Katharine Hepburn: The Untold Story

by James Robert Parish

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.

Genres: Biography

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

James Robert Parish, a former entertainment reporter, publicist, and book series editor, is the author of many published major biographies and reference books on the entertainment industry including Whitney Houston: We Will Always Love You; The Hollywood Book of Extravagance; It’s Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks; The Hollywood Book of Breakups; Fiascos: Hollywood’s Iconic Flops; The Hollywood Book of Love; Jet Li; The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Hollywood; The Hollywood Book of Death; Gus Van Sant; Whoopi Goldberg; Rosie O’Donnell’s Story; The Unofficial “Murder, She Wrote” Casebook; Today’s Black Hollywood; Let’s Talk! America’s Favorite TV Talk Show Hosts; Prison Pictures from Hollywood; Prostitution in Hollywood Films; The Great Cop Pictures; Ghosts and Angels in Hollywood Films; Pirates and Seafaring Swashbucklers on the Hollywood Screen; Gays and Lesbians in Mainstream Cinema; Hollywood’s Great Love Teams; and The Fox Girls. Mr. Parish is a frequent oncamera interviewee on cable and network TV for documentaries on the performing arts. The author resides in Studio City, California.

Reviews

[Olgalijo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This writer tries to hide the fact that he doesn't have anything new to say about his subject by bringing up her "supposed" sex life/orientation in every other line. No matter that he has basically no proof of any of his claim. On top of that, I have never read such an opinionated and judgemental author, and I have done my fair share of reading.

[Kricket · Rating 1 out of 5]

it was the thinnest of the hepburn bios at my library, but parish cannot write (he uses way too many parentheses) (where a simple comma would have sufficed) and made use of his microsoft word thesaurus (with way too many colorful adjectives) (that don't seem to mean what he thinks they mean) (and after the first two chapters i couldn't handle any more).

[Alli Kamal · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Hepburn is a fascinating individual, too much time was spent on the author’s creepy fascination with her sexuality. It seems like he made assumptions based on little to no facts just to satisfy his own thought process. Also, needs proofreading. Lack of punctuation and overuse of parenthesis were distracting features.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting bio. Never realized how tough and demanding Katharine was. Though could've dealt less w/ the innuendo on her female relationships.