Katharine Hepburn in Winter
The famed actress, in her own words, on her “post-Tracy” years.
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, though married to others throughout their lives, held a secret romance for twenty six years. As one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood history, Katharine and Spencer maintained old Hollywood grace and dignity throughout their love affair. More than two decades after Tracy’s death, Hepburn wrote in her engrossing autobiography, Me, Stories of My Life, “It was a unique feeling that I had for S.T. I would have done anything for him. My feelings — how can you describe them? — the door between us was always open. There were no reservations of any kind.”
After Spencer Tracy died on June 10, 1967, Katharine Hepburn—who had basically quit acting for six years to care for Tracy as he got sick—got back to work. In honor of the actress’s phenomenal late-career renaissance (and our streaming The Lion in Winter), we’re taking a look at a few of her best final films, and tapping into her wonderful autobiography for insight into her public thoughts on those roles.
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Spencer Tracy died in June 1967. By October of that year, Hepburn and the cast of The Lion in Winter were beginning rehearsals on this incredible historical drama. The film follows Peter…
