TCM Schedule for Saturday, August 21, 2021 -- Summer Under the Stars: Katharine Hepburn

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Today's star is the incomparable Katharine Hepburn, one of the great talents of the cinema. And today we get to see her range, from the wonderfully ditzy Susan Vance in Bringing Up Baby (1938) to the regal and powerful Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968). From her entry in Wikipedia:

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned more than 60 years. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, she cultivated a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly played strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work came in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema.

Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while studying at Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in film brought her international fame, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for her third picture, Morning Glory (1933), but this was followed by a series of commercial failures culminating in the critically lauded but commercially unsuccessful comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938). Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold on the condition that she be the star. That comedy film was a box office success and landed her a third Academy Award nomination. In the 1940s, she was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy, which spanned 26 years and nine movies and extended to an unacknowledged off-screen affair.

Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she tackled Shakespearean stage productions and a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Hepburn earned three more Oscars for her work in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). In the 1970s, she began appearing in television films, which later became the focus of her career. She made her final screen appearance at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96.

Hepburn famously shunned the Hollywood publicity machine and she refused to conform to society's expectations of women. She was outspoken, assertive, and athletic, and wore trousers before they were fashionable for women. She was briefly married as a young woman but thereafter lived independently. With her unconventional lifestyle and the independent characters she brought to the screen, Hepburn epitomized the "modern woman" in the 20th-century United States, and is remembered as an important cultural figure.

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Break of Hearts (1935)
1h 20m | Romance | TV-G
An unknown composer tries to save the conductor she loves from his drinking problem.
Director: Philip Moeller
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer, John Beal

Though neither Katharine Hepbun nor Charles Boyer liked the script of this film, they got along well with each other, remained friends and often talked about making another movie together. They did not work together again until The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969).


7:30 AM -- Christopher Strong (1933)
1h 17m | Romance | TV-PG
An aviatrix's affair with a married man could cost her her career.
Director: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Colin Clive, Billie Burke

When Cynthia returns to San Francisco, while exhausted she telephones her lover Sir Christopher. This is very close to the real life events when Howard Hughes returned to New York from his around the world flight and was reunited with his lover, Kate Hepburn.


9:00 AM -- A Woman Rebels (1936)
1h 28m | Drama | TV-G
A Victorian feminist has an illegitimate baby.
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, Elizabeth Allen???

Film debut of yesterday's Star, Van Heflin.


10:30 AM -- Alice Adams (1935)
1h 40m | Comedy | TV-G
A small-town girl with social ambitions falls in love with a local playboy.
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, and Best Picture

There was a disagreement among Katharine Hepburn and George Stevens about the post-party scene. The script called for Hepburn to fall onto the bed and break into sobs, but Stevens wanted her to walk to the window and cry, with the rain falling outside. Hepburn could not produce the tears required, so she asked Stevens if she could do the scene as scripted. Stevens yelled furiously at Hepburn, which did the trick and the scene was filmed Stevens' way, and Hepburn's tears are real.


12:15 PM -- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-G
A madcap heiress upsets the staid existence of a straitlaced scientist.
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles

Katharine Hepburn was having a difficult time with comedic timing - Hawks said that she was "trying too hard to be funny" and kept laughing out loud. Luckily, Walter Catlett, who played Constable Slocum, was a veteran comic who had headlined for Ziegfeld. Hawks wanted him to give Hepburn some tips, but he refused, considering it a serious breach of etiquette. Hawks asked whether Catlett would help Hepburn if she asked him to. He said he would. Hawks mentioned this to Hepburn, who immediately marched over to ask Catlett for advice. Hepburn was so grateful that she asked Hawks to make Catlett's part larger so that he could be around if she needed more help.


2:00 PM -- Woman of the Year (1942)
1h 52m | Comedy | TV-PG
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn

The first scene shot was the characters' first date in a bar. Katharine Hepburn was so nervous she spilled her drink, but Spencer Tracy just handed her a handkerchief and kept going. Hepburn proceeded to clean up the spill as they played the scene. When the drink dripped through to the floor, she tried to throw Tracy off by going under the table, but he stayed in character with the cameras rolling the entire time.


4:00 PM -- The Sea of Grass (1947)
2h 11m | Drama | TV-PG
Cattlemen and their farmer enemies feud over New Mexico grasslands.
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Walker

This film was very successful at the box office, earning "MGM" a profit of $742,000 ($8.1M in 2017) according to studio records. This was the most profitable of all the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn "MGM" films.


6:15 PM -- Adam's Rib (1949)
1h 41m | Comedy | TV-G
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

Judy Holliday hoped to repeat her stage performance in Born Yesterday (1950), but the rights had been bought by Columbia Pictures, whose production chief, Harry Cohn, wanted no part of the woman he referred to as "that fat Jewish broad." He wouldn't even let her test for the role. When Garson Kanin complained about this to Katharine Hepburn, she suggested casting Holliday as Doris Attinger. When they offered her the role, however, she turned it down. Finally Hepburn got the real reason out of her. Sensitive about her weight, Holliday didn't want to be called "fatso" on screen. Hepburn assured her that the Kanins would gladly rewrite the line: "They're writers. They know lots of words." Finally, Holliday agreed. Later she insisted that the word "fatso" be restored because it was the best way of playing the scene.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS -- KATHARINE HEPBURN



8:00 PM -- Desk Set (1957)
1h 43m | Comedy | TV-G
An efficiency expert introduces his amazing new machine that can answer anything to a TV researcher.
Director: Walter Lang
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young

Improvised Scene: Sumner (Spencer Tracy) is leaving Bunny's (Katharine Hepburn) apartment, shortly after Mike (Gig Young) leaves and Peg (Joan Blondell) arrives, when Bunny and Sumner are recapping the afternoon's events for Peg. Tracy puts on the ruined shoes and grimaces as he tries to walk in them, which causes Bunny to laugh. He hobbles off stage and returns with his hat pulled down over his ears, his shirt dangling out of his pants, staggering as though drunk and talking crazy. This moment, including the women's hysterical laughter and Katharine Hepburn's literally falling out of her chair, is spontaneous and not in the script.


10:00 PM -- The Rainmaker (1956)
2h 1m | Drama | TV-G
A fake rainmaker melts the heart of a Kansas spinster while trying to save the town's crops from drought.
Director: Joseph Anthony
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alex North

William Holden was originally cast as Bill Starbuck. After Holden backed out, Burt Lancaster read about it in Hedda Hopper's column and phoned producer Hal B. Wallis. Lancaster agreed to star in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) if he would get the role of Bill Starbuck in this film.


12:15 AM -- The Lion in Winter (1968)
2h 14m | Drama | TV-14
England's Henry II and his estranged queen battle over the choice of an heir.
Director: Anthony Harvey
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Merrow

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968). Hepburn became the third performer to win consecutive awards, and the first to win three awards for lead roles. Anthony Harvey, the film's director, accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Goldman, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Barry

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole (O'Toole became the second actor (after Bing Crosby) to be twice nominated for an Oscar for portraying the same character; he had previously portrayed King Henry II in Becket (1964).), Best Director -- Anthony Harvey, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, and Best Picture

Sir Anthony Hopkins' debut in a full-length theatrical movie (he made his debut in the forty minute long The White Bus (1967)). When young Hopkins expressed anxiety about his performance compared to such established names as Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn, Hepburn allegedly advised him, "Don't act. Leave that to me; I act all over the place. You don't need to act. You've got a good face, you've got a good voice, you've got a big body. Watch Spencer Tracy, watch the real American actors that never act, they just do it. Just show up and speak the lines." Hopkins later regarded this as the best acting advice he had ever been given.


2:45 AM -- Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993)
1h 30m | Documentary | TV-G
In a rare interview, Katharine Hepburn shares her memories and memorabilia.
Director: David Heeley
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant

Meryl Streep beat her in the number of Oscar nominations, when she received her 13th Oscar nod for Adaptation (2002). However, Hepburn still reigns as the only 4-time Oscar recipient for acting. When Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Aviator (2004), Hepburn became the first previous Oscar winner to become an Oscar-winning movie role.


4:00 AM -- The Iron Petticoat (1956)
1h 34m | Comedy | TV-PG
Against their better judgment, a romance develops between an Air Force officer and a Soviet defector.
Director: Ralph Thomas
Cast: Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, Noelle Middleton

The pairing of Katharine Hepburn and Bob Hope, originally touted as being "inspired", turned out to be one of the elements movie critics almost universally focused on when they made this one of the most critically reviled films of either star's career. "If this was meant to be a travesty," carped Bosley Crowther in The New York Times, "it has succeeded."