Katharine Hepburn, a legendary legacy

Tom Titus

The list of Hollywood’s living legends grows shorter by the minute.

Just a few weeks after Gregory Peck faded into the sunset at 87,

we’ve now lost Katharine Hepburn, one of the true giants of her

craft, who passed away Sunday at 96. Only Bob Hope, who has just

begun his second century, remains in the pantheon of film land’s

upper strata.

Undoubtedly, there are actors with more stage and screen credits,

but hardly anyone whose resume is more impressive. For an actress who

once was described by Dorothy Parker as “running the gamut of emotion

from A to B,” Hepburn not only survived, but thrived.

Her incredible career spanned 66 years -- from her 1928 debut in

the play “These Days” to her 1994 appearance in the movie “Love

Affair.”

In between were a record four Academy Awards and 12 nominations,

more than any other actor -- until Meryl Streep surpassed her just

this year with her 13th.

She won in 1933 for “Morning Glory,” and then waited 34 years for

her next Oscar, for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” She didn’t appear

at the awards show to accept it, nor did she show up for her

subsequent Oscars, for “The Lion in Winter” (an unprecedented tie,

with Barbra Streisand’s “Funny Girl”) or her last one, for “On Golden

Pond” in 1991.

Those are the movies she won for, but those she lost out on were

equally deserving -- “The African Queen,” “The Rainmaker,” “Suddenly,

Last Summer,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” just to name a few.

She had the misfortune to make “African Queen” in 1951, the same year Vivien Leigh’s brilliance in “A Streetcar Named Desire” outshone the

best actress field.

Then there was the 1940 masterpiece that erased the “box office

poison” label from her resume, “The Philadelphia Story,” the rights

to which were purchased for her by her then-lover Howard Hughes after

she had captivated Broadway audiences in the original stage version.

The “poison” label was attached in 1938, ironically after Hepburn

delivered one of her now most-remembered performances, opposite Cary

Grant in “Bringing Up Baby.” It was said then that the title

character, a leopard, had all the good lines.

From “Philadelphia Story” on, however, Katharine Hepburn was an

ascendant star, blazing a trail of Hollywood triumphs which might

never be equaled. Few stars control their own destinies to the extent

that Hepburn did for the better part of six decades.

Hepburn’s work elevated the performances of a number of co-stars,

including Oscar winners James Stewart (“Philadelphia Story”),

Humphrey Bogart (“African Queen”) and Henry Fonda (“On Golden Pond”).

But the actor most identified with her, Spencer Tracy, had picked up

both of his Oscars before connecting with Hepburn in 1942’s “Woman of the Year.”

A friend of mine, former Costa Mesan Larry Swindell, chronicled

the 27-year love affair between these two film giants in his

fascinating book, “Tracy and Hepburn.” With Hepburn’s death, this

well-documented tome may well enjoy renewed attention.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.