Katharine Hepburn: Quotes, Style, and Leopard “Nissa”

Katharine Hepburn – was American Actress who won four Best Actress Oscar and earned twelve Award nominations. Her best known works are The African Queen (1951), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) and On Golden Pond (1981). In Bringing Up Baby (1938), she acted with a big cat and she was never afraid of Baby the leopard.

Katharine Hepburn

Born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut to suffrage activist mother and a urologist father. Raised by wealthy and progressive parents, young Katharine was encouraged to speak out and debate on any topic she wished, sharpen her mind and engage with the world as fully as possible. Her parents were criticized by the community for their progressive views, which stimulated Hepburn to fight against barriers she encountered.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

Katharine Hepburn > Quotes (goodreads)

The young Hepburn was a tomboy who liked to call herself Jimmy, and cut her hair short. Thomas Hepburn, her father, was eager for his children to use their minds and bodies to the limit, and taught them to swim, run, dive, ride, wrestle, and play golf and tennis.

In 1924, while she was attending the all-women’s Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hepburn began to act. With the positive response, she decided to pursue theatrical acting career.

She got a degree in history and philosophy, but throughout the school, she was self-conscious and felt uncomfortable with her classmates. She spent next several years acting in and around New York, appearing in productions both on and off Broadway. She began screen acting career with A Bill of Divorcement in 1932.

Bringing Up Baby

Directed by Howard Hawks, this screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby was originally published as a short story in Collier’s magazine. Baby is Leopard’s name in the film.

The leopard whom Hepburn and co-star Cary Grant chase all through in the film was an eight-year-old female named Nissa.

The trainer Olga Celeste had perfume rubbed onto Miss Hepburn’s leg that would make Nissa more playful. They also put resin on the bottom of Hepburn’s shoes so that she wouldn’t slip and startle the leopard.

Nissa got on splendidly with Hepburn, but less well with other cast members. Only Hepburn enjoyed working with the big cat without fear.

Trainer Olga Celeste said of Hepburn: If Miss Hepburn should ever decide to leave the screen she could make a very good animal trainer. She has control of her nerves and, best of all, no fear of animals. (A Remarkable Woman: A Biography of Katharine Hepburn By Anne Edwards 162)

Co-star Cary Grant said: Now, Kate was never worried by Baby. She liked to pull her tail, fearless girl that she was, and Baby seemed to enjoy it. Kate didn’t pull very hard. (I Know Where I’m Going: Katharine Hepburn, A Personal Biography By Charlotte Chandler 116)

Style: Maverick On and Off Screen

On screen, she brought a new breed of strong-willed females. Hepburn’s performances fostered a “decisiveness toward a new vision of women.”

I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to, and I’ve made enough money to support myself, and ain’t afraid of being alone.

Katharine Hepburn quotes (goodreads)

Off screen, Hepburn lived in a manner ahead of her time; she thus came to symbolize the modern woman and played a part in changing attitudes towards the gender.

You can’t change the music of your soul.
—In Esquire, 1967

Katharine Hepburn quotes (goodreads)

Style: Meaning in the Pants in the early 1930’s

While her inexhaustible, aggressive energy defined her screen presence, her fashion, which no doubt was an expression of her androgynous sensibility, raised more than a few eyebrows.

If you obey all of the rules, you miss all of the fun.

Katharine Hepburn Quotes (goodreads)

In the early 1930s, women’s fashion had not yet been liberated by the practicalities of World War II, when women en masse took positions in businesses and industries while the men were at war. Women could be, and were, arrested if they wore pants in public, detained for “masquerading as men.”

Hepburn didn’t fall for the category of glamorous beauty, yet she cultivated her own. Her androgynous attraction with intelligence and strength were nothing like Hollywood ever seen before, filled with the new free ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ spirit.

Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I’ve had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh.

Katharine Hepburn Quotes (goodreads)

What she brought not just to Hollywood but to all women was a new kind of heroine who is modern and totally independent. She was beautiful, but she did not rely on that. Confident, intelligent and witty, Hepburn’s unconventional attitude and strong personality throughout her professional and personal life stand out even in the 21st century.

I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.

Katharine Hepburn Quotes (goodreads)

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.

Katharine Hepburn quotes (goodreads)

Reference

Nissa aka Baby (Saluting our Animal Actors)

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