This look at "Katharine Hepburn" looks at only the first four decades of her remarkable film career, which means from her 1932 debut in "A Bill of Divorcement" through her 39th theatrical film "A Delicate Balance" in 1973. Since that point in time Hepburn won her fourth Oscar for "On Golden Pond," made "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady" with John Wayne, and did a series of television movies including "The Glass Menagerie," "Love Among the Ruins" with Laurence Olivier, and "The Corn is Green." However, it does do a nice job of looking at the early years of Hepburn's career ("early" as in she turned 96 this month) and tracing the actresses' transformation on the screen from the aggressive, strong-willed young woman who is determined to remain independent in a man's world, to the lonely spinster in a wistful, even desperate, search for love.

Alvin H. Marill only briefly sketches out her childhood (the apparent suicide of her older brother Tom is said to have died in an accident) because the main focus is on Hepburn's public persona. Her career is divided into four parts: The Stage Years, when she managed to be fired from more parts than she performed; The RKO Years, where she won her first Oscar for "Morning Glory," as well as the classic "Bringing Up Baby," while being dismissed as Box Office Poison; The MGM Years begins with her return to stardom in "The Philadelphia Story" and her first film with Spencer Tracy, "Woman of the Year," and ends with "Adam's Rib," "The African Queen," and "Pat & Mike"; and The Independent Years, which saw Hepburn receive six Oscar nominations and win two for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "The Lion in Winter," while making eight films from 1955 to 1968.

Marill provides descriptions of the plot of each film including some of the most famous lines Hepburn ever uttered on screen, behind the scenes stories and insights, and comments by critics and the media. The result is a quick paced review of Katharine Hepburn's celebrated career that provides a sense of its ups and downs. My copy is falling apart because this was what I used to assemble my video collection of everything she ever did that exists on tape. This volume is one of The Illustrated History of the Movies series, offering a comprehensive overview of the influential figures, forms, and styles in the development of the motion pictures. The book is illustrated with black & white photographs with two or three for every film and some early shots of Hepburn on Broadway, including a nice shot of her as Antiope in the 1932 play 'The Warrior's Husband' that made her a star.

I love Katharine Hepburn and this is a absolutly terrific, especially all the pictures. Oh and it has her correct b-day, May 12, 1907.

This novel opened up a world that I knew nothing about. The world that only Katharine & Spencer lived in, together... I've been a huge fan of the acting duo for years. Now I feel like I almost know them. Reading this book is like taking a quick peek behind the scenes. It gives details into their lives prior to their initial meeting. Then continues describing how they had to sneak around in order to keep their affair out of the papers. This novel is heartwarming & also tragic. I loved it. If you're a romantic, you'll love it, too.

I found An Affair to Remember a truly remarkable portrait of Hepburn and Spencer's lives (before and after they met). The book was interesting and well written. A great pick for anyone interested in either actor.

One of the best books I have ever read. A great love story for the romantic in all of us. Chronicals the ups and downs of a relationship on the sly with a love that would last a lifetime. Very sad, yet a love we all wish we could find. I couldn't put it down.

This is easily the worst biography ever written about Katharine Hepburn. It is full of inaccuracies and wild speculations. The author's central theme is that Ms. Hepburn had a life long, unrequited love for the director John Ford. Anyone who has read any of Katharine Hepburn's own books and her many interviews know that this is simply not true.

Having fabricated the fictional relationship between Katharine Hepburn and John Ford, the author then uses it to denigrate Hepburn's real long time love, Spencer Tracy. Leaming makes incredibly scurrilous and completely undocumented statements about Tracy such as that his supposed veneral disease caused his son's deafness. Ms. Leaming fails to offer even one iota of evidence for this outrageous statement.

Page after page of this book is full of wildly fanceful speculations passed off as fact. What are we to make of the following passage at page 393:

"If Tracy wondered whether, or how Ford would react to news of the affair with Kate, he did not have to wait long to find out. On September 3, five days after shooting on Woman of the Year began, Ford suddenly left town under mysterious circumstances. . . .Ostensibly, Ford's sudden, rather theatrical departure had nothing to do with Kate. Still, there can be no question that it shadowed her relationship with Tracy from the start. A man of Tracy's tormented and deeply suspicious nature could never accept that Ford's timing had been purely coincidental. . . . "

So, according to Ms. Leaming, John Ford left Los Angeles and joined the military because he was upset that Katharine Hepburn had become involved with Spencer Tracy and further she asserts that Spencer Tracy knew this and was 'tormented' by it. How silly can one author get?

What I find passing strange is all the positive reviews that were given to this book by presumably reputable reviewers. I can only assume that the reviewers don't actually read the books they review or that they knew so little about Ms. Hepburn's life that they concluded that the book was accurate even though it has so many obvious inaccuracies.

I found Barbara Leaming's biography of Katharine Hepburn to be unique in that it does not begin immediately with Hepburn's birth. Instead, it starts with her mother and grandmother, and her father and uncles. In doing so, Leaming allows the reader, throughout the course of the book, to come to a better understanding of Hepburn psychologically, as opposed to just presenting facts related to career and private life. The bulk of the biography is devoted to Hepburn's relationships, including those with Howard Hughes, John Ford, Leland Hayward, and, of course, Spencer Tracy. For one more interested in details of Hepburn's historic career, this is not the most insightful book. But for those wanting a peek into the mystique that is the Great Kate, Leaming's biography is tantalizing and absorbing.

This is the most fascinating book about Hepburn to read, and I've read most of them stretching back over 20 years. It is exhaustively researched, with sources for each and every fact and assertion made. . .if only other biographers (or todays reporters) were so meticulous. While some might be surprised by the contents of the book, the multi-faceted truth about Hepburn's relationship with Tracey, you still come away in awed wonder of a great and pioneering woman. There was a great deal of trauma in her life and she still perservered, a tremendous testament to how strong she truly was-- a true female role model with human flaws and needs.

Upon reading this book, one gets the unmistakable impression that Edwards has gone a lot further than just trying to demystify Hepburn with "objective" opinions. While it never explicitly ridicules Hepburn, I think the tone is subtly anti-Hepburn. Indeed, praise for the great actress comes almost reluctantly, and often after the author has already expressed her own negative opinion, which permanently detracts from the Hepburn persona. (For eg, (1) The author's reasoning for Hepburn's defiance of contemporary fashion, (2) The strange correlation of the presence of (girlish?) stuffed toys in Hepburn's house with the idea that Hepburn might not have thought of herself as a strong woman.

It is quite clear that Hepburn has not been interviewed for this book. The title "A Remarkable Woman" itself seems contrived and shallow, when we read the last paragraph of the book, where the title is (unsatisfactorily) explained. I fear that a reader with no prior information about Hepburn, will come away with an incorrect picture of Hepburn as just another Hollywood actress, (with some redeeming quirks) who had her share of ups and downs. In my opinion, Andrew Britton's work (Katharine Hepburn, Star as Feminist), though not biographical, is the best critical appreciation of Hepburn's film roles and, by extension, of Hepburn, who was often described as transferring her own qualities to her roles, rather than completely adapting herself to them.

I found this book to be quite an in-depth view into the life of Katherine Hepburn, an elusive star. It offers a back-stage view of the life of an icon and the struggles and triumphs that are associated with that responsibility. I would definitly recommend this book to those interested in the genre.

BEFORE READING ANY OF THESE BOOKS I NEEDED TO KNOW IF THERE WAS A FANCLUB MENTIONED IN ANY OF THEM...AS THAT IS WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR...

PLEASE TELL ME BEFORE I BUY THIS BOOK...

IF NOT..CAN YOU RECOMMEND ONE THAT HAS A MENTION OF A FAN CLUB? I WANT TO WRITE TO MISS HEPBURN PERSONALLY..AND WOULD LIKE VERY MUCH TO GET IN CONTACT WITH HER...

THANKS ...

YOUR HIGHNESS

Author John Bryson has managed to assemble a comprehensive photo collection of the great, and extremely private, Katherine Hepburn. Bryson has used his publishing and Hollywood contacts to compile an interesting collection of little and never-before-seen photos of Hepburn's life as actress, artist, athlete, co-worker, ham, homebody and friend. It could not have been an easy task to assemble such an array of unusual and revealing photos, and Bryson's observations and commentary illuminate without the usual stilted editorialization that so often accompanies photo biographies. This is a fine work any Hepburn fan would want for their library. I say buy two--one for a friend, and one for yourself!

This book rates right up with the biography by Barbara Leaming as a really badly written and inaccurate biography of Katharine Hepburn. Holland basically cribbed her book from the books by Leaming, Christopher Andersen and others. Apparently, she does not think it necessary to actually do any of her own research. Having taken the bulk of her book from other writers, she manages to carry over into her book many of the errors of chronology and fact that so many of the Hepburn biographies contain. From Leaming she got the totallly fictitious Tracy/Hepburn/John Ford triangle. For whoever reads this book, please be assured that Katharine Hepburn had no life long unrequited affair with John Ford. It simply didn't happen. Also, Holland's portrait of Spencer Tracy is completely inaccurate. He was not an abusive, morose drunk. He was, in fact, one of the wittiest, most talented actors to ever live. The Tracy portrayed in the Holland book has no relation to the real Tracy. Holland's portrayal of Katharine Hepburn is no better. She manages to make Ms. Hepburn appear as a victim which is as far from the truth as can be.

For anyone who is interested in an accurate and fair biography of Katharine Hepburn, this is not it. There is really no good biography of Hepburn written to date. Hopefully one of these days one will be written. For now the best choices are Ms. Hepburns two books and the books by Garson Kanin (for the Tracy and Hepburn years) and by James Prideaux (for Ms. Hepburns later years.)

192 pages hardly allows the author room to expound on Hepburn's real life. I felt that I got a good overview of her, but would like to more about her-- especially what it was like to work with her on various movies. This is a good introductory biography, but I want more.

The highlight of this delighful biography is the author's ability to remove the veil between the audience and the actress. I have read many Katherine Hepburn biographies and this was the one that revealed the most about Hepburn's private life, in the sense that I was able to really feel her voice coming trough, her point of view shining through.