The Chancellor often likes to coordinate his gifts in a “theme.” One year for Valentine’s Day, he bought me a copy of the film Bringing Up Baby and paired it with this particular short biography of Katherine Hepburn. He knows I am a huge fan of both her and Audrey Hepburn, so my DVD collection has slowly grown over the years (another year, he bought me The Philadelphia Story, which is absolutely one of my favorites). I was intrigued to learn more about one of my favorite old-time Hollywood actresses.
To be absolutely frank at the forefront: this biography is short on text and long on pictures. So, if you’re hoping for a comprehensive or at least basic biography of Ms. Hepburn, there is not much actual essay. However, there are a ton of movie stills, promo posters, and behind-the-scenes shots which add a new dimension to the filmography. And the captions for all the pictures are fascinating, because they contain commentary by Ms. Hepburn, her directors, or her costars. They augment her actual biography in an intriguing way and make her come alive, not only as an actress, but a person. And I definitely wanted to do a marathon of her movies when I was done reading.
If you are a fellow Hepburn fan, you might want to check this out. It’s got comprehensive photos from her body of work and career, and there are so many enjoyable tidbits to glean from this book. On that note, is there a Katherine Hepburn biography you’d particularly recommend?
Cross-posted to my blog.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.