Katharine Hepburn: All About Me

People love Katharine Hepburn, she is an icon of a century of Women. Sweet, entertaining, silly, happy, sad, uncooth, sultry, cool, aloof, enduring, abrupt and amazing, only a few words that could be used to describe her or the charachters she portrays.

For so many years she has shyed away from attention, from the public, so why now break that silence? At eighty-five years Miss Hepburn is still, a "show-off" and wants to show off her work once again. She tells us the story of her life, her family, her films, her loves and her hates. She really is an extraordinary woman, and this film proves that, again.

When you see it you feel a great deal of warmth towards this woman, and you begin to know her, although you come away with the sensation that you don't really know her at all. I for one am very interested in this lady, her life enthralls me, her films entertain me and her personality bewitches me. She is the greatest actress that has ever appeared on film. I, like many would give anything to meet this woman, and although it is unlikely that I will ever have that pleasure I am happy to say this film, put me one step nearer, it elaborates on half stories you may have heard and when she tells you something you believe her.

Turner Classic Movies, as a part of their "Summer Under the Stars" festival for the current month of August, included 12 of Katherine Hepburn's movies to be shown back to back, all day, this past August 5th.

Within the collection of features, which included classics like THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE LION IN WINTER, HOLIDAY, LITTLE WOMEN, and LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT, was this documentary shot in 1993 which presented an inside look into Katharine Hepburn the actress, personality, and overall opinionated woman who managed to become over the years America's Greatest Actress of the Twentieth Century.

Katharine Hepburn herself hosts this documentary which runs a little over an hour long and in it she accounts her early years, her beginnings as an actress (with footage from an early stage production of a college play (A Midsummer's Night Dream), her start in Hollywood and acting with such legends as John Barrymore, and her progression as a film actress, toiling throughout her box-office poison years and into her later career. A great documentary, holding trivia and tidbits about her life on and off screen, her friendships with Laura Lansing and Spencer Tracy, and her overall view of what it was to be herself in an industry that values artificiality. It's great to see her reminisce without qualms about her choices in films she did in the 1930s right after her early success with MORNING GLORY, some which she herself states were quite questionable but kept her evolving as an actress.

For anyone into her life in and out of film, this documentary should be seen in companion to either her own autobiography, "Me," or A. Scott Berg's "Kate Remembered."

Katharine Hepburn narrates her own biography. It's a TV movie of her recounting her life in the movies. It's a very straight forward telling, one movie at a time. It's a lot of movie clips and some home movies. Sometimes, she talks about the acting. She's still quite active at the time and she is sharp as a tack. She talks plenty about the business and her personal life. The business can be cut-throat. Her personal life is rarely as juicy as the tabloids would have you believe. She's not shy about much and she talks about her relationships especially Spencer Tracy, the love of her life. It's her voice. It's her words. It's her life.

This documentary gives an excellent overview of everything she did on-screen. It is a true star-actress with a great number of famous movies on her credit. I myself have a lot of pleasure looking to her movies with Spencer Tracy, but also love her playing as Ethel Thayer in "On golden Pond"

What a lovely 70 minutes of Katharine talking about her whole career from the early days all the way through 1993 when this was made! She reminisces about different movies and they show stills and sometimes a relevant clip of her amazing talent!

They need to do this type of loving career retrospective for more of the living Stars still among us!