Kate: The Life of Katharine Hepburn

by Charles Higham

"Outstanding....A biography equal to its subject, warm, honest, fascinating."― Newsday With Charles Higham, Katharine Hepburn first authorized a writer to interview her closest friends and colleagues about her career, life, and behind-the-scenes romantic involvements from Leland Hayward to Spencer Tracy. And she herself tells the deeply moving story of her twenty-five-year love affair with Tracy. Here is a vivid portrait of the most elegant, independent, and tempestuous star to grace the screen. Over a half million copies sold.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film

286 pages, Paperback

Published April 17, 2004

About the author

Charles Higham was an author and poet. Higham was a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not written in first person, this book offers a very detailed account of Katharine Hepburn's life until the mid-1970s. It was a little too detailed for me. Plus there was an abundance of feelings expressed by Kate and others that made me wonder about their validity. Apparently Kate was a whirlwind of a person, learning everyone's lines, attentive to other's needs, avoiding the public, charming, blunt, and one-of-a-kind.

[Sharon A · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting book

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. The author is not shy about informing us right off the bat that he barely knew her; he went over to her home one day and she taught him about her Christmas decorations. Aside from that, the basic info about her was of course, informative and interesting because you can't mess that up; she was an amazing woman and actress. The book leaves off mid-70's so we don't hear anything about what I think was one of her greatest works: "On Golden Pond." The writing is brief, to the point and doesn't mess around with too much personal about her life other than she hated her neck and would do anything to cover it up. I did learn a few interesting things about her but overall, the writing of the book is so-so. I does make me want to get some her movies I haven't seen on Netflix which might be the point of the book--to get us to watch her movies.

[Elizabeth Gibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading about Katharine Hepburn. The image that I started with was so wrong! She was a very outspoken individual who enjoyed fighting over ideas with people and wasn't happy with the responses she received unless they were challenging to her in some way. Her life was well presented in this book and the people that told stories about her were fascinating themselves!

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

How does a biography get written and PUBLISHED with the subject's date of birth wrong? The author states Katharine Hepburn was born on November 8, 1909 when every other source says she was born May 12, 1907. He errs again on page 183 when he says "...she turned forty-nine in November,1958". She would have turned 51 in May of 1958. For me, this error tainted the whole book.

[Linsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing too spectacular so far. I'm a bit pessimistic about this book. How can such a short read cover a life so notorious?

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few surprises.

[Meaghan Steeves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I intend to do a video review of this soon.

[Jordan Dozier · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are probably better biographies of Katharine Hepburn out there, but this was $1 at the library and when you have a subject this fascinating it doesn’t really matter!