
Southerners call people in the north.

She was actually a form
of American aristocracy.

It was the Depression.

And people are like, "What
the? I can't even eat."

And then this voice
comes through,

so Americans could
hear in her voice

that she had money and that
she was highly educated.

Would you care to see me do the
sleepwalking scene from Macbeth?

No. Oh, Paul, damn it.

Well, the teachers at Ms. Porter's
school thought it was very promising.

[Bonnie] She had to change herself so
that she was acceptable to the industry

and acceptable to viewers.

She had to find her heart.
She had to find her soul.

She had to come down a peg.

And that's why Philadelphia Story,"
the beginning of it is so exquisite.

[bright uplifting music]

[tense suspenseful music]

[Bonnie] First shot,
first shot, first shot.

Before there's no word spoken. Cary
Grant pushes her down in the door.

[Katharine thuds]

That's what guys
wanted to do to her.

Guys wanted... the minute
she opened her mouth,

they wanted to take a
pie and go, "Shut up."

Or... [grunts]

She thought, "Well,
let me just do it."

So she did it.

[Mundy] After that, it's like, ooh,
she's a force to be reckoned with.

She thinks big.
She's got brains.

Now let's see what's next.

[gentle ethereal music]

[Katharine] My friend Garson
sent me a new idea he had had

that his brother was working on.

It wasn't finished, but I could
already see it had great potential,

and I knew at this point in my career,
I had to strike while the iron was hot.

I ripped off the front page
that had their names on,

and put on a new front page
with Philadelphia Story II

scribbled on it with a big question
mark before sending it on to Mankiewicz.

I told him if he was interested,

to get back to me in 24
hours or I'd go elsewhere.

He told me to head out to LA for a meeting
with Mayer and himself as soon as I could.

So I caught a Stratoliner
out straightaway.

[Katharine, on tape]
Mayer, shrewd as hell,

used flattery for
all it was worth.

Inside I was nervous,

but I held firm and
told them what I wanted.

One hundred thousand for
the story and script.

One hundred thousand for
myself to star in it,

and 10,000 for my commission.

The room went quiet.

They tried to offer me 175,000,

but I refused.

I held my nerve,

and when I sensed Mayer might back
out, insisting I tell him who wrote it,

I doubled down even more,

telling him I was
taking offers only.

And if he was interested, I would
send him the finished script

over in a couple of days.

Now, knowing there was genuine
interest, we locked ourselves away.

Ring, Mike, and I worked
together to finish the script,

delivering it to them
a few days later.

- [solemn music]
- [typewriter keys clack]

[Robin] The purchase of the script for
Woman of the Year by Mankiewicz and Mayer

would make it at that time, a
record for an original screenplay.

And they had no idea until
after they had signed

the contract that it had
been by two novice writers.

Kate wanted Spencer Tracy
to play the leading man.

She greatly admired him
as a person, as an actor.

She always called
him an actor's actor.

After she did some digging
around and found out

that he had a window of
availability, she got him.

[Larry King] Spencer Tracy,
he comes into her life

through making a movie with her.

[Katharine Houghton] Yes,
they made Woman of the Year.

And by the way, that
story about when they met,

she supposedly said to him,
"Well, you are not very tall."

And he supposed to have said,
"I'll cut you down to my size."

You remember that story?

- [Larry King] Is that true?
- [Katharine Houghton] No.

She used to wear three inch platform
shoes to make herself terribly tall.

So she said, "You are not as
tall as I thought you were."

And Joe Mankiewicz said,
"Don't worry, Kate.

He'll cut you down to his size."

[Katharine] I heard after our
meeting that Spence told Garson

he found me to be
a strange creature.

Apparently he didn't like that I
had a rather ambiguous sexuality,

dirty fingernails,
and always wore pants.

I just think he found
me rather unattractive

and disappointing and thought,
"Oh my God, what am I stuck with?"

I guess he thought I was a lesbian,
but found out pretty quickly

that I had no problems
with the opposite sex.

Anyway, he signed up for the film,
and after that, in my career,

I'd never again budge on
something I believed in.

[energetic orchestral
music playing]

[Claudia] I love
Woman of the Year.

It's again, a script
written for her.

And every cliche of male,
female relationships

is ironically reversed
in this movie.

She's the important woman

having a life of not only
independence, but importance,

dealing with world
politics at a time of war.

She's this new female ideal.

Shill.

Spencer Tracy is
the sports columnist

for the same newspaper where
she's the political columnist.

Their chemistry was clearly
obvious for everyone to see.

What are you trying to
prove? Why am I here?

- Well, Sam...
- After all, you know, a little normal

could have driven you down
here. Why did you ask me?

Thought you might
wanna kiss me goodbye.

[Claudia] Their first kiss
on screen is mostly hidden

by the way it's shot from behind
his head with his face hidden

and with his hat brim hiding
her face almost completely.

[Glenn, on tape] You say that you
found the true meaning of love.

[Katharine, on tape] Yes. No
question that that's true.

[Glenn] How quickly
did you fall in love?

[Katharine] I would
think almost immediately.

[Claudia] When Woman of the Year
was playing at Radio City in 1942,

the gossip columnist Sheilah
Graham managed to tell her

thousands of readers
that Tracy and Hepburn

got on like a house of fire,

and the love scenes in the
picture are extremely convincing.

[gentle romantic music]

[interviewer] What attracted
you to Spencer Tracy?

[Katharine, on tape]
His sense of humor.

He had a wonderful sense of
humor, a remarkable memory.

What attracted me to Spencer Tracy
is... What's the word? Magic.

[Claudia] It was
adultery, of course.

Tracy was married, but had
been having affairs for years

before Hepburn showed up,

which was an open secret
apparently in Hollywood,

although not at all
bandied about in the press.

[Mundy] Kate was
harried by the press,

and she learned very quickly
to keep them at arm's length.

And it was a fun
game I think also,

to be terribly important
and don't let anybody know,

and let's sneak over here.

And it's a fun game to feel
wanted, to feel important.

[tape whirring]

[Glenn, on tape] He told me
the rumors in the early '30s

were she must be a lesbian.

[Katharine, on tape] Yes.

[Glenn] Because she's so
aggressive and she wears pants,

and in those days, you
didn't give interviews.

[Katharine] Well, I didn't
want to give interviews

because I thought, "No use
talking about something

until you know whether
it's any good."

Then when I found out that it was okay,
then I didn't need to talk to him.

[both chuckling]

[Katharine] People were always
gossiping about Laura and I.

The director Mark Sandrich
eventually told me

that he might have been
the one responsible

for starting this rumor after he
overheard Laura on the phone at the studio

trying to get hold of me,
referring to herself as my husband.

[Mundy] Oh, was she a
lesbian? I don't know.

She was probably everything
and maybe nothing.

She was whatever you
dream her to have been.

Because that's the point.

Like, if a guy's too
nice, he must be gay.

If a woman's too
aggressive, she must be gay.

Well, as Kate would
say, "What a bore."

The whole thing is so boring.

You can't know, and it's
none of your business

and who the hell cares, anyway?

[gentle bright music]

[Claudia] She certainly
didn't mind the speculation

about who she was dating
or how significant it was

that she wore
slacks all the time.

It kept people guessing about
her and talking about her.

But when it came to scripts, she
knew exactly what she wanted,

and she went back to the theater

to do another Philip Barry
play called Without Love.

She tried to get the producers
in New York to hire Tracy

to co-star with her, but they
were worried about his drinking.

That was hard.

Working together was
a pleasure on its own,

but it was also an excuse

for being together
without sneaking around.

[Larry King] Was that
love affair a secret?

[Katharine Houghton] It had to be
Larry, because of his being married.

And I don't think that either one
of them wanted to bring attention.

[Larry King] So how
did they pull it off?

[Katharine Houghton] They
worked very hard at it.

Never staying in
the same hotels,

going in back doors.

My aunt went up lots
of fire escapes,

climbed in and out of
windows across roofs.

[Katharine] It took me
until I was 33 years of age

to fall in love and know
what it really meant.

His needs came before mine,

and I looked for his approval
with everything that I did.

[bright lounge music]

[metal sign creaking]

[Joe] He was pretty
quiet, my grandfather.

Strong silent type, you know?

But he actually took time
to take me out in the yard

and play Frisbee.

And, you know, he offered
to take me places,

but my grandmother wouldn't
let me ride in the car with him

because he was a fast driver

and whatever other reasons
she might have had.

When I started drinking,
my mom would tell me

about alcoholism in the family
and how it's hereditary.

And then Spencer, when I had
questions about his health,

it was blamed on damage he did

from drinking and from
depression and anxiety.

Having my dad,
having a deaf son,

and then Catholic guilt for
his relationship problems.

And he actually felt guilty
that he became an actor

instead of a father in
the Catholic church.

He said, "You should have more
respect for your plumber."

You know, "They do more for
you than an actor ever will."

[gentle somber music]

[Claudia] It wasn't the fairy tale
that they later presented it as being.

Spencer the alcoholic.

Spencer who couldn't
work on a set

without her being there
to help control him.

[gentle morose music]

[Katharine Houghton] Sure, it was a
tempestuous or complicated relationship.

And fiery.

He could be often tough on her,

and I think that was the
only person she allowed

to get away with that.

[Katharine, on tape] Spencer
had found life very difficult.

He felt that the miseries
that he brought on people

were avoidable and that
if he hadn't existed,

the world would've
been better off.

That's a heavy load to carry.

[woman] "Dearestt Brimsl,
how are things for you?

I know so little
about you these days,

what you are thinking
and how you are.

I hope you are well and you're
about to start on the new picture.

I send my love and lots of it."

[Robin] Although
Kate was making time

to look after Spencer, she
still was challenging herself,

looking for interesting scripts,
things that she could put her stamp on.

When she got the script for
Keeper of the Flame in 1943,

it was a controversial
idea for the time.

Not only was this script
smart and incredibly dramatic,

but there had never been a film
depicting women in this way.

A woman going to
trial for murder.

[Katharine] The
character of Christine

was a mature, complex woman.

Fully rounded, not another girl
like in so many of my other films.

So I jumped at the chance
to play a real character

with real life experience.

[Robin] Keeper of the Flame was
another classic Tracy, Hepburn pairing.

And I think it
particularly inspired Kate,

because there had been an
unspoken rule in Hollywood films

that a woman could never
get away with murder.

Kate wouldn't settle for this, and
she rewrote the ending of the film.

But when she submitted
the new ending,

the writer refused to
budge , and that was that.

[Katharine, on TV] Senator Kennedy
has just introduced 11 bills

in the state Senate,
which if passed,

will set California
education back 50 years.

These men have learned well

that the hand which
rocks the cradle

shakes the world.

[Robin] Kate had been
cautious to engage

in the public domain, but
by the end of the '40s,

the House Un-American Committee
concerned with moral decline

had introduced new censorship
laws across the arts.

This was Kate's world, and
she disagreed completely.

So she stood up and she spoke.

[Katharine] I did it
because I believed in it.

I had the full support of
my parents who believed

the only advantages of my
position was the voice it gave me

to uplift others without it.

It wasn't about politics.
It was about censorship.

Spence disapproved of actors
meddling in public affairs.

And again, the press sought
to drag me through the mud,

branding me pink.

I didn't work for the rest
of the year after that.

Garson called with a new script
he had written for us, Adam's Rib.

It represented
everything I believed in,

and I worked closely
with him on the script.

With Spencer on board
and George directing,

it was nice to have all my
friends back working together.

Good morning, Mr. Hurlock.

Good morning.

Do you believe in
equal rights for women?

- What?
- Objection.

[Claudia] Adam's Rib
is one of the movies

where she really gives voice to
the idea of women's equality,

loud and clear and blatant,

because she's arguing
for it in court.

She has continual speeches
about what would you do

to a man in this position?

Why wouldn't you do that to
a woman in this position?

In fact, women's equality is
not only a subtext of the movie

the way it always is with
her, but the subject.

This poor woman, isn't she
entitled to the same justice,

I mean, that's usually
reserved for men?

The same unwritten law
that got Lenahan off.

[Robin] Kate was becoming
known for playing

characters who defied
society's expectations.

And this was what she was
doing in her own life.

She was living very
differently from most women

who were settling down
and having children.

[Glenn, on tape] Had you wanted
children, would you have married?

[Katharine, on tape]
Yeah, I would've,

but I would have led a
totally different life.

I wouldn't have worked, 'cause I
felt that it was a tremendous job

to bring up children carefully.

- But I wanted to be filmed and a star.
- [laughter]

[Glenn] And you are.

[Katharine] Yes, but I mean,
and one pays the price, I think.

[Glenn] And the price though, was it
any lonelier for you, do you think?

[Katharine] No, I don't think so. I
don't think, I'm not the lonely type.

[TV host] I know
the whole story.

Sam Spiegel told Bogie,
he had Huston and Hepburn,

And he told Huston he
had Bogart and Hepburn.

And he told Hepburn he
had Bogart and Huston

before he had any of them.

And that's how he
got all of them.

[crowd laughs]

[Katharine] Sam Spiegel sent me
C.S. Forester's The African Queen,"

to see if I would consider
playing Rose in the adaptation.

It was excellent, and I met right
away with John Huston and Sam.

At that point, they weren't sure
who was going to play the man,

but thought it should
be an authentic Cockney.

But once they thought of Bogie,
there was no one that could compete

with his personality and looks, so
they changed the character to Canadian.

Heading out to Africa
felt foreboding.

I still hadn't seen
a completed script,

but Bogie who had worked
with John before said,

"Don't worry, this is
the way he does it."

I said, "Wow, this is
getting a bit tight."

He said, "You'll see.
It'll be worth it."

[Angela] It was in those
days called continuity.

That's me, Katie Hepburn,

Humphrey Bogart, Lauren
Bacall, John Huston.

We were all bitten,
as I used to say,

bitten to buggery by all
these flying insects.

Well, I was young, so it
was all a new experience.

I mean, the camp was literally
hacked out of the jungle.

The boys would play cards or what.
There was nowhere else to go.

But Katie, she kept to herself
and read and learnt her lines

and things like that.

She was very disciplined,
but she'd be quite bossy.

I mean, John, I suppose
you could say he certainly

wasn't methodical in
the way she was used to.

One day we had the famous morning. We'd
traveled up the river and everything.

We're doing this scene
and he said, "Print it."

And she said, "But
you weren't looking."

She said, "But John, you weren't-"
"But I was listening, Katie."

"That's not the same.
I wanna do it again."

Well, we turned the boat around.

We managed to decapitate the
boiler and everything else

with all the trees.

So that took about four or five hours
to put the boat back together again

and do the scene.

We used the original, actually,
in the film. She never knew.

That way.

Pull her over.

[gentle somber music]

[Mundy] Kate's mother was
very bright, very capable,

very original thinking,

and really held the family together
by being a skilled negotiator.

She could handle Hep.

And she had a brain
hemorrhage and abruptly died

at the age of 72.

Everybody was in shock.

It was a horrific moment.

Later when her father died,

she by then had a little
experience with death.

But after Kate's mother died,

she basically overdosed on work.

'Cause if there's one thing
Kate has, it's nervous energy.

And so the pain turns into,

"Okay, I'm gonna make it
right. I'm gonna fix it."

And it's possible to fix it
so much that you collapse.

[Claudia] One knows that she
had certain nervous afflictions.

And there's the story about
The Millionairess in London

where she apparently was
having a nervous breakdown

while she was playing it

where she couldn't speak and
all this with her throat.

She was increasingly manic,

and then eventually in New York,
she checked into a hospital.

But there she was performing
night after night after night.

[Mundy] My mother said there was a
waste basket where you'd get on stage.

And now and again she'd
puke in the waste basket,

'cause she was so wired and scared
and, "Oh, my God, what'll they think?

I've got to do a good job."

And so she'd puke.

And then as my mother
said, she'd go on stage

and be absolutely brilliant,

and she'd come backstage and
she'd grab me by the shoulders,

"Was I any good?
Was I any good?"

[Katharine] I always felt
they were out to get me

and that I better be good.

And I still think I'd better be good.
You know, I struggled to do my best.

- [TV host] I understand that.
- I struggled for days to...

do my best for this. Do
you know what I mean?

And I don't think you
ever feel like anything.

You feel like a bore.

You know, don't you? Or,
do you feel fascinating?

[TV host] No, I feel like a
bore a good most of the time.

Like a bore. Like a bore.

Then you think, "My God,
they're gonna find out

what a bore I am, and then
that'll be a terrible thing."

[Robin] "I am delighted
to know that not only

did you survive the
African expedition,

but you got so much fun and
only a little disease out of it.

I wish I could write this
minute dash for London

and be with you for
a couple of weeks."

The Millionairess was a huge
hit for Hepburn in London,

but she optioned the film rights,
she worked on a screen adaptation

and she pushed the script
to everyone she knew

who had some power
in the business.

She offered to work for free and
pay the director out of her pocket

if anybody would
make a movie of this.

No one bought it.

[Katharine] I wish I'd
never given up on it.

It's that strange
thing that time does.

I had forgotten all the doors
shut in my face before then.

All the no's.

It had never stopped me before.

But this time I
gave up too quickly.

[Robin] Kate reached
out to Constance Collier

and asked if she would coach her
for her upcoming Shakespeare tour.

She had helped Kate
on The Millionairess.

And had become not only a
friend, but a confidant.

So Constance headed to London

with her trusted assistant,
Phyllis Wilbourn.

When Constance died suddenly
while Kate was on tour,

Kate immediately hired Phyllis
as her own personal secretary.

[Mundy] Phyllis said, "I never
married because there were no men.

They had all been
killed in the war.

So I came to America with
Miss Hepburn and here I am."

Phyllis was the
sweetest, most helpful,

gentle creature on the planet.

And Kate kept her carefully
[laughs] for the rest of her life.

[Glenn] Phyllis was very introverted
and there to serve, basically.

She would call and
arrange an interview.

She'd greet you at the door. She
would say, "Madam is upstairs."

She would kind of drift
in and out of a room.

You wouldn't hardly
know she was there.

She was clearly very
closely bonded to Hepburn.

It was a very
trusting relationship.

[Katharine] Spence, Phyllis and I
became like a tight-knit family.

Phyllis helped take over
everything in my life

so I could just
focus on my work.

She would join us on holiday

and help me nurse Spence back
to health when he got sick.

[gentle bright music]

[Bonnie] Women have to
constantly be an act.

And Katharine Hepburn decided,
"If I'm going to be an act,

I'm going to control
what that act is."

When she got older in the '50s,

she made herself into the
spinster who's looking for love.

[Claudia] The film I have
the most trouble watching

is the very beautiful David
Lean movie, Summertime.

The idea of the character undercut
her at every single moment.

She is desperately alone and
sad because she has no man.

It's a lesson about
what will happen to you

if you don't get on the
marital boat early on.

And the next horrible nail
in the spinster coffin

is called Desk Set.

She's the head of a
research foundation,

but she has a male boss
for whom she's been pining

for seven years, waiting for
him to propose marriage to her.

For the 500th time, there's
a glass wall behind you.

Bunny, who do you
think you're kidding?

Everybody knows you haven't
got a brain in your head.

The only way you keep your
job is by being nice to me.

Well, a girl has to work.

Work? Oh, yes, work.

[Claudia] It's incredible to
watch Hepburn with all her vigor

and vitality and intelligence
fit this part of the story in.

She can do anything, but she
won't get the credit for it.

She won't get the money for it,
and she's still pining away for it.

There's a happy ending
where Spencer Tracy enters

and presumably better things
will happen for her now.

But again, those are the endings. And
what you walk away with is an image

of what's been going on
through the entire movie.

You're the only
thing I care about.

[camera clicks]

[Katharine] In the space of a few years,
Spence and I lost many good friends.

David Selznick, Louis
B. Mayer, Bogie.

It was a difficult time, and each
lost deeply affected Spencer.

[Bonnie] Spencer Tracy...

can't go on any longer.
He just can't do it.

The demons have got him
physically and mentally.

And she takes five
years out of her career,

which means everything to
her, to take care of him.

[Robin] After Spence became ill, Kate
and Spence finally moved in together

in a cottage on George
Cukor's property.

He used to paint and they
would go to the beach

and they lived a
very quiet life.

And when he was
sick, she loved that.

She seemed to feel empowered by
him not being so strong, I guess.

[Katharine, on tape] I was not
able to solve his problems,

but I was able to help him by seeing
that he didn't fall down the stairs.

You know, or break his goddamn
neck or just be miserable.

So that was my pleasure.

[Kat] My father was
filmmaker Stanley Kramer,

who made Guess Who's
Coming to Dinner.

My parents were part of the
Kate, Spence inner circle,

and she used to come over
after playing tennis and say,

"I wanna see my baby." [laughs]

Cat, my mom and
Spence and my father,

they used to have dinner
and Spence and her were both

always very gossipy about
who was sleeping with who

or who was cheating on whom
or who was dating whom.

And this was kind of their
form of entertainment.

My mom helped cast Katharine
Houghton in the role of Joey.

She said to my father, "Why
don't you cast her actual niece?"

Dr. John Wade Prentice.
This is my dad.

- Pleased to meet you.
- Oh, how are you?

Nice to know you, but, but
what is it? Is something wrong?

[Bonnie] This is a picture about
a fairly upper middle class,

left wing, white couple whose
daughter brings home a Black man.

You know, we would think
to ourselves now, you know,

"Anybody would let you
marry Sidney Poitier."

It didn't matter, you know,
what color or gender you were,

you'd marry Sidney Poitier,
so what was the deal?

But in those days,
that was shocking,

because there were states
of the Union where,

for real, Katharine
Houghton and Sidney Poitier

could not get married legally.

Two weeks ago, I would've said
such a thing was inconceivable.

[Bonnie] Spencer Tracy, he
doesn't stand up, if you notice,

in that movie very
much, 'cause he can't.

His heart is giving
way. She was very tense.

And she knows based on his politics
and the way he's lived his life,

this is the way he
wants to go out,

to make this statement
that we're all equal.

Where John made his mistake,
I think, was attaching

so much importance to what
her mother and I might think.

Because in the final analysis, it
doesn't matter a damn what we think.

The only thing that
matters is what they feel

and how much they
feel for each other.

And if it's half
of what we felt...

that's everything.

[gentle solemn music]

[water dripping]

[Katharine] The day
after I wrapped my shots,

in the middle of the night, I heard
Spence shuffling down the hall.

I got up to help him,
and I heard a cup smash.

Then the sound of his
body hitting the floor.

Spence was dead. Heart attack.

Peace at last.

The first person I called was
Phyllis, who came straight over.

We took all my stuff to the car.

Then I thought, "Good God, Kath,
what the hell are you doing?

No more sneaking around.

You can't deny your life of
nearly 30 years together."

So I carried everything back to the house
and put it back the way it had been.

Then I called Spencer's wife
and she arrived soon after

with their children,
Susie and John.

[Bonnie] All of Hollywood goes to
his funeral and she doesn't go.

And she gives the funeral
to his wife and his family.

It's massive, because everybody
knew what they were to each other.

She's devastated and
she can't grieve.

She can't show
anybody the grief.

[Katharine] After
the press died down,

I reached out to Louise and
said, "Why not be friends?"

But she said, "You see, I thought
you were nothing but a rumor."

A rumor for 30 years?

I couldn't believe it.

These are her pictures with him.

Spencer's funeral.

Joe was 12 when his grandpa
passed away, you know.

[Joe] I think he worked hard and he
became one of the best in the world.

And what's great is he
didn't even love it.

He didn't go out and try the
publicity and all the little angles.

He stayed behind the scenes. He
didn't fight for the big contract.

He took the salary, you know?

After he passed,
actors still study him

and respect him for his work.

[Sean] As talented as he was, he
suffered a lot more than he had to.

In his own life, I feel
like he didn't know

how to be himself
as easily as he knew

how to be all of the other
characters he played.

And that was almost
the relief of the guilt

of living this double life, of
really being with Katharine,

but also having the mother
to your children and John.

And he was, like, split in two,

and there's no resolution.

But if we're trying
to learn lessons now,

I feel like the lesson is
figure out what you really want

and just be honest.

Communicate, live in
integrity and truth.

Don't be crushed by guilt.

[woman] "My darling, Brimsl,

words can only skim the surface.

The whole world must seem
so odd and so strange.

No one could have loved
as much or half as much

as you and Spence.

God bless you. I
love you so. Laura."

[Bonnie] After his
death, she keeps working.

She's working with Olivier,
she's doing all that.

She's working with Cukor again,
and then The Lion in Winter,

the great movie she makes with
Peter O'Toole, Anthony Hopkins.

She never had any children,

but she knew what a mother
was and she shows it.

[Anthony Hopkins] It was the first
film I'd ever been involved in.

And the first day on set with
her, I did everything wrong.

And she asked me if I was
frightened of the camera

or if I liked the camera. I
said, "Well, yes, I suppose so."

She said, "Why'd you play the whole
scene with the back of your head to it?"

And then she
proceeded to help me.

No, she was wonderful,
very demanding of herself.

She would turn up at 6:30 in the morning,
speak off camera lines for us, you know.

Many actors don't do that.

[Anthony Harvey] She won an
Oscar. I accepted it for her.

And I called her up in New York.

I said, "You've won the Oscar."
"Oh, for God's sake," she said.

"Put it in a bag somewhere," and
that's what she thought of it.

[interviewer] Have you ever
picked up an Oscar in person?

[Katharine] No. No. Too gutless.
- [interviewer] You don't score an award...

[Katharine] No, I'm
afraid I wouldn't win it.

It must be that. [crowd laughs]

My father said about his
children, when they go to a party,

they're afraid they're going to be
neither the bride nor the corpse.

[gentle wistful music]

For a long time I was too
egotistical, I suppose,

and too frightened
to accept the fact

that the audience
after all these years,

had given me their friendship. Not
until "Coco" did I really understand.

I thought they were my natural enemy
and waiting for me to fall down

or break my neck or be a flop.

And I think that's what we all
think. Don't let 'em trip you up.

You know? Get there, do it.
I don't think that's true.

It certainly hasn't been true with
me from the time of that little girl.

- [Dick Cavett] They meant well.
- [Katharine] They tried to help me.

They've tried to help me.

[Robin] Everyone knows
her for On Golden Pond,

the film for which she won
her fourth Academy Award.

It was a real partnership
to produce that film

with Jane Fonda, and Jane
Fonda used it as a vehicle

to get closer to her father.

- Oh, look at you.
- Happy birthday.

Look at this little
fat girl now.

Oh, no, honey. You're
as thin as a rail.

[Jane Fonda] Ms. Hepburn
didn't like me very much.

- She was so competitive.
- I'm so glad you're home.

[Jane Fonda] I was younger and
I was more of a box office star

at that particular point in time,
and he was always making sure

that I was being
put in my place.

There's also though,
this part of her,

she wanted me to have stories
that I could tell about her

after she died, and
she made sure I did.

I was producing the
movie for my father.

You know, I'd mentioned earlier
my dad made tremendous fun of me.

I just felt awful.

But I was sitting on the couch,

and suddenly I felt these
arms going around me.

It was Kate.

She sat down next to me and she
said, "Don't let him get to you."

She says, "I know
just how you feel."

She said, "Spencer used to
do that to me all the time.

They have no idea." She
said, "They don't know

how much those
words can hurt you.

Don't let it hurt you."

And the fact that she
had witnessed my pain

and was acknowledging it,
meant the world to me.

[Mundy] When I was quite young,
Kate moved in over at Fenwick.

She kicked us out
for, like, six weeks,

then she threw out all the old,
crappy furniture and stuff,

and she brought stuff from
California and New York,

and she would just collect
whatever odds and ends there were

and arranged them.

Now this lamp would give you a
terrible shock if you had bare feet

and you touched the leading on
the edge. It was really fun.

[chuckling]

Ah, this is the shot
that I was looking for.

"Dick reports the
windchill is 20 below zero.

She's been making these
swims since she was five."

Absolute bullshit.

She would do it occasionally.

Kate was always
an intense person

in that old style Victorian way of,
you get enough sleep, you exercise.

You don't want to? Do it anyway.

As my father would say,

"Take care of the body and
it will take care of you."

[Glenn, on tape] You say you
can still stand on your head.

[Katharine, on tape] Yeah.
I tried it the other day.

I thought, "Can you still
stand on your head?" And I can.

- [Glenn] Can you?
- [Katharine] Yes, I can.

[Glenn] I mean,
what's it good for?

[Katharine] One's self
respect. [chuckles]

[Toyah] I met Katharine Hepburn
just before I turned 20.

She was producing this
movie with George Cukor,

The Corn is Green,
by Emlyn Williams.

We were filming all the internal
shots, and one day I caught a taxi,

just absolutely panicking
that I was gonna be late.

And I passed her on a bicycle,

and she was cycling into the
studio through the traffic

in trousers, in a blouse.

It was summer and
there she was cycling.

One day I walked into her
dressing room and she said,

"Toyah, come and
smell this jumper."

So I walked up and I sniffed it and
it just smelled like a teddy bear.

It's just really lovely.

"Spencer Tracy. I
can still smell him."

And it was just profoundly
moving and incredibly,

spiritually awakening for me that
he had been dead all this time,

and she was still
wearing his jumpers,

would not wash them, and she smelt
them to keep him there with her.

And I just didn't question it.
She still was in love with him.

[Glenn] What would
you like to do next?

[Katharine, on
tape] I don't know.

- [Glenn] They send you things.
- [Katharine] Well, a lot of lousy things.

And I've been lucky enough
to do what interested me.

[Glenn] You don't
have to do anything.

[Katharine] Well, the ultimate
solution was "Grace Quigley."

[Glenn, on tape] That
was a flop, wasn't it?

[Katharine] I thought
that was very interesting.

People couldn't stand
it. They hated it.

[Glenn] Was it the death angle?

[Katharine] I think people are very
sentimental about life and death.

See, I look forward to life.
I look forward to death.

- So I've got 'em fooled.
- [laughter]

- [Glenn] You're not...
- [Katharine] You should go.

- [Glenn] I'm going in a sec.
- [Katharine] Yes, you should go now.

- [Glenn] I'm going.
- [Katharine] Yes. [laughs]

- [Glenn] Thank you.
- [Katharine laughs]

Is it still turning?

[tape machine clattering]

I'm supposed to send my...

[gentle wistful music]

[Mundy] You know, as
the decades passed,

she got jobs here and there
and she'd go back and forth

to New York a lot in Luddy's
old house, 244 East 49th Street.

Whoever wasn't doing well,
she would go and visit.

So that would be

[imitating Katharine] "Laura
Harding" as she would call her.

And Luddy.

"If you're feeling sad, do
something for someone else

and that will help both of you."

After she retired, I
think it frustrated her

to not be able to work.

Fame is a very addictive
drug, very addictive.

[bell dinging]

That's the Cornfield Point
buoy over there, dinging.

She stayed at Fenwick. She
had Phyllis and my father.

He was a strange guy.

He stayed home and
wrote his plays,

and she had another helper
called Howard Hildebrand,

and they grew old as
companions together.

But Phyllis was so polite
and so deferential,

and I will never
forget, Kate is ancient.

Phyllis is ancient plus four, and
Hilly is slowly dying of aids.

So he's kind of tottering
around in his mid-50s or so.

Kate, "Phyllis, go
get me another drink."

And Hilly gets up and Kate
says, "No, Hilly, sit.

Phyllis, go get
me another drink."

"Oh, I don't... I, I suppose."
And she can barely walk.

And finally Kate said,
"Phyllis." [grumbles]

And I remember standing in
the kitchen and hearing,

[in a British accent]
"I won't, I won't."

And I walked in there and
I was like, "Yeah, Phil.

Don't take any crap from her."

And Kate was horrified,

because that was
a complete change

of the entire course of
her life up to that moment

when Ms. Wilburn
said, "I won't."

I love... I say it still.

I won't. [chuckles]

[gentle ethereal music]

[Katharine Houghton] A
lot of people ask me,

"Does she have Parkinson's?
Does she have Alzheimer's?"

You know, all that
sort of thing.

She doesn't. The shaking
is a familial tremor.

In fact, I would say if
anything, her shaking is better

now that she's leading
a very relaxed life.

And as many people in their mid-90s,
there's a certain degree of old age,

but she's very much
who she is. [laughs]

Is she still fun to be around?

It depends on her mood.

[gentle serene music]

[Katharine] I rather
enjoy my quiet life now.

I swim, I garden.

I still like to paint.

Me and Phyllis even
wrote a play together.

I keep myself busy.

[waves lapping]

[gentle wistful music]

[woman] Thank you, Kate.

[crowd applauding]

[Katharine] I think the reason
people have an affection for me now

is that in a kind of a way,

I must have lived a
life that a lot of women

think would be a nice
life to have lived.

They think it's dignified,
but they think it's free.

They think I've done
what I wanted to.

They don't bother to think that they
may have five children that I haven't.

Do you have a lot of fear though? Does
it scare you to stop doing movies?

Yes, I think it terrifies anybody
who's intelligent to do anything.

I'm a good cover
upper. [laughs]

[Claudia] Maybe the great
lesson of a 60 year career

when everyone loves you one
year and hates you the next,

is that you keep on going.

You compromise when
you absolutely have to.

But even then, you
push as hard as you can

for the best material you can,

and you never quit.

You make some stinkers,
you make mistakes,

but you keep on going.

When you find something good,
something you really believe in,

you put your heart and your
soul and your money into it.

From Philadelphia Story

to Guess who's Coming
to Dinner decades later.

Romeo, Romeo.

[Claudia] When you win an Academy
Award when you're in your 20s,

and then not another
one for decades,

you don't show discouragement,
and you win three more

when you're in your 60s and 70s.

The years when it's supposed
to be all over for actresses,

but not for you.

You do work you're proud of.

Whether it's for 350 a week
at the Shakespeare Festival

in Connecticut or for
millions in Hollywood.

You hold up your standards as best
you can in an ensemble system.

You buy the whole system
when you can afford it,

and you keep on going.

It is such a simple lesson. It's
amazing there were not more like her

with her longevity, her
multiple lives on film,

her emphatic character.

But there was only
one Katharine Hepburn.

[Mundy] Her thing is,
come on, get up, do it,

be, try, make something
of yourself, live.

[gentle wistful music]

So...

"Life, life." That's
what Kate used to say.

"Ah, life, life."

In other words, you
got now. Cherish it.

Cherish it.

[Katharine] I told you,
life goes by like...

- [fingers snap]
- [gentle wistful music]

[Robin] As a young girl
growing up in Los Angeles,

these Hollywood starlets really came to me
at a young age when I was just so enamored

by not only their beauty, but
this magic about their essence.

But the reality is a
lot of these people

were very, very mistreated
and died very young.

And so I found myself being
so inspired by Katharine.

She's such a powerful
icon for women

surviving in the
entertainment industry.

[Glenn] I remember once I asked her,
"What's the secret to happiness?"

And she said to me,

"You're always going to
be lonely and depressed

if you think about how you
look, where you're going,

how you're feeling.

That's because the
self is a dead end.

If you concentrate on that,"
she said, "God help you."

[Mundy] There they
are. All the kids.

Kate, Dick, Bob, Marion, Peg.

Tom too. Everybody's there.

The most interesting
thing I think

is that she made her own
being her own work of art.

She created a screen
persona performed for you.

And here we are decades later going,
"Wow, Katharine Hepburn. She was cool."

[Toyah] We're floating on a
rock in the middle of nowhere,

in a universe we
know nothing about.

Every single individual on this
planet is not only just a miracle,

but you are exactly that.

You are an individual.

Live that individual life.

[gentle wistful music]

[gentle wistful music continues]