Hepburn Miscellania

These quotes are scattered through the special edition of the New York Daily News. Hepburn seemed to have spoken in often-publishable words.

I would love to rattle off one-liners in such a way.

“I’m like some weather-beaten old monument. People are beginning to realize they’ll miss me when I’m gone.”

“I had years of perfect companionship with a man among men. I’ve never regretted it.” (So much for Elena Pearson, a writer from Queens, quoted in one of the pieces about Hepburn: “She didn’t need men. She was strong. She was powerful.” Uh: Elena? Life sometimes is a bit more complex than that.) Hepburn would turn down roles so that she could tend to Tracy, she coddled him, she helped him sober up, she thought it was more important that she be available to Tracy, than to advance her career. Yes, she was strong, Yes, she was powerful … but she didn’t need men?? The two (or three) are not mutually exclusive.

At least I hope they’re not, for my own sake. Jeez.

To add to the complexity, here is Hepburn’s take on her relationship with men:

“In my relationships I know that I have some qualities that are offensive to people — especially men. I’m loud and talkative and I get onto subjects that irritate. If I feel these things causing a break, I know something has to give. I never think the man is going to give — or anyone else for that matter — so I do. I just deliberately change. I just shut up — when every atom in me wants to speak up.”

(Response, Ms. Pearson?)

And along those lines, here is what she said about her relationship with Spencer Tracy. I remember reading it in her autobiography and feeling … baffled … confused … why didn’t she stand up to him? Why didn’t she say “Take me as I am, you fool!” Well, she did not, and we must take her at her word that she has no regrets. Anyway, here is the quote in question:

“Well, the things he found irritating I removed.”

More Hepburn quotables:

“The thing about life is that you must survive. Life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. What you do is to move along, get on with it, and be tough. Not in the sense of being mean to others, but tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.”

“I can’t stand Mary of Scotland. I think she was an absolute ass. I thought Elizabeth was absolutely right to have her condemned to death.”

This one breaks my heart a bit:

“Being an actor is a humiliating experience. Because you are selling yourself to the public, your face, your personality, and that is humiliating. As you get older, it becomes more humiliating, because you’ve got less to sell.”

“Everyone thought I was bold and fearless and even arrogant, but inside I was always quaking … I don’t care how afraid I may be inside — I do what I htink I should.”

Indeed.