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A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn
Depicts the life of Katharine Hepburn and describes her struggle to achieve success as a movie actress
511 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 3, 2008
I was a little disappointed in this portrayal of Kathrine Hepburn. Presented as a wealthy, stubborn, selfish snob who is as in love with her "quirks" as she is with her New England upbringing - she is not likable at all. It is difficult to read hundreds of pages about a woman who is more annoying with each chapter.
I think the biggest thing that bothers me about the Kathrine Hepburn story is the legendary romance between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Firmly devoted to his Catholic faith, he could never divorce his wife or leave his children. Romantic right? Except his version of "faith" doesn't forbid adultery and alcoholism, as he conducts affairs with Hepburn and other actresses and sloshes his way through every bar in America.
In addition to a repellent main character, the book is not well-constructed. The author is the master of mis-used cliches ("Kate could see the handwriting on the wall...") and has an overly-complicated writing style. Combined with countless mentions of random people and movie titles, you have a story that is difficult, if not impossible, to follow.
I was sad to find that my image of the on-screen legend was severely tarnished after this book. Sure she was a great actress. She also deserved a swift kick in the butt.
I think the biggest thing that bothers me about the Kathrine Hepburn story is the legendary romance between Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Firmly devoted to his Catholic faith, he could never divorce his wife or leave his children. Romantic right? Except his version of "faith" doesn't forbid adultery and alcoholism, as he conducts affairs with Hepburn and other actresses and sloshes his way through every bar in America.
In addition to a repellent main character, the book is not well-constructed. The author is the master of mis-used cliches ("Kate could see the handwriting on the wall...") and has an overly-complicated writing style. Combined with countless mentions of random people and movie titles, you have a story that is difficult, if not impossible, to follow.
I was sad to find that my image of the on-screen legend was severely tarnished after this book. Sure she was a great actress. She also deserved a swift kick in the butt.
February 6, 2023
I must say the author wrote Katherine Hepburn's biography much better than she did Judy Garland's!
This book covered the life of Katherine Hepburn from birth to adulthood and into old age. However, I felt that the author was not objective about her subject and instead draws a very thin line between objective biography and explicit ridicule. In fact, this book seemed less of a biography and more of the author's negative feelings about the subject (Katherine Hepburn).
This is a shame. While Katherine Hepburn has done some not-so-right things in her life, the fact that she had survived so long in the cutthroat world of classic Hollywood proves that she must have done something right.
I read this book when it first came out and thought it was great (I was much younger then) but now at the age of 66, I found this book did not honor or represent its subject as much as my younger self did. This is a shame because I once thought that Anne Edwards was a top-notch biographer. However, after the disappointment of her Judy Garland book and now the disappointment of her Katherine Hepburn book, I'm beginning to think that I saw the author through rose-colored youthful glasses and that what I thought back then was not necessarily true. In fact, I'm now almost afraid to read her Shirley Temple book!
This book covered the life of Katherine Hepburn from birth to adulthood and into old age. However, I felt that the author was not objective about her subject and instead draws a very thin line between objective biography and explicit ridicule. In fact, this book seemed less of a biography and more of the author's negative feelings about the subject (Katherine Hepburn).
This is a shame. While Katherine Hepburn has done some not-so-right things in her life, the fact that she had survived so long in the cutthroat world of classic Hollywood proves that she must have done something right.
I read this book when it first came out and thought it was great (I was much younger then) but now at the age of 66, I found this book did not honor or represent its subject as much as my younger self did. This is a shame because I once thought that Anne Edwards was a top-notch biographer. However, after the disappointment of her Judy Garland book and now the disappointment of her Katherine Hepburn book, I'm beginning to think that I saw the author through rose-colored youthful glasses and that what I thought back then was not necessarily true. In fact, I'm now almost afraid to read her Shirley Temple book!
December 31, 2019
An eye-opening read to one of Hollywood's film icons, especially with regards to her professional life. It was also interesting to read about her personal life as interposed with her professional work life. Reading through it, it gave me a thought of how I could write my autobiography following this format....hopefully...interspersing my personal and professional life. By the end of the book, I look forward to search for some her films and watch them.
July 5, 2021
A WONDERFUL BOOK.
O livro fala desde o inicio da casa dos pais em Fenwick, Old Saybrook. Sobre a mãe sufragista de Katharine, Kit, sobre os irmãos, o suicídio de Tom quando ele tinha 13 anos. O que abalou profundamente Kate. Depois há Hollywood em 1932 com Vítimas do Divórcio, Levada da Breca (Bringing Up Baby) no qual Baby é um Leopardo de 8 anos com o qual Kate e Cary Grant contracenam. Há as peças na Broadway que Cate é paga um valor relativamente baixo comparado ao cinema, mas que ela faz por amor, pois ela ama fazer. Nos anos 40, há a relação com Spencer Tracy que ia durar até a morte dele em 1967. Ela em fato é que o acha morto. Ele viveu com a esposa, sem divórcio,pois era um católico fervoroso, além de beber demais da conta, mas mantém em segredo a relação com Kate por décadas. Kate não atende o funeral dele. Kate ganhou 4 Oscars em toda a vida. Fez O leão no Inverno nos anos 60, peças de tragédia Grega, pois de acordo com ela,nunca tinha feito e queria fazer de tudo na vida.livro para mais ou menos em 1985, pois foi escrito por ANNE EDWARDS em 1987, a carreira de Kate se estende até 1994, quando ela fez um filme de NATAL. E parece que depois se aposentou, até vir a falecer em 2003, na casa da família em Connecticut, Old Saybrook. Uma vida realmente INCRÍVEL.
O livro fala desde o inicio da casa dos pais em Fenwick, Old Saybrook. Sobre a mãe sufragista de Katharine, Kit, sobre os irmãos, o suicídio de Tom quando ele tinha 13 anos. O que abalou profundamente Kate. Depois há Hollywood em 1932 com Vítimas do Divórcio, Levada da Breca (Bringing Up Baby) no qual Baby é um Leopardo de 8 anos com o qual Kate e Cary Grant contracenam. Há as peças na Broadway que Cate é paga um valor relativamente baixo comparado ao cinema, mas que ela faz por amor, pois ela ama fazer. Nos anos 40, há a relação com Spencer Tracy que ia durar até a morte dele em 1967. Ela em fato é que o acha morto. Ele viveu com a esposa, sem divórcio,pois era um católico fervoroso, além de beber demais da conta, mas mantém em segredo a relação com Kate por décadas. Kate não atende o funeral dele. Kate ganhou 4 Oscars em toda a vida. Fez O leão no Inverno nos anos 60, peças de tragédia Grega, pois de acordo com ela,nunca tinha feito e queria fazer de tudo na vida.livro para mais ou menos em 1985, pois foi escrito por ANNE EDWARDS em 1987, a carreira de Kate se estende até 1994, quando ela fez um filme de NATAL. E parece que depois se aposentou, até vir a falecer em 2003, na casa da família em Connecticut, Old Saybrook. Uma vida realmente INCRÍVEL.
October 4, 2017
Interesting take on KH's life as a feisty but oddly needy actress at the confluence of the "old" Hollywood community (Howard Hughes, big studios ruled by autocratic paternalistic 'heads', A pictures, B pictures, the birth of 'noir' films, etc.) through the 'auteur' period, and finally into the big business it is today.
Lots of info on her first marriage & first husband, her co-dependent friendships with women, her relationships with film buisiness men and her alliance with Spencer Tracy. All my reading on her through the years & I still find her a fairly interesting woman....
Lots of info on her first marriage & first husband, her co-dependent friendships with women, her relationships with film buisiness men and her alliance with Spencer Tracy. All my reading on her through the years & I still find her a fairly interesting woman....
August 27, 2018
An engaging portrait of without question my favorite actress, giving equal weight to her professional struggles/triumphs and personal relationships, and one that refreshingly refuses to shy away from honest portrayal even when it paints the subject in a less than a less than flattering light. Only mild complaint is that it ends rather abruptly after one of her final screen appearances with a rather rushed afterword, which is jarring given the pacing of the book and robs it of any real sense of reflection and conclusion.
May 12, 2024
Katharine Hepburn by Anne Edwards
What a talent, who doesn't know and recognize her face and her fabulous movies? She won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963 for her performance in George Eliot's Long Days Journey into Night, so I rented the movie and was gob smacked how differently actors performed in her day. In theater we would say "she chewed the scenery!" Meaning that it was terribly overacted. How styles have changed. I also had no idea she "slept" with so many in the industry. I wonder if that's changed with today's actors. I learned a lot.
What a talent, who doesn't know and recognize her face and her fabulous movies? She won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963 for her performance in George Eliot's Long Days Journey into Night, so I rented the movie and was gob smacked how differently actors performed in her day. In theater we would say "she chewed the scenery!" Meaning that it was terribly overacted. How styles have changed. I also had no idea she "slept" with so many in the industry. I wonder if that's changed with today's actors. I learned a lot.
October 9, 2021
A somewhat sad but inspiring look at the life of one of the best actress and actor of the 20th century. She was a true individual with the common sense and inspiration to get things done. Well done!
January 30, 2020
I've read a lot of books about Kate over the years. The author captures her personality and the chapters on her childhood and college years are pure magic.
September 4, 2021
I learned more about this incredible woman but also felt certain events were skimmed or glossed over. I would have enjoyed a few more pictures as well. I felt let down with the book.
August 16, 2024
Meticulous detail.
April 18, 2015
I feel slightly guilty admitting that I paid a ridiculous 50c for this in a charity shop but I am going to buy a few more books by this biographer so it all works out fair and square in the end.
Only a few lines are needed to recommend this book. It is wonderfully readable and well-researched. If you have any interest in acting, the theatre/movies and even just a passing interest in Katherine Hepburn you will enjoy this book.
She was an inspirational woman though I probably would not have liked her had we met. My, but she was dreadful at the beginning of her career, rather immature and refusing to take direction from ... well ... her poor directors. If ever a woman needed a Spencer Tracy in her life, it was Hepburn! He is the one who shows her how to act ... both on screen and off.
I found her inspirational because of the way she kept going, despite any amount of bloody awful reviews - some extremely personal - and she was in a fair few movies and plays that flopped yet she remained undaunted. This is what I wish for myself, in the face bad reviews and negativity, to let it wash off and keep moving forward. I should say that I'm a writer not an actor but there's little difference between the two when it comes to dealing with criticism, both good and bad.
I finished the book late last night and thought I had been robbed because there was no mention of her death and I was trying to think if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The downside of reading an auto/biography, about someone who had died, is knowing that the good stuff is going to end, inevitably, with old age and then the final full stop. However it just occurred to me, before I wrote this review, to check when Hepburn died and I discovered that she only died in 2003, seven years after the book was published. So I wasn't robbed after all and that 50c was well spent!
Only a few lines are needed to recommend this book. It is wonderfully readable and well-researched. If you have any interest in acting, the theatre/movies and even just a passing interest in Katherine Hepburn you will enjoy this book.
She was an inspirational woman though I probably would not have liked her had we met. My, but she was dreadful at the beginning of her career, rather immature and refusing to take direction from ... well ... her poor directors. If ever a woman needed a Spencer Tracy in her life, it was Hepburn! He is the one who shows her how to act ... both on screen and off.
I found her inspirational because of the way she kept going, despite any amount of bloody awful reviews - some extremely personal - and she was in a fair few movies and plays that flopped yet she remained undaunted. This is what I wish for myself, in the face bad reviews and negativity, to let it wash off and keep moving forward. I should say that I'm a writer not an actor but there's little difference between the two when it comes to dealing with criticism, both good and bad.
I finished the book late last night and thought I had been robbed because there was no mention of her death and I was trying to think if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The downside of reading an auto/biography, about someone who had died, is knowing that the good stuff is going to end, inevitably, with old age and then the final full stop. However it just occurred to me, before I wrote this review, to check when Hepburn died and I discovered that she only died in 2003, seven years after the book was published. So I wasn't robbed after all and that 50c was well spent!
February 14, 2016
Indeed -- a remarkable woman!! Did not realize how involved she was with the entire movie making production. Also, darn it (!), she was 5'7" and probably never weighed 120 pounds in her entire life!! VERY athletic till the end -- was she in her 80s before she died? This book is filled with (too many) details about each movie and too many footnotes, but quite the read, nonetheless. Her ability to remain attached and tenderly concerned with Spenser Tracy for over 25 years while still maintainlng her independance should be an inspiration to me!!!
December 1, 2007
Anne Edwards was somewhat limited by the fact that Katharine Hepburn was very much alive and active at the time of this book, but still she manages to glean some intimate details to share with us. All in all, a good read.
January 11, 2016
Didn't know that much about her life before reading this book. Helped me a lot. I admired her for her acting, now I admire Katharine Hepburn for the person she was. I loved the book, it showed me surprising and intimate things about her and her family.
August 30, 2012
Very good book, she was a amazing women
September 11, 2012
Siempre me ha fascinado la independencia de esta mujer en los tiempos que le tocó vivir. Chapeau!
September 14, 2014
I liked it at the time but have since found some of the information inaccurate.
April 22, 2009
Read this and loved it....she was way ahead of her times.
July 16, 2012
SHE WAS A REMARKABLE WOMAN
September 11, 2012
Una mujer peculiar y con un sentido de la independencia envidiable.
December 1, 2015
I enjoyed the book. Now I want to rewatch many of her films!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews