Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn

by William J. Mann

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

One of Publishers Weekly 's 100 Best Books of the Year
Katharine Hepburn was her own creation--an ambitious, vulnerable woman who charmed the public with the image of an East Coast aristocrat, wearing pants and freely speaking her mind. But that show didn't come easily to her, or without tremendous effort and concealment. None of her success did. With this biography, William J. Mann challenges much of what we think we know about the Great Kate, and shows how a woman originally considered too controversial for Hollywood stardom learned the fine art of image making and transformed herself into an icon as all-American as the Statue of Liberty. With new material drawn from Hepburn's private papers, William J. Mann's Kate is "not just the best on Hepburn--it's a book that sets new standards in movie biography" (David Thomson, The New York Observer ).

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film, Biography Memoir, History, Media Tie In, Autobiography

656 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Also writes children's books under the pseudonym Geoffrey Huntington.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Katherine Hepburn's films. I think they are boring and Katherine plays the same character in every film. While I'm not interested in her films, I have always been interested in Katherine Hepburn the person. She just always seemed to be not like other actresses of her time. She seemed like a weirdo.

In Kate author William J Mann tries to separate Katherine Hepburn the icon from Kate Hepburn the person. This task seems like a herculean process because much of what is known about the life of Katherine Hepburn was created by Katherine herself. The real Katherine was kept for only those closest to her.

Did William J Mann succeed?

Maybe. I do feel like I learned more about Katherine Hepburn but was it the real her, I dont know. If anything this book raised more questions than it answered.

Was Katherine Hepburn a lesbian?

Was Katherine Hepburn Transgender or Non Binary?

Was Katherine Hepburn Asexual?

Did Katherine Hepburn ever actually have sex with Spencer Tracy?

Was Katherine Hepburn a feminist?

I'm not sure we can ever truly know the answer to any of these questions and maybe the answers don't matter. Maybe Katherine Hepburn is whatever she needs to be to those who need her.

At the end of the day I think it was most important to Katherine Hepburn that she be remembered as one of the greats. She made iconic films, had an iconic image and she molded her life story to fit those things. Katherine Hepburn sure knew how to build a brand.

Maybe I'll give her films another look(but not Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? that movie is trash and it can burn in hell forever) maybe given this new insight into her life I'll gain something from her filmography.

Kate was an interesting read and I plan to read more biographies about her to compare and contrast. Katherine Hepburn lovers should pick up this book but even those like me who arent fans could enjoy this book.

[Relstuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author states near the beginning of this book that he is not really a fan of Kate or her films. He doesn't come right out and say why he is writing this book. Several other reviewers here have pointed out that this author has also written a book about how homosexuals have shaped Hollywood. In this book he spends a lot of time speculating as to different people's sexual orientation. While it appears there are times he has solid evidence for his speculation there were several times where he seems to be strechting to get where he wants to go. Ultimately, he wants you, the reader, to agree with him that Kate was probably a lesbian.

I have two issues with this book, the author points out that especially towards the end her life Kate spent a lot of time and effort in recording her history. She wrote her memoirs and opened up to doing interviews more than ever before. Kate did not choose to be remembered as a lesbian and if she did have interests in that area she did not believe it defined her.

The second issue I have with the author is that I do not believe someone's sexual orientation defines them as a person. Ultimately it is only one aspect of who someone is. With the laser like focus this author brings to the issue I feel his analysis of people is unfairly narrow.

I do not feel this should be considered Kate's definitive biography.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're reading this review, you must be a Katharine Hepburn fan. And if you're a Hepburn fan, then you've probably already read a number of biographies on her, or even her own two memoirs. What sets William Mann's massive biography apart from the rest is that he actually conducted research into Hepburn's life rather than relying on vintage articles and Hepburn's interviews that have been passed along from biography to biography as if they were fact, when, in fact, he discovered, there was a lot of fiction to her story. This is not a hatchet-job. Mann admires and respects Hepburn. In fact, he respects her even more so when his research (including fresh interviews with her surviving siblings, who were more candid than usual after her death) showed that she was ALWAYS designing and driving an image of her own creation. For someone who claimed to shun the spotlight, she was constantly giving interviews (usually telling people that she rarely grants interviews). To find out that her childhood and relationship with her parents were not as idyllic as she always portrayed them does not lessen her appeal, its strengthens it. Here is a woman who had a thriving film career for 60 years (1932 to 1994). You don't sustain a career like that without careful planning...but she never wanted it to look like it was planned. Mann offers us a look at just how carefully thought-out everything in her life was.

This is a superbly researched book (there are more than 55 PAGES of notes in the back of the book showing where attributed quotes originated) and a real eye-opener, ESPECIALLY for fans who have read the same old stories over and over. (Even from beyond the grave Hepburn worked to enshrine the image she wanted remembered, by working with A. Scott Berg on KATE REMEMBERED to be published after her death--which is was, a mere 13 days later. Berg clarifies in his introduction, "This book is, thus, not a critical study of either Katharine Hepburn's life or her career... more than my remembrances, this book intends to convey hers." It is Hepburn the way Hepburn wanted to be seen.) As Gerald Clarke, author of the superb CAPOTE biography, said, "[Hepburn] wrote memoirs, she gave interviews, and she talked, talked, talked. We thought we knew everything about Hepburn, but we actually knew only what she wanted us to know. William J. Mann's exciting new biography pulls back those carefully drawn curtains to reveal the real Hepburn--a different but far more interesting woman than the one we thought we knew."

I wish every biographer had the tenacity of Mann to conduct his own research and not just rely upon information that started in a PHOTOPLAY magazine article in the 1930s and became gospel over the years. He offers an outstanding portrait of a strong woman, a survivor and still someone who is justly admired in the 21st century.

By the way, the PAPERBACK edition of this book contains 20 extra pages that the author added when he was granted access to Hepburn's personal papers AFTER the hardcover was published. Nothing in Hepburn's papers contradicted anything that Mann had written in the hardcover edition; it only offered supporting material.

Gore Vidal's review of this book sums it up better than I could: "William Mann has produced a truly significant biography of a woman whose complicated personality has never been fully captured. He has presented not only an intriguing portrait of Hepburn but also an accurate picture of her Hollywood and the difficult business of stardom."

[Michael Burge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best biography I have ever read, and a tough read at times (because Mann often makes his point gradually, but eventually you come to realise why), but if you stick with it, this book delivers in spades.

When Katharine Hepburn died I felt it would only be a matter of time before the truth about her sexual orientation emerged, and here it is laid bare. Importantly, considering both her achievements and her own myth-making, it's done in meticulous, credible detail. The chapter notes are worth reading in their own right.

Like many Hollywood stars before the notorious 1930 Production Code, Hepburn needed to reinvent herself in order to have continued work opportunities. That need did not leave her, even when the code became redundant, and the reasons behind her constant reinvention reveal a pathos about her that all the screen personas kept well hidden.

Does it matter that she was of alternate sexuality and not Spencer Tracy's lover but really his greatest friend?

To some, no, but to others, me included, the truth about the 20th century's greatest film actor only adds to her allure and her likeability, simply because this book finally makes her human, and only the deepest denialist would deny Katharine Hepburn that.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's the deal: Mann devotes virtually no page time to an analysis of her movies, focusing instead upon the emotional and professional evolution of Katharine Hepburn's public and private personas. Part of both are tied to the films, and the reader who is unfamiliar with the corpus of Hepburn's work is going to have to take Mann's word for his conclusions. He can be convincing about some of it, especially when he analyzes Hepburn's forays into liberal politics with Henry Wallace as part of the legacy of her mother. Some of his analysis of the Hepburn family relationships appear to be supported by Hepburn's brothers and sisters, although Dick Hepburn may not be the most reliable witness.

Mann doesn't like Hepburn. It happens; most of the time my objection to a bad biography is that an author falls in love with his/her subject and loses objectivity. When the biographer loves the subject and maintains objectivity, you get Chernow's Grant. Here Mann is so determined to draw a lesbian line between Hepburn and every single female friend she ever had that it becomes exasperating. I don't care what she did in her spare time, can we talk more about her performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night? As for the fabled romance with Tracy, two things: 1) only a half-wit would have believed Kanin's Tracy and Hepburn about the relationship. As Mann points out, it's a combination of hagiography and screenplay 2) after Woman of the Year (1942) neither of them looked like sexual athletes, especially Tracy, who made a shockingly quick descent into old age. He looked in his eighties when he dies, twenty years older than he actually was.

And when she was an old lady, Hepburn bought into her own mythology. Well, why wouldn't she? As Mann points out on virtually every page, she had a large hand in its creation and Tracy wasn't there to contradict her. Her last interesting crack at a role was Hecuba in The Trojan Women, and after that she never strained herself --- though it was rarely not enjoyable to watch her work. As her mental and physical powers diminished, she clung to the spotlight in the best way she knew how --- by exposing herself to the media in numberless interviews, print and on-camera. Yes, she was calculating. Why wouldn't she have been? Her business was being a star, and as Mann has to admit, she pulled it off. No sad finish in horror movies like Davis and Crawford, and no winding up on The Colbys like Stanwyck. Her only failing was living too long.

I wish I could say the biography held my interest to one tenth the amount Hepburn's performances usually do.

[Malcolm Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I suppose every biography has some sort of agenda but really is the most important thing about Kate Hepburn her sexuality? The book seems bent on proving not only that Kate was by turns gay/bi/asexual, but also that everyone in Hollywood in the forties was gay, or at least seriously thinking about experimenting that way. Poor Spencer Tracy comes in for the harshest scrutiny with allegations that his well-known boozing was the result of not only being a blatant adulterer but a tortured closeted gay and a mere beard for his amorata. Mr. Mann's preoccupation with this myopic perspective borders on the sordid and leaves one with the icky feeling that the only thing that matters to certain gays is a burning need to prove that their sexual orientation is entirely normal if cruelly suppressed by the broader culture. Okay. But I thought this was a book about Katherine Hepburn.

[lmc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another book I couldn't put down - read the majority of it one night - finished up the next evening. Author does a great job of discerning between previous "facts" that have been published erroneously over the decades that are now considered the truth about who Hepburn was, her interactions with friends, family, associates, fellow actors, long term liaisons, and her extensive travels over her lifespan which encompassed nearly the entire 20th century.

I've read nearly every book published on or by Hepburn - and he adds an entirely new facet to Hepburn - definitely one of the best reads on the woman - ranks with Garson Kanin's depiction of his 40 year intimate relationship with Hepburn and Tracy.

[Lisa Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book knowing the Hepburn myth: feisty aristocrat, tragic love affair with Spencer Tracy, always did it her way. Mann takes on this myth with gusto: her family eventually got rich, but started out basic middle-class; she had many more intense female relationships than her on-again, off-again relationship with Tracy; like every other movie star, she made many compromises to make it big. I appreciate the way Mann investigates the myth without chucking it all out as hooey, and the way he lays out for the reader even the most unattractive parts of Hepburn's personality and choices. Painting a fuller picture of Katharine Hepburn makes her more and less admirable at the same time, and that is about as honest as you can be about a person.

[Mark Gaulding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a landmark book, in my opinion. I have never read a more compelling and convincing biography. I think this books was really the culmination and triumph because of the author's other two fantastic books: Wisecracker & Behind the Screen. The latter is a landmark book in and of itself, revealing the prominently queer Hollywood before The Code was instituted. Wisecrack, about silent film star William Haines, continued the scholarly study of this shameful period in Hollywood history. Ms. Hepburn has been written about so much and only a historian who had done the research that Mann did could have begun to discover the true enigmatic mystery of this screen icon. I cannot recommend this author's books enough....including his novels. The only thing I haven't read from this author's oevre is The Biograph Girl. It is in my "too read" stack.

[Kathryn Shevelow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this biography--I don't often read Hollywood bios, but this one was fascinating for its account of the Hollywood world that Hepburn belonged to. But what I found most fascinating was the story of Kate's earlier history, with her feminist mother, her unusual (to put it mildly) father, and the radical-bohemian-lesbian-gay circles, especially in Greenwich Village, that Hepburn knew as a child. Mann's a thorough, careful researcher, and a good story teller. This is a long book, but I enjoyed every minute of it!

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, even though I essentially love everything I read, this one was a little tiresome and repetitive at times. Nevertheless, I found it compelling enough to make it all the way through 500+ pages of details about Kate's love life and cantankerous ways. Seems she probably was at times a closeted lesbian (even to herself), at other times fairly asexual, yet other times dabbled in men. I can tell you this, she hung out with some really butch women for someone who wasn't a lesbian. The author seems to see a gay person under every bush in Hollywood, and I'm assuming the author himself is gay, and he loses a little credibility in the telling because of this one note theme. I did enjoy all the details and behind the scenes info on Hollywood and a glimpse into the parlors of these notable folks. Intriguing stuff.

[Slincn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprising. Evidence that Hepburn, like many of her Hollywood counterparts in fact lived private lives that general public knew little to nothing about. In that way, you almost feel like a voyeur reading these stories about Kate Hepburn's "true" life. But here is where I think the author toes perhaps a little too close to being a hypocrite. He says that Hepburn knew how to work the celebrity machine to say exactly what she wanted it to say, but there are numerous gleams in the text where it seems that the author, too, is twisting facts or events to draw the dramatic picture he wanted painted. Quite scandalous at times.

It does prove, though, that whoever she was, Katherine Hepburn was an interesting lady.

[Mom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did Not Finish

I could not handle this book, as I realized by page 50. I tried and tried to keep going, but I couldn't take it anymore. Every page had me thinking how much I hated reading it and wondering how I was possibly going to make it through the whole thing, until I just decided I couldn't.

It's really telling about a book when the preface is 28 pages long, and not in a good way. It's taking way too long to say things that could be said in much briefer words, and also treating what should be a biography like a thesis paper or a treatise.

I'm also sick and tired of picking up biographies to learn more about these people I'm either a fan of or casually interested in, only to be faced with a research paper where the author clearly had set themselves the task of smearing the person's name and trying to prove that everything they ever said was a lie. Celebrities are allowed to have private lives, too, and if they wanted to be remembered for certain things, then that should be okay. There's no reason to go digging into things they may have been ashamed of or that another person simply had a different perspective on, particularly when the person is dead and no longer around to defend themselves. Sometimes you can just let fans be fans and not try to "prove" they're wrong to like this person.

I won't be picking any of this author's books in the future, and I'm getting rid of this one.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to laugh at the reviewers below who got all upset that their heroine had had several same sex relationships, and accused author William J. Mann of being salacious and prurient, etc for pointing these facts out. Obviously, that says more about these reviewers than than they will ever grasp so let's just snicker at them (snickering here) and move on. Mann does a real nice job of illuminating the trajectory of this iconic actress's life, from ambitious upper middle-class Connecticut dreamer to iconoclastic, gender bending film star of the 30's and 40's, to middle-aged superstar to absolutely impossible old bitch in her later years. I'd grown to pretty much hate Hepburn by the last third of the book, but in the final chapters Mann wraps up her story with not a little wisdom and genuine empathy. He's a fine storyteller, and any non-phobic fans of Hepburn should enjoy this (snickering once more at those certain reviewers below, poor delicate creatures that they are).

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

And, with this huge biography, I come to the conclusion of my Katharine Hepburn multi-book journey. I thought this was going to be low-brow. It’s not. Instead, it’s a rich and awesomely researched, layered and inventive analysis of the familiar arc of her life, albeit with an effort to scrape away any mythology of the legend. I read this at a glacial pace, but it was stellar pre-bedtime company for many months.

[Raimo Wirkkala · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unvarnished yet, ultimately, respectful biography. The author engages in much myth-busting and even more speculation about sexual proclivities along the way but provides a very engaging and insightful account of the life of a legend.

[Tej · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot, it was well-written, and well-researched, but it was so hard to stick with it. For one thing, he spent a lot of time giving mini-biographies about all of the people in her life. That's fine for her parents, but I really don't need the life-story of her college roommate. And as for the other famous people in her life, if I want to know about them I'll just read their biography. The other thing I didn't like is that despite always telling us that sex was not important to Kate and that she really didn't like it, he sure spent a lot of time speculating about whom she did/didn't have sex with. Every time he introduced another significant person in her life, he'd write, "Once again, we need to ask ourselves how intimate were they." No, we don't. I really don't care. It felt like he had an agenda to "out" everyone in Kate's life. Just wasn't necessary. I believe him when he says that the public persona Hepburn created was mostly that--a creation. But I'd still prefer to read her autobiography than this.

[Kumari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the characters Katherine Hepburn made for the screen throughout her prolific career. and,even though I do love a behind the scenes biography, especially about who is in the closet and who will simply pretend they haven't had same-sex experiences, and the speculated reasons, and EVEN THOUGH the author warned on the beginning that (while he admired her ??) he is no fan of Kate's, it is really difficult to read such a BIG book by someone who obviously dislikes something very fundamental in his subject. Mr Mann, you and I are fam-alee, but your tone is so downright mean, I am not recommending this to others. I hate it when queens get this kind of attitude. was it necessary to be so bitchy?

Couldn't, and wouldn't, finish.

[Nancy Loe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, well-reasoned, and beautifully written biography about someone who was rapidly receding into the mists of legend, much of it her own creation. I loved Mann's earlier book ( wisecracker) and he's exceeded even that fine book.



I love Katharine Hepburn's work and her screen persona, but I especially appreciated that he didn't produce another contribution to the hagiography about Hepburn.

[Heather Johnson]

This book was not the best biography I have read. It focused WAYYYYYY too much on the rumors of her being a lesbian. It seems like the author was trying to prove that she was and would tie each aspect of her life to show she was. I honestly had to stop reading it because that was the ongoing theme and it started to beat the dead horse.

The only interesting part was her childhood. And that is only because it didnt focus so much on her preferences.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful look into who she really was with the necessary question about her sexuality but Mann is wonderful at admitting that he doesn't always know everything. I think that is the best part of reading a Mann bio. He admits that some things are speculation and he refrains from assuming but instead mentions what conclusions other authors have made. Learned a lot and love reading a bio by this man.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really not sure what to think about this book. The author seemed determine to prove that Katharine Hepburn was ambisexual (or bi or gay) - and much of the book seemed to focus on this aspect. The parts I did enjoy dealt with some of her travels, and how she ended up becoming the icon she is.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The interesting portions of this book are spread so thinly through so much repetitive, speculative and (for me) tiresome filler that I struggled to finish.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much focus on the "gay" thing. Otherwise, an interesting smack down of the currently understood legend behind the woman.

[Jonathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Relies on insinuations for the bulk of interest, which clouds the truth of who this icon was.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do we read actor biographies? Is it because we wonder if they share the same faults and disappointments in life as “normal people”? Is it because we hope to find that the reason why they are so convincing on the screen is that their fictional roles reflect their true selves? Or maybe we’re just intrigued by their wealth, fame and larger than life personalities? If you find yourself fascinated by the onscreen persona of Katharine Hepburn as well as her legendary love affair with Spencer Tracy, you might be disappointed by William J. Mann’s “Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn.” Mann’s thoroughly researched biography debunks many of the myths that have arisen regarding Hepburn’s life and loves. She comes across as haughty, patrician and narcissistic, willing to put her career above her relationships. Her long love affair with Tracy is more of a deep friendship that is on again, off again. Hepburn does try to help him with his alcoholism and depression and does support and care for him in his last five years. But Mann makes it clear that the intensity of their affair is more a product of audiences loving their onscreen pairings than actuality. He paints a painful description of a haunted, closeted Tracy who drinks to deal with Catholic guilt about his bisexuality. And he shows an eager Hepburn willing to promote a romantic hoax through the media in the thirty years after his death with interviews and books. In short, this is not a Hepburn biography for those who believe in the iconic love affair evidenced in their movie pairings. Mann has likely produced the most thoroughly researched and accurate Hepburn biography we will see; he was able to interview the few remaining contemporaries of Hepburn along with new access to important letters of friends like George Cukor. Whether or not such a revelatory biography will be satisfying to fans of the Hepburn legend is another matter, though. Your reaction will depend on why you read biographies of famous actors.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new look at Kate Hepburn and the legacy she created for herself. When I read Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, I couldn't understand how Scotty could say that Kate and Spence's relationship, so well documented, was not at all like the stories--and now I get it. I've read other bios of Kate before, and I think what sets this one apart is how well he added context to Kate, her roles, her ambitions, the stories she chose to tell about herself, etc. He dove into previously unused materials like her brother's coroner's report, the letters of her very close friends who shed light on a lot of the stories Kate chose to share, etc, plus interviews with her remaining friends and family. I was really impressed, and I do think this is about as close to Kate's actual truth that we'll ever know. Much like Rose Wilder Lane, she never let a fact stand in the way of the story she wanted to tell! I think the legacy she created for herself is broadly the truth, but the details are not.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite surprised by this book. I found out how little I knew about Katharine Hepburn. I idolized her a Jo March in "Little Women" and her roles in "The African Queen" and "Roster Cogburn." I had no conception of what a convoluted, often hypocritical person she could be. William Mann brings up many topics that seem plausible, but could very well be debated because of the secrecy of the times Hepburn inhabited and her the contradiction she was. I found the book very informative and gave insight is to aspects of old Hollywood. I didn't know much about Hepburn's relationship with Spencer Tracy; just that they were an old Hollywood couple. Often times the book seem repetitive, but this can be expected when covering the life of a woman who lived into her 90s. If Hepburn is a favorite actor of yours or your interested in the progression of old Hollywood to new, this would be well worth your time.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched and highly compelling. Having read Scott Berg's biography not long ago, I was expecting a generous amount of repetition in the content but this was not the case. There was plenty of speculation and clues to the real Katharine Hepburn, enough to give the reader a window into the life of the actress. While "Kate" herself was a mass of contradictions and often unlikeable, I will qualify this statement by saying that people seemed either to dislike her intensely, considering her talentless, or to fairly promote her to sainthood in their over-the-top near-worship of Ms. Hepburn.
She was obviously a troubled person who made successful attempts at covering up her insecurities. For "Kate" to choose acting as a career gives one pause to consider that the above statement is not just an opinion. A longtime observer of the actress observed that she had a narrow range and essentially always played herself.

[Peter Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very impressive detective investigation of who was Kate.You do not need to read any other book about her life - it’s all here,judiciously analysed.It is though too long.Despite the myth of an independent woman,he shows how she would trim her sails to further her career.Fascinating on the gay/ lesbian sub culture of Hollywood.