She ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and avoided processed foods. Hepburn would eventually meet and fall in love with Spencer Tracy on the set of Woman of the Year. She introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. Treadwell took care of their son full time. Lastly, Hepburn requested that her homes in Connecticut and New York be sold and the profits given to her sister, Margaret, her brother, Robert, and the families of her deceased brothers Richard and Marion. According to the book, I Know Where Im Going: Katharine Hepburn, A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler, Hepburn and Hughes were very sweet on each other. Hepburn, who had been in declining health in recent . In actuality the star suffered from an essential tremor which is defined by Johns Hopkins Medicine as a neurological condition that causes your hands to shake rhythmically.. I can only say that I could never have left him. "He was so generous-spirited that I don't think he considered it horror. tags: change , life , self. With its close relation to some symptoms of Parkinsons disease it is important to be able to recognise the differences between the two conditions. She was dismissed from more than one play when she was starting out, but she retained supreme self-confidence. While filming Woman of the Year in 1942, she began an enduring intimate relationship with her costar, Spencer Tracy, with whom she would appear in films such as Adams Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952); both were directed by Cukor. His hand and his head shook. She began: "So this is about Katharine Hepburn, public, private. Of Tracy, with whom she had a 25-year affair, she wrote: "I would have done anything for him. In 1938 she appeared on a list of actors labeled "box-office poison" in a poll of movie exhibitors. Here a GP may refer you to a specialist for further tests or monitor the tremor themselves to make sure it does not get progressively worse. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. She nonetheless made an impressive movie debut in George Cukors A Bill of Divorcement (1932), a drama that also starred John Barrymore. Burdened by Catholic guilt over his family circumstances, he suffered regular bouts of anxiety, depression and insomnia, and tried to overcome alcoholism throughout much of his adult life. She appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received a record of four Academy Awards for Best . ", "I would have been terrified alone in New York City," she said. They were not in the bed department at all, according to Scotty Bowers, an ex-hustler and male madam to the stars of old Hollywood. Tracy, a devout Catholic, was married and refused to divorce his wife due to his religious beliefs. Beyond her reputation as a talented but feisty actor, Hepburn was one-half of a controversial celebrity love affair. When Treadwell received the call, she said to Hepburn, I thought you were only a rumor. Treadwell came to meet the coroner and the media was told Hepburn showed up hours later, after the body was gone.. She came from a wealthy and highly educated family. Also perBiography, they fell in love and made a total of nine films together. When asked what her shaking is due to, Hepburn replied by saying: Its from my grandfather who was a minister. She played the distraught, drug-addicted Mary Tyrone in the 1962 film of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night." When she was 84, she looked back at those early days and, with her trademark tough-mindedness, said: "In the beginning I had money; I wasn't a poor little thing. For years she had said she was two years younger and had given her birthday as Nov. 8. In addition, Hepburn appeared frequently on television in the 1970s and 80s. For many, the late actress Katherine Hepburn provided an indelible public image of essential tremor. The actress signed a six-page codicil, or amendment, in March 1994 (click here to view that document). Speaking openly about their relationship at last, she read a letter she had written to him, which she later included in her autobiography. In PEOPLE's . However, The Guardian notes that Hepburn had been sick for some time and was suffering from Parkinson's disease prior to her death. History reports that she died in her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, from natural causes. She chose her friend George Cukor to direct. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. 3 1 Quora User Been through it all. Tracy and Hepburn in a promotional photo for Without Love. Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born in Hartford in 1907. Hepburn, who had been in ill health for some years, passed . Katharine Hepburn spoke candidly of her "queer" feelings about outlasting her great Hollywood contemporaries in her last ever interview, published for the first time in today's Independent on Sunday. Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. The disease progresses over time which can lead to more and more disability. Miss Hepburn is survived by a brother, Dr. Robert H. Hepburn, and a sister, Margaret H. Perry, both of Canton, Conn.; four nieces; and nine nephews. Over time they may develop a shaking or quivering sound in their voice or be unable to control their head-nodding when looking in the mirror. She was 96. Cynthia McFadden, a journalist for ABC News, was given $10,000. A strict Catholic, divorce was not and would never be an option for Tracy, who remained married to his wife throughout his life. She became an outspoken proponent of liberated women's fashions and. Hepburn had been married previously to Pennsylvania businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith but had divorced in 1934. In comments that, at times, tread a thin line between and morbid reflection and black humour, she adds: "I think I've lived longer so that they have had lots of time to die! On June 29, 2003, Katharine Hepburna four-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress and one of the greatest screen legends of Hollywood's golden eradies of natural causes at the age of 96, at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. From early childhood Hepburn was continually encouraged to expand her intellectual horizons, speak nothing but the truth, and keep herself in top physical condition. Undaunted, Hepburn accepted a role written specifically for her in Philip Barrys 1938 Broadway comedy The Philadelphia Story, about a socialite whose ex-husband tries to win her back. Katharine Hepburnspent six decades of her life working in entertainment and is one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood. Her mother was a well-known and passionate suffragette (supporter of women's right to vote); her physician father was a creative pioneer in the field of sexual hygiene. Surgery is usually only given to those whose tremor is severely disability and other treatment methods have failed to work. Often away on location, she helped encourage the idea that they were not a couple and lived completely separate lives. Of course, I have an angular face, an angular body and, I suppose, an angular personality, which jabs into people.". "We bought this house in '31, and then the minute I won the Academy Award, I got rid of Luddy." She was a fair match in toughness for John Wayne in the western "Rooster Cogburn" (1975). She would apply all of these ingrained values to her acting career, which began in earnest after her graduation from Bryn Mawr College in 1928. Playing a tough, determined actress in "Stage Door" (1937), she read a line from a play "The calla lilies are in bloom again" that became the all-time favorite of Hepburn impersonators. Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907-June 29, 2003) was a celebrated American actress who won a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress in a career that spanned seven decades. She also authorized her executors, if they so choose, to pursue publication of her "manuscripts, letters or other personal papers or records." According to Britannica, "The Philadelphia Story" was critically acclaimed Jimmy Stewart picked up a best actor Oscar, and Donald Ogden Stewart won for his screenplay and it was also box office gold. Here is all you want to know, and more! Information about the death of Katharine Hepburn; Cause of death: Cardiac Arrest: Age of death: 96 years: Profession: Movie Actress: Birthday: May 12, 1907: Death date: June 29, 2003: Place of death: N/A: Place of burial: N/A: History reports that she died in her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, from natural causes. Can you tell which is which?" Katharine Hepburn, the actress whose independent life and strong-willed movie characters made her a role model for generations of women and a beloved heroine to filmgoers for more than 60. Katharine Hepburn, who was one of the most well-known and beloved actresses of all time, died at the age of 63 on May 6, 1993, after a long battle with ovarian cancer. I think I'm a success, but I had every advantage; I should have been.". Such ease together in front of the camera often had fans assuming Hepburn and Tracy were simply playing themselves. Outspoken and iconoclastic, she introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. "Dick" Hepburn . Hepburns father was a wealthy and prominent Connecticut surgeon, and her mother was a leader in the womens suffrage movement. She won the Oscars for best actress for her performances in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Whos Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). The show was a success and she subsequently purchased the story's film rights. In "Pat and Mike" (1952), she is a champion athlete, and he is her rough-hewn manager, with whom she falls in love. Dotti writes: "She would spend entire days in bed with a book, thus hoping to expel from her mind obsessive thoughts about food." By the time she was 16 years old, Hepburn weighed only 88 points . But their offscreen union would remain publicly unacknowledged throughout Tracys life as the couple maintained separate residences and never wed. It was a unique feeling I had for [Tracy], Hepburn wrote in her autobiography Me: Stories of My Life. (Hepburn had divorced her husband of six years, Ludlow Ogden Smith, in 1934.)