Katharine Hepburn wasn’t your typical Hollywood actress. She wasn’t a glamour girl, nor was she a clothes horse. She didn’t fit the leading lady role, since she neither was a classic beauty nor a traditionally feminine woman. Tall and slender with angular features and a strong personality which shone through on the screen, Hepburn wasn’t suited to play the hero’s stereotypical love interest. She was, however, an excellent actress, but filmmakers often misunderstood her.
Director George Cukor appreciated Katharine Hepburn’s talent. He directed her first screen test and, although other studio executives were unimpressed, the naturalness with which she picked up a glass struck him. He used simple gestures like that as powerful moments in all the films he directed with her.
From Hepburn’s first film in 1932 to Cukor’s second-to-last project, Hepburn and Cukor made 10 films together in a partnership and friendship that lasted almost 50 years. The 10 movies they made together include her first movie, “A Bill of Divorcement” (1932), the first talkie adaption of “Little Women,” three movies co-starring Cary Grant, three movies co-starring Spencer Tracy, and two television movies.
Kate and Cary
In “Sylvia Scarlett” (1935), Cukor placed Hepburn and Grant together for the first time; the film was a notorious flop and the director never made another film for RKO Radio Pictures. In an English setting, Katharine plays a young woman who disguises herself as an adolescent boy named Sylvester to escape the authorities sent by her father. Grant tapped into his Welsh background to play a Cockney swindler.After “Bringing Up Baby” (1938), again with Grant, Hepburn worked with Grant under Cukor’s direction in “Holiday” (1938). Based on the Philip Barry play of the same name, this film gave the actress a chance to play a role that she had understudied on the stage. The character of Linda Seton was perfect for the free-spirited actress, since it accurately mirrored her background and nature. She, too, was a strong-minded, oft-misunderstood young woman from a wealthy, high society family who marched to the beat of her own drum.
You can see Cukor’s sensitive, creative touch in the way he draws out Katharine’s quirky personality. Cary Grant also delivers one of his most nuanced performances. Nevertheless, it, too, did not meet with success.
Two years later, Hepburn took matters into her own hands and finally threw off the “box office poison” label. She starred in Philip Barry’s “The Philadelphia Story” on Broadway to great acclaim, and her current paramour, Howard Hughes, bought her the film rights to it. That gave her the power position to call all the shots, so she chose MGM as the studio, Cukor as the director, and Grant and James Stewart as the two leading men. This movie achieved success all around—at the box office, in reviews, and at the awards ceremonies.
Tracy and Hepburn
After “The Philadelphia Story” revived Hepburn’s career and established her as an MGM star, she made “Woman of the Year” (1942) with Tracy, whom she had originally wanted for Stewart’s role in that film. This was highly successful, and they quickly made a second film together, “Keeper of the Flame,” (1942).
Cukor was assigned to direct this picture because he had a reputation of knowing how to handle difficult actors like the alcoholic, insomniac Tracy. This film proved controversial because of its political nature, and success was mixed. Cukor was disappointed with the finished film, feeling that it was artificial and labored. Although he thought Tracy was great as the battle-hardened reporter who tries to tell the true story of an American hero’s life, he felt that Hepburn was forced to be overly theatrical by the ingenuine role as the late hero’s mysterious wife.
The second Tracy and Hepburn film Cukor directed was “Adam’s Rib” (1949). This was the stars’ sixth film pairing, and married writing team Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin wrote the screenplay just for them. Tracy and Hepburn were cast as married lawyers who go head-to-head in a case about a woman who shot her unfaithful husband. As Tracy’s character defends the injured husband as part of his job as the assistant district attorney, Hepburn’s character makes it her personal crusade to defend the wife from what she considers the unjust treatment of women by the legal system. The dialogue is so spontaneous, natural, and random at times that it’s hard to believe they aren’t improvising the whole thing. As in “Holiday,” Cukor let the actors’ personalities, talents, and chemistry shine, as they basically play themselves.
Cukor also directed their next pairing, “Pat and Mike” (1952), copying the success of “Adam’s Rib” by again using an original screenplay by Tracy and Hepburn’s personal friends Gordon and Kanin. This film highlighted Hepburn’s athleticism, a talent she rarely displayed onscreen. As a “lady athlete” with a confidence problem created by an overbearing fiancé, she displays impressive skill at golf, tennis, and even sharpshooting. Hepburn was very active from childhood, so she did the extensive sporting event scenes against famous athletes with no stunt doubles. Tracy plays her rough-around-the-edges manager, a part very similar to the actor’s gruff but lovable real-life personality. It was Hepburn’s personal favorite of her movies with Tracy.
Audiences enjoyed Hepburn when they saw the genuine human being she was. Cukor seemed to know how to capture her personality, talent, and charm onscreen more than any other director. Their partnership resulted in some of the most memorable films of Hollywood’s Golden Era.
