Kate Remembered
by A. Scott Berg
by A. Scott Berg
So I finished this book a while ago and have moved on to reading Harry Potter again before summer.
But this book was wonderful and engaging. It is the memoirs of a professional biographer and his long friendship with Katherine Hepburn. He felt he couldn't do a real biography because he loved her so much, he couldn't be objective.
It is incredibly beautiful and incredibly sad as we listen to Katherine reminisce to Scott about her life, her patient, quiet, and giving love of Spencer Tracy, her ups and downs, and how Scott himself remembers the slow tragedy of her death.
She was a hell of a woman. She went swimming every morning in the lake, no matter what the temperature, even into her later years. She always insisted everyone make their beds in the morning (she scolded Michael Jackson when he told her he didn't know how), and she spoke her mind at every turn. She was blunt and harsh and told the truth as she saw it, and people loved her for it. She made many flops, and she acknowledged them openly, but she also gave some of the most brilliant performances the world has ever seen (my two favorite are Lion in Winter and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner).
This book is not a biography, so it may frustrate some people when Scott Berg starts talking about the other books he was writing at the time and not about Kate, but it is worth it to hear her story from her own mouth, and from one who loved her.
No comments:
Post a Comment