Kate Remembered

July 1, 2003
Even those who've read many Hepburn biographies will find Berg's immersion in the actor's world engrossing, full of crisply-voiced takes on old Hollywood and intimate looks at her everyday life. As a longtime friend and ardent fan, Berg (Lindbergh; Max Perkins; etc.) does not attempt an objective biography; instead, he aims to convey Hepburn's thoughts and memories. Framed by Berg and Hepburn's 20-year friendship, the book charts the inescapable subjects of Hepburn's life, such as her romance with Spencer Tracy and her assessment of her own performances. She considered Tracy the greatest American screen actor and her last years with him (in the 1960s) the happiest of her life. Among her movies, she spoke warmly of her films with George Cukor. As to Hepburn's sexual orientation, Berg notes that in the 1930s she lived with actress Laura Harding and decades later was rumored to have exceptionally close relations with a woman, but Hepburn reported nothing. Most interesting is Berg's depiction of Hepburn's early acting days: how she moved from Broadway to Hollywood, negotiated an outsized salary, and, after becoming box-office poison, fought her way back with The Philadelphia Story. Throughout those years, she was befriended personally and professionally by her husband Ludlow Ogden Smith and by industrialist Howard Hughes. Berg is true to his subject and lets her voice come through in every quote, whether she's pooh-poohing him for thinking the 50-ish-degree water near her Connecticut house is cold ("Only for the first few seconds. And then you're numb") or explaining why she never tried to marry Spencer Tracy:"I never wanted to marry Spencer Tracy." Photos.

November 3, 2003
Berg's memoir of Katharine Hepburn was written over a number of years but held back, according to Hepburn's wishes, until her death (on June 29, 2003, at the age of 96). One of the most telling passages in Berg's love letter to the four-time Oscar-winning actress has been omitted (along with the entire two-page Author's Note) from this otherwise unabridged recording. In it, Berg clarifies, "This book is, thus, not a critical study of either Katharine Hepburn's life or her career... more than my
remembrances, this book intends to convey hers." This is Hepburn the way Hepburn wanted to be seen and few people will have qualms about that since, as she was famously quoted as saying, "I'm endlessly fascinating." Berg charts their growing friendship from 1983 onward, recounting personal stories of their interactions (as a producer on her final film, Love Affair
, he expertly skewers Warren Beatty) and retelling familiar tales of Kate lore on and off-screen. One of the funniest incidents narrator Goldwyn nimbly reenacts is a fumbling meeting between Michael Jackson and his "favorite movie star," whose films he had obviously not seen. Listeners will enjoy Goldwyn's smooth reading of Berg's tight, evocative prose. There were few lulls in Hepburn's long life and the same can be said for this audio package, which should be a holiday gift favorite. Based on the Dutton hardcover.
(Oct.)

Forecast:
This audio book may face some tough competition from Hepburn's recently reissued 1992 memoir
Me: Stories of My Life (Random Audio, abridged), which is read, with aplomb, by Hepburn herself.