…and it’s my leopard and I have to get it and to get it I have to sing.”
They just don’t make ’em like Katharine Hepburn anymore.
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Gorgeous, patrician, wore pants like nobody’s business and in my heart will always remain the greater of the two famous Hepburns. She the star of gosh, five of my top 20 favorite movies with another five in my top 50.
And La Kate always spoke her mind.
“Acting is the most minor of gifts. After all, Shirley Temple could do it when she was four.”
“I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret… if you have any sense, and if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.”
“I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.”
She also shares Miss Plumcake’s views on domestic bliss:
“Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn’t interest you, don’t do it – I would have made a terrible mother.”
“If you want to give up the admiration of thousands of men for the distain of one, go ahead, get married.”
“The average Hollywood film star’s ambition is to be admired by an American, courted by an Italian, married to an Englishman and have a French boyfriend.”
“We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.”
“ Never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.”
“Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around.“
“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”
“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only with what you are expecting to give – which is everything.”
“Why slap them on the wrist with feather when you can belt them over the head with a sledgehammer?”
“Dressing up is a bore. At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex, and at a certain age, I did that. But I’m past that age.”
“I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good or there because they’re lucky.”
and finally:
“Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.”
Have a great weekend everybody, and if it’s looking like a DVD sort of weekend check out:
Plumcake’s Top 10 Katharine Hepburn Movies:
- The Philadelphia Story
- Bringing Up Baby
- Woman of the Year
- Adam’s Rib
- Desk Set
- Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
- The African Queen
- On Golden Pond
- Rooster Cogburn
(fun fact, John Wayne’s cat in this movie is named after one of my ancestors)
- The Madwoman of Chaillot
I have a soft spot for Holiday, Stage Door, and Quality Street … though maybe not in my top 50 movies of all time.
Comment by sarahbyrdd — October 2, 2009 @ 2:57 pm
Where the hell is The Lion in Winter on that list??????
Also sadly MIA on your list, Pat and Mike which I consider vastly superior to several of those films, particularly On Golden Yawn.
We are, however, firmly agreed that Kate is that most superfantastic of Hepburns.
Oh, and that reminds me that it’s been far too long since I watched The African Queen. That film always makes me wish that Kate and Bogie had done more films together.
But for the love of all that’s holy, if you ever get a chance to watch La Hepburn’s first feature film, Christopher Strong, give it a pass. Lurid yet dull, even Kate couldn’t deliver most of those lines without sounding apologetic for having to say them. And the only life onscreen was the fire in her eyes about to turn into laser beams directed at her agent.
Comment by Twistie — October 2, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
WAIT! Where’s Love Among The Ruins??? It was a FABULOUS movie – and it had people in it who were Not Young, which is a bonus, these days.
Speaking from experience: I had a notably unfriendly leopard turn somersaults upon meeting me. It was MOST gratifying, as it was the leopard’s idea, and the leopard’s idea only. I envy her working with Baby.
Comment by La BellaDonna — October 2, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
Sorry, she may have been a fierce and fabulous individual but she couldn’t act.
Comment by Jean — October 2, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
Thank you for the awesome Katherine Hepburn fierceness today. Desk Set and the Philadelphia Story are two of my favorite movies. I also like Audrey Hepburn too, but I love Katherine’s movies more. :-)
Comment by BrooklynShoeBabe — October 2, 2009 @ 8:34 pm
The Holiday is one of my favorites. She looked lovely.
Comment by Lisa — October 2, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
“I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good or there because they’re lucky.”
Which explains why actors in general are very supportive of high taxes on other people — because nobody earns their money through hard work, it just comes from luck and why should some people be lucky and others not? :)
Comment by class factotum — October 3, 2009 @ 11:24 am
Katharine Hepburn baked kickass brownies, too. They are the best I’ve ever tasted. Do yourself a favor and google the recipe right now.
Comment by Suz — October 5, 2009 @ 3:09 pm