The late, great Katharine Hepburn on her atheism:

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

Last edited Thu Feb 13, 2014, 12:38 AM - Edit history (1)

I've always loved old black and white films, and I always loved Katharine Hepburn. Seeing this just made me love her even more!

I just saw this entire interview on DVD recently and you can see much of it in this series of 22 vids posted on YouTube. Or you can order it from Netflix. Cavett's interview with the amazing Fred Astaire is on the same disk.

[Hissyspit]

1. And if anyone should know fear of death!:

"Actress Katharine Hepburn waded to safety from her Old Saybrook beach home, narrowly escaping death. She stated in her 1991 book that 95% of her personal belongings were either lost or destroyed, including her 1932 Oscar which was later found intact.[citation needed] In Old Lyme beach cottages were flattened or swept away. "

There's more to this story:

http://www.katharinehepburntheater.org/blog/tag/1938-hurricane/

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

3. I had just been reading about that a few days ago. She was such a strong, brave woman.

And a great liberal. I love this quote:

“Look at me. People say I’ve worked hard. I have worked hard, but my God, haven’t I been lucky? Good health, good inheritance, wonderful parents, the whole thing.”

Here's a pictorial article about the home she built to replace the family cottage that the storm destroyed. The new owners have glammed it up and are trying to resell it.


When she owned it.


Renovated by new owners.


Katharine in her kitchen.


The kitchen after the new owners remodel.

Their pantry.

More pix at the link.

[progressoid]

10. That's kind of how I pictured it.

Only it's much bigger in real life than I imagined.

I listened to an audio version of 'Kate Remembered' by Scott Berg last summer. What a great woman.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

13. I just found out that my library offers the audio version of this, so I've put a hold on it.

Thanks for making me think of it. I read the print version a while back, but it'll be fun to listen to it.

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. Damnit, you're making me homesick

I grew up in Connecticut... not anywhere as nice as that, but nice enough. I miss it

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

14. Did you go for a swim every day, even in winter, like Kate? Or is that just a Kate thing

and not a Connecticut thing? I'm guessing more of the former.

I read that she also took cold showers. Now, I can't bear, nor can I understand, the scalding temps my husband loves when he showers, and I have come to like them even cooler over the years, but an outright cold shower takes courage and fortitude that I do not posses!

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. I used to swim weekly in winter...

...at a YMCA... indoors.

Kate, well, she was tough even by New England standards.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

16. Ha, you had me going there for a minute!

My brother-in-law did a polar bear swim for charity last month in the Long Island Sound and it made me shiver just to think of it!

[Curmudgeoness]

2. If I am ever asked

who I most admire, there have always been two people....Katharine Hepburn and Rachel Carson. And I didn't even know that Hepburn was an atheist. But I am not surprised. She was so down to earth and completely self-confident. I love strong women with principles.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

4. If you get a chance, check out the Dick Cavett interview.

Everything we love about her is beautifully on display.

[deucemagnet]

5. Don't have'ta rake anymore leaves.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

6. "Happy, at rest at last." All of which I think is fascinating, because she describes herself as,

and clearly is a happy person, and a very energetic person who works hard and seems to enjoy it. Yet, she can also look ahead and think, Well, by the time I die, I'll probably be ready for a nice long rest.

[JNelson6563]

7. Have always loved her.

The world is certainly richer for having had her among us. How splendid we can enjoy these interviews and her films forever.

A brilliant, talented and beautiful humanist.

Julie

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

8. I agree 100%. What a treasure. It had been quite a long time since I'd thought of her really, but

I had just finished reading a book about Fred Astaire and ordered the Cavett interview DVD from NetFlix. The Hepburn interview happened to be on the same disk, and I'm so glad it was. I can become quite cynical these days with all the RW figures so prominently spreading their anti-liberal venom. It really lifted my spirits to see the appealing alternative so clearly exhibited.

[onager]

9. Thanks! Random vintage gossip...

Just to make religion rear its ugly head in an otherwise enjoyable secular thread...

Everybody knows about the Hepburn-Tracy relationship, in which the third wheel was Howard Hughes. Who used his clout to keep the gossip columnists and paparatsi (sic) away from the couple.

In his younger days Spencer Tracy had a fling with the uber-Catholic, uber-sanctimonious and very hypocritical Loretta Young.

Bette Davis, who was none of those things, went to a party once and started to sit down. Then she turned to her friends and said: "Oh look! Loretta Young must have sat in this chair. I can still see the Sign of the Cross in it!"

Young was famous for keeping a "Swear Box" on her film sets. Anyone saying "damn" or "hell" was fined 25 cents per cuss word. Supposedly Davis once committed the offense and had the Swear Box rattled in her face. To which she opened her purse and said: "Loretta, here's 10 dollars. Now fuck off."*

They sure don't make 'em like Bette Davis any more. When filming "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," Davis bragged about how much she enjoyed beating up Joan Crawford - something Davis said she had wanted to do for several decades.

*I've also heard that story attributed to another of Young's famous lovers, Clark Gable.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

11. "Loretta, here's 10 dollars. Now fuck off." Perfect! Thanks for sharing.