Happy Birthday, Katharine Hepburn

[filkertom]

On this date in 1907.

What are your favorite Hepburn roles? Mine, without question, is Rose in The African Queen (which I finally have on import DVD, yay).

Comments

[cheshyre]

Bunny Watson, librarian in Desk Set

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Seconded! I love Desk Set!

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a programmer who's married to a librarian, I must wholeheartedly concur. That wonderful, fiery archness she displayed -- not to mention the sheer manic joy with which she started rattling off "Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight".

[seanmonster.livejournal.com]

Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Lion in Winter.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Two votes, one old and one new:

Eleanor of Acquitaine (The Lion in Winter) and Ethel Thayer (On Golden Pond)

[danruk.livejournal.com]

I second Ethel!

Oh, Norman .. you old POOP!

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Eleanor of Aquitaine (A Lion in Winter)
Christina Drayton (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)
Tracy Lord (The Philadelphia Story)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there is definitely something to be said for La Hepburn in her days as a doe-eyed young ingenue...but Hepburn as the mature, womanly Actress with a capital A she later became is even better.

[jbacardi.livejournal.com]

I liked her in The Philadelphia Story too. And, of course, African Queen. The Lion in Winter. Hard to name just one!

She's really good in Rooster Cogburn and the Lady as well, and Stage Door (http://jbacardi.livejournal.com/tag/stage+door) (Ginger Rogers stole that one from her, though)...and the other night I started watching, but didn't finish, a film titled Holiday (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/), with Cary Grant. She was great in that, for as long as I got to watch...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, Tom, and so is my Songbird (a Hepburn fan from way back and fellow Bryn Mawr alumna); without doubt, our favorite Hepburn character is Rose Sayer, the determined, doughty missionary and perfect foil to Humphrey Bogart's Capt. Charlie Allnut in The African Queen. In no other film are Hepburn's signature hauteur, her wit and her luminous beauty more terrifically on display.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Too many roles to count. I note that she spelled her name Kath*A*rine.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Desk Set, absolutely. Then Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story and Little Women.

[ericcoleman]

Tracy in The Philadelphia Story ... no contest. I am a big fan of all of her work though

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Katharine Hepburn is my heroine, period, end of sentence. I first saw her in The African Queen, since that movie was on a list of classic movies I was working on watching. She was just amazing onscreen and off, and no saint either, which just made her more remarkable. All hail Kate!

Hard as heck to narrow her roles down to favorites, but I particularly loved the fire of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Lion in Winter), the loopyness of Susan Vance (Bringing Up Baby, and the spunkiness of Amanda Bonner (Adam's Rib.

[singlemaltsilk.livejournal.com]

Love her in A Lion In Winter and Philadelphia Story, but thought I'd mention a few lesser-known faves of mine:

Phoebe Throssel in Quality Street (how could I not love a fluffy Regency romance starring Hepburn and Franchot Tone?)

Linda Seton in Holiday (Hepburn at her free-spirited best, and Cary Grant to boot!)

Violet Venable in Suddenly, Last Summer (creeeeee-peeeee)

A tangent....

[kshandra]

I recently borrowed murphymom's Great Performances: Broadway's Lost Treasures collection, which features production numbers from Tony Awards broadcasts dating back at least 30 years (and shows dating even earlier, as there is a selection of numbers from the 25th Anniversary).

One of the numbers is Kate performing "Always Mademoiselle" from Coco at the 1970 awards show...introduced on the DVD by Lauren Bacall (who actually beat her for the Best Actress Tony in Applause that year) as the longest production number in the history of the broadcast. The ceremony that year was at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, where Coco was running, so they had the full set available. They opened with probably five minutes of dialogue before going into the number. They'd never be able to get away with that in today's television.

The entire DVD collection is worth watching if you get a chance.

[indyellen.livejournal.com]

Without a doubt, for me, it's Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter...

"I'd hang you from the nipples, but you'd shock the children."

Although I'd have to say that Philadelphia Story or Desk Set carry a close second.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Philladelphia Story and The Desk Set. Though I can't think of any I didn't care for.

Kate

[j-e-richards.livejournal.com]

It's got to be Tracy Lord in "Philadelphia Story" especially when you remember that it was her ticket back to Hollywood after being voted boxoffice poison..and what a supporting cast...