Katharine Hepburn Once Said...: Great Lines to Live By (Hardcover)

~ Susan Crimp (Author) "Mother and Dad were perfect parents..." (more)
Key Phrases: Spencer Tracy

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers who are unwilling to truck through A. Scott Berg's lengthy biography Kate Remembered may want to pick up Crimp's little volume of the great actress's best quips. The author of Touched by a Saint: Personal Encounters with Mother Teresa and The Many Lives of Elton John collects "Hepburnisms" on subjects ranging from love and marriage to aging gracefully, packaging them into an attractive bundle of text (printed in large font) and photographs. Upbeat and straightforward, Hepburn has spunky thoughts on women ("I find a woman's point of view much grander and finer than a man's"); life ("If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun!"); and her career ("I don't care how afraid I may be inside-I do what I think I should"). Crimp refrains from making comments about Hepburn's thoughts, leaving readers to interpret them as they will. Although many of the quotations are missing year and source attributions, this collection provides a cheering, lighthearted survey of Hepburn's work and life. 39 b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

A career spanning more than sixty years. A life spanning almost a century. Katharine Hepburn reached the height of success as an actress and also suffered through periods that would have ended other actresses' careers. But she persevered with a mix of humor and sarcasm, tenderness and brutal honesty. The world has not been the same since.Collected here are the words that made Katharine Hepburn "Kate" to millions of fans. It does not matter whether the words were originally hers or if they were written for her. Every word spoken in that all-too-familiar staunch New England accent instantly became Kate's.

Her early years of ambition, her later years of reflection have all been captured in this collection. Her views on marriage, career, and life often came across as shocking. But the shock was not in the words she said, but when she said them. Decades ahead of her time, Kate paved the way for the independent woman free to live as she wishes. Above all else, Kate was and always will be the unwavering voice of reason.

Katharine Hepburn once said that there is a difference between being an actor and being a star; she wanted to be a star. The words collected here, said both onstage and offstage, are proof that there is also a difference between being a star and being a legend. Katharine Hepburn is a legend.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: It Books; 1 edition (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060581727
• ISBN-13: 978-0060581725
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #569,486 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Interesting Quotes, A Few Pics--But That's It!, November 10, 2003

By	James A. White (Cookeville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This book of Katharine Hepburn quotes, both from her movies and her own sharp wit, is lovingly done and beautifully presented with several black-and-white photographs of the actress, most of which are publicity stills. The main problem with the book: there are no attributions to the quotes, and no info on Hepburn herself. There is a bibiliography, so if you're really meticulous (or a little odd), you can research everything and get the dates of the quotes; otherwise, you're left high and dry as to information about the material.

There is also very little info on the actress herself, just a very short (2-3 pages in an undersized hardcover) snippet of a biography. There is also no speculation on the quotes themselves. While that gives the readers free range for interpretation, again, knowing the dates would have been nice.

The reason I gave it four stars instead of three: one of the pictures in the beginning of the book. It may appear elsewhere, but I don't know. It has Hepburn sitting in a plane with a flight helmet on. If you don't have this picture, buy the book just for it alone--talk about those cheek bones!!! Hepubrn looks even more sculpted than usual!

Bottom Line: Worth the "Used and New" discounted price for the novelty of it, and that one picture. Otherwise, it's a complete coffee table book.