Kate

March 29, 2009 8:39 AM

"If you’re given a choice between money and sex appeal, take the money. As you get older, the money will become your sex appeal." Katharine Hepburn rarely granted interviews, and when she did, she wanted them under her terms. When she agreed to appear on the Dick Cavett Show in September 1973, they went in the studio a day early so she could get the feel of things. They ended up doing the interview right then and there, without an audience. Kate Hepburn: The Full Cavett Interview.

Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

When Hepburn passed away in 2003, the New York Times had a retrospective of her life and career.

posted by netbros (14 comments total)

Damn you Netbros! You beat me to the vague idea I had of posting this a week ago! Damn your eyes!

(P.S, I love this interview. She was always totally herself, for good or bad.)
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 AM on March 29

Wow, halfway through Part 2. How someone manages to simultaneously be so demanding and yet so classy is... impressive.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:33 AM on March 29

Bookmarked to watch later. Netbros, you might want to change your tag to correct the spelling of her first name -- Katharine -- so that pedants like me can find this post later, after searching for it!
posted by mudpuppie at 10:02 AM on March 29

Thank you so much mudpuppie. I need to do better at attention to detail. ;)
posted by netbros at 10:04 AM on March 29

For anyone in the US who prefers to watch on a television, these two shows are played on TCM occasionally. (They play about a half-dozen Cavett shows, with others including Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, and Bette Davis. I recommend them all.)
posted by pmurray63 at 11:12 AM on March 29

Consider her Katharined.
posted by cortex at 11:30 AM on March 29

"Don't worry, don't worry, I have a Card!"

If that woman walked in to my house and started moving set, I don't know a single hand or steward who could stop her.

I'd let her do whatever she wanted, IA Card or no.
posted by Faux Real at 12:27 PM on March 29

I've had a crush on Katherine Hepburn since seeing Woman of the Year many years ago. So fine. I don't think anyone else really compares. And from what I've seen of the interview she's great in it. Magnetic.

Fantastic post. Thank you.
posted by BigSky at 1:32 PM on March 29

Classy.
posted by chillmost at 1:49 PM on March 29

She has been my favorite actress since childhood, when I was mesmerized by films like The Lion in Winter and the Philadelphia Story. A really fantastic interview with a fascinating and charming woman. Thanks for posting this.
posted by Muttoneer at 2:32 PM on March 29

Awesome post. My weekend is now complete! Now, on to Netflix to put Kate in my queue!
posted by Vavuzi at 2:45 PM on March 29

If you've got Netflix, and you want to get your Hepburn fix right now, these are the films you can stream online:
Little Women (1933)
Holiday (1938)
Suddenly Last Summer (1959)
Rooster Cogburn (1975)
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986)
Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988)

Also, I love Dick Cavett. I'm too young to have seen him on TV, but when he started writing his column for the New York Times (it isn't quite a blog, though it's only online), I found him to be just wonderful. Living in New York, I sometimes feel like I can see parts of the city as it used to be peeking out from under what's here now, and he's one of those people who gives me that feeling.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:15 PM on March 29

All those Dick Cavett interviews are fucking treasures; the Robert Mitchum one is another fave. Makes me almost die of nostalgia for a time in my childhood when at least some talking heads on TV were not illiterate, bellowing wingnuts.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:53 PM on March 29

Awesome post, thanks. Almost impossible to even pause.
posted by Goofyy at 9:41 AM on March 30