Ep. 126: Katharine Hepburn – 4 Oscars
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on the lady with the most Acting Oscars of all time Katharine Hepburn.
Coming from a wealthy and highly educated family Hepburn followed her dream of becoming an actress straight after completing college where she had majored in history and philosophy.
She joined a Baltimore theater company and made her Broadway debut in September 1928. She broke through in theatre with her role in “The Warriors Husband” in 1932 which then led her to Hollywood and her debut role in “A Bill of Divorcement” which co-starred John Barrymore who just happens to be Drew Barrymore’s father.
From there and within only a few years Katharine Hepburn was one of the leading stars of Hollywood with many important roles, box office hits, and of course many Oscars only the way.
Today’s mnemonic will be on Katharine Hepburn’s four Oscars.
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katharine_Hepburn_publicity_photograph.jpg
Wikipedia Summary
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. She worked in a varied range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.
Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while at Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in film brought her international fame, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for her third film, Morning Glory (1933), but this was followed by a series of commercial failures culminating in the critically lauded box office failure Bringing Up Baby (1938). Hepburn masterminded her comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold on the condition that she be the star. That comedy film was a box office success and landed her a third Academy Award nomination. In the 1940s, she was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy. The screen partnership spanned 26 years and produced nine films.
Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life as she tackled Shakespearean stage productions and a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing mature, independent, and sometimes unmarried women such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Hepburn received three more Academy Awards for her performances in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). In the 1970s, she began appearing in television films, which later became her focus. She made her final screen appearance at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96.
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_Tracy_and_Katharine_Hepburn_in_Adams_Rib_trailer.jpg
Mnemonic
Katharine Hepburn – 4 Oscars Mnemonic – GLOM
(Picture Katharine Hepburn sad and gloomy as she was after the unfortunate suicide of her close brother Tom when she was just 13)
1. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
2. The Lion In Winter
3. On Golden Pond
4. Morning Glory
Five Fun Facts
1. Katharine Hepburn was a bit of a tomboy. At one stage she sported a short haircut and liked to be called Jimmy. She disliked being a girl and absolutely despised wearing skirts. When questioned by men as to why she didn’t wear skirts she simply encouraged them to try wearing a skirt!
2. The tragedy that was intimated in the mnemonic is true. Her 15-year-old brother Tommy was found by Katharine hanging from the rafters in his bedroom. The family and especially Katharine did maintain that it was a magic trick gone wrong as he had tried the mock hanging trick once before. Whether that is true or not no one will actually know however, this story is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that her two uncles, a great uncle, and her grandfather all committed suicide.
3. In the bigger picture Katharine Hepburn is considered one of the greatest actors of all time winning her record four Oscars. However, at one stage of her career, she was considered “box office poison” by the Independent Theater Owners Association of New York. This was mainly due to the commercial flops of the movies Spitfire (1934), Mary of Scotland (1936), and Bringing up Baby (1938).
4. Hepburn being the strong-willed, self-assured woman turned this all around in 1940 with a starring role in “The Philadelphia Story”. This was an adaption of the Broadway comedy “The Philadelphia Story” which was written by Philip Barry and also starred Hepburn. MGM produced the film which also co-starred Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart and was a box office smash.
5. Hepburn had an affair with Spencer Tracey for nearly three decades. It’s probably not as dramatic as it sounds, but her first marriage to businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith lasted six years before they were divorced. She lived with Spencer Tracey who was an alcoholic for 27 years. Why I said an affair is because Spencer Tracey was a Catholic and never actually divorced his wife.
Three Question Quiz
Q.1. Who holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations in an acting category?
Q.2. Name one of the Queens that Katharine Hepburn portrayed? Hint: One starts with M, and the other with E
Q.3. What year did Katharine Hepburn die?
Bonus Q. Which actor did Katharine Hepburn star alongside in “The African Queen”?
Bonus Q. Why did Katharine Hepburn refuse to get a dog?
Mnemonic Recap
Katharine Hepburn – 4 Oscars Mnemonic – GLOM
(Picture Katharine Hepburn sad and gloomy as she was after the unfortunate suicide of her close brother Tom when she was just 13)
1. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
2. The Lion In Winter
3. On Golden Pond
4. Morning Glory
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. Who holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations in an acting category?
A. Meryl Streep with 21 nominations
Q.2. Name one of the Queens that Katharine Hepburn portrayed? Hint: One starts with M, and the other with E
A. Could either be Mary, Queen of Scots or Eleanor of Aquitaine
Q.3. What year did Katharine Hepburn die?
A. June 29, 2003, at 96 years old
Bonus Q. Which actor did Katharine Hepburn star alongside in “The African Queen”?
A. Humphrey Bogart who actually won an Oscar for Best Actor
Bonus Q. Why did Katharine Hepburn refuse to get a dog?
A. Because they would always fetch the lead roles!
Word of the Week
carte blanche
[ kahrt-blanch, blahnch ]
noun
unconditional authority; full discretionary power.
Example
Katharine Hepburn had full carte blanche to star in “The Philadelphia Story” after Howard Hughes had bought her the rights to a film adaption.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn_on_screen_and_stage
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/623738/katharine-hepburn-actor-facts
https://www.funtrivia.com/submitquiz.cfm
https://www.funtrivia.com/submitquiz.cfm