Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story (Advocate Life Stories) [Hardcover]

James Robert Parish (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 155583891X | ISBN-13: 978-1555838911 | Publication Date: November 1, 2005 | Edition: First Edition

In her remarkable 62-year career, Katharine Hepburn starred in over 40 films, appeared in over 10 Broadway plays, and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning four. Her relationship with actor Spencer Tracy is one of Hollywood's most famous romances; it lasted 25 years until Tracy's death in 1967-never mind that Tracy was married to another woman. In her life Hepburn was an icon of feminism and New England-style forthrightness; as an artist she was a national treasure. Hepburn's death on June 29, 2003, at the age of 96 did little to silence the almost -century-long conversation about her. But one topic remained taboo, despite Hepburn's reputation as being fearlessly honest. Was Katharine Hepburn a lesbian? This biography directly addresses and documents the numerous accounts of Hepburn's lesbian affairs, including her relationships with Laura Harding, Jane Loring, Elissa Landi, Irene Mayer Selznick, Phyllis Wilbourn, and others. In addition, it provides an eye-opening re-examination of the star's most noted "love affairs." Parrish details how Hepburn spun her relationship with billionaire Howard Hughes to appear to be a romance, when in fact it wasn't, and most explosively reveals what caused Hepburn to accept a masochistic, platonic relationship with alcoholic, bisexual actor Spencer Tracy, and to allow it to be characterized as one of the "great loves of the twentieth century." Extensive research and interviews with numerous friends, journalists, and acquaintances separate myth from fact to reveal the real, sometimes conflicted, frustratingly complicated, and always amazing woman behind the painstakingly self-crafted image.

James Robert Parish is the author of 20 books on Hollywood, including biographies of Whoopi Goldberg, Gus Van Sant, Rosie O'Donnell, and Whitney Houston. He lives in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of the most singular performers of the 20th century, Hepburn was known as a no-nonsense woman who flouted the rules of stardom. Yet Parish, author of several celebrity bios (of Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Gus Van Sant and others), believes Hepburn's "mannish attitudes, attire, and manners were far more indicative of her sexual nature than a reflection of her role as a pioneering feminist." According to the author, Hepburn's offstage image as a frank, plainspeaking woman was a sham, a role she adopted to deflect accusations of being a lesbian. The case, which Parish builds on gossip and hearsay, suggests her love affairs with men were business maneuvers or publicity stunts. Her relationships with Howard Hughes, John Ford and Spencer Tracey were more platonic than physical, Parish insists, since these men were ambivalent about their own sexual preferences. Despite claims of a great love affair with Tracey, "Kate never remembered Spencer ever saying specifically he loved her." Conversely, Parish speculates Hepburn had romantic liaisons with Broadway producer Irene Selznick and socialite Laura Harding. Though some readers may find Parish's use of terms like "maiden women" and "spinsters" problematic, his probing biography will pique the interest of Hepburn addicts. 30 b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A. Scott Berg's best-selling memoir Kate Remembered, published in 2003, contained veiled hints about Hepburn's bisexuality. This book goes a lot further. In fact, it's really a psychosexual biography, which examines Hepburn's life from the perspective of her love affairs. Naturally, this is all very spicy and almost compulsively readable, but Parish never quite proves his premise: Hepburn's relationship with alcoholic Spencer Tracy was never what it was portrayed as being. (Tracy, too, is labeled as bisexual without much proof.) Almost everyone in the book is introduced by his or her presumed sexual orientation--usually gay or bi--and, throughout, Parish has an unfortunate habit of making pronouncements unbacked by facts and in disregard of what Hepburn herself writes or says. For instance, he avers that losing the part of Scarlett O'Hara was "a deep disappointment," even though Hepburn continually told people (as late as 1991) that she didn't think she was right for the part. Parish also theorizes that "Hepburn's often juvenile servitude to Tracy satisfied displaced aspects of her abiding love for her emotionally remote, demanding father." Well, maybe. But Hepburn was smart enough not to leave any proof behind. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Advocate Books; First Edition edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155583891X
• ISBN-13: 978-1555838911
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hepburn, Katherine

More About the Author

I have the privilege of doing work (i.e., writing books) that I thoroughly enjoy, so it is no real chore to be active on my book projects seven days a week. Doing research is much like being a detective, bringing as many elements of the subject's life to light and assessing how each piece fits into the puzzle of a celebrity's biography.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Untrustworthy Story, November 15, 2005

By 

Lyric "natri" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story (Advocate Life Stories) (Hardcover)

If you enjoy a book where in every so-called shocking statement or bit of innuendo is preceded or followed by "maybe" or "possibly", then you will like this book. Also if you like cut and paste jobs this is your book. If on the other hand you are looking for a well-written, well-researched book that actually tells you something worth knowing about Katharine Hepburn, then stay away from this one.
This book has one mission -- to try to convince the world that Kate was gay and since Parish can provide nothing more than rumor, gossip, and supposition in that area -- it is a miserable failure of a book and a waste of time and paper and ink.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Even one star is too generous., October 19, 2006

By 

WildViolet (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story (Advocate Life Stories) (Hardcover)

Parish's efforts are nothing more than a re-hashing of everything you already know. It certainly isn't the "untold story" the book jacket promises. Clumsily written and boring, Parish should have enlisted the aid of a better editor. One case in point: a good editor would have checked facts and known there is no such place as Tavasoon (where he notes they filmed part of "The Lion in Winter"), the town is actually called Tarascon. This book is pure drivel. Don't bother wasting your money.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Untold for a Reason, April 17, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story (Advocate Life Stories) (Hardcover)

Parish's controversial thesis is that Hepburn manipulated her image in unexpected ways, hiding her affair with Tracy for many years while "leaking" it at the same time to a selected few, so that in the years after 1942, the whole of the film colony knew she was dating the married Tracy. And after his death, and the death of Louise his widow, Hepburn became more and more chatty about her big love. Parish notes that Hepburn is often the only source for many of her supposed heterosexual affairs, and that when she claimed to have cuddled up with Charles Boyer while making BREAK OF HEARTS, she is the only one who ever believed any of her story. What was the purpose of all these machinations? To divert attention from her real life sexual proclivities, which were for women.

In this respect she should have sent flowers to Garson Kanin, who publicized the Tracy affair in his tell-all book TRACY AND HEPBURN, instead of acting so frosty to Kanin and to his wife and collaborator, Ruth Gordon. After all, it was Kanin who got the word out that Hepburn was indeed a heterosexual woman, even a "back street" type of girl, which made her seem, well, not so weird to the general public.

All I can say is, it's an interesting thesis but if you ask me, not proven. Maybe she was in love with Elissa Landi, or Joy Bang, or Laura Harding, or poor old Phyllis, but I doubt it. She was in love primarily with herself. An accomplished actress, she taught the world that self-love is the most important value of all, and we all fell for it, under the cover of a New England drive for independence.

Parish is very good outlining the rivalry between Margaret Sullavan and Hepburn--but again, how do we know this was so? My own grandmother, who knew both women well, always insisted that there was no rivalry between them, and that they each admired the qualities in the other they lacked. Indeed when Margaret Sullavan died so young, Hepburn was crushed, not elated as Parish implies. She sent a huge bouquet of orange tiger lilies to Sullavan's services, and these were spread on the altar of the church.

I also appreciated his careful pen and ink portrait of Hope Williams, the Broadway actress on whom Hepburn modeled her lanky, independent and bisexual affect--Williams, forgotten today, played Linda Seton in HOLIDAY by Philip Barry on Broadway, while Hepburn studied her every move from the wings, for she was Hope Williams' understudy for the entire run of the play. Years later, of course, she was to play Linda herself in the flawed but worthwhile movie version.

PS, I don't believe that the aged monster Constance Collier ever had sex with either Paulette Goddard or Hepburn, as Parish hints on page 189, but isn't it pretty to think so?