“Kate is the most eccentric person I know, but the most eccentric thing about her is that she thinks she’s normal.” the phrase of George Sugar appears in a corner of Katharine Hepburn’s universe (Notorious), and marks the contradictions of the complex portrait, sometimes charming and sometimes solitary, that the 25 co-authors of the book make of most unique actress of his time.
What is Katharine Hepburn’s universe? The Seal Readers Notorious They know the format. The first part of the book is a set of articles, classified and illustrated, on each of Hepburn’s films (Connecticut, 1907-2003), from which she earned her four oscars to uncredited guest appearances and twilight telefilms. The idea is that, deep down, they go beyond her object and portray the actress in relation to the issues of her time. For example, the chapter on the state of the union (Frank Capra, 1949), written by Quim Casasexplains the moral position of Hepburn and her then partner, Spencer Tracyin it moral framework of his time.
The second half of the book is a idea dictionarys and people surrounding Hepburn’s story and explaining her personality. Aristocracy, Manhattan, British Actors, Thomas Hepburn and Cate Blanchet are some of the entries in the glossary signed by Lucía Tello. Between some texts and others, the image they build of Hepburn goes much further than that of the rebel diva which is usually handled.
There is an important idea to understand about Katharine Hepburn: when she was born for the ientertainment industry, his personality was already made: defiant, rebellious, moral and elitist at the same time. “Her personality of hers was made against it. Hepburn was the opposite of the platinum blonde Hollywood star,” explains Guillermo Balmori, the editor of Notorious.
At first, the actress had a hard time fitting in despite having the best possible endorsements. “RKO discovered her and bet on her with a lot of patience. Between 1932 and 1938 they gave her important roles, but the public systematically turned their backs on her. They perceived her as too progressive, too feminist and too dismissive for your tastes. In his third movie, glory of a day, released in 1933, won her first Oscar for best actress. But even that didn’t win him favor with the industry. “Her colleagues called her ‘box office poison‘”Balmori account.