Post by JS on Mar 31, 2005 12:48:01 GMT -5
For Katharine Hepburn to have won the Academy Award four times - all in the leading actress category - is, I think, pretty much accepted as a genuine recognition of her great contribution to the movies.
But people always say "Katharine Hepburn, four-time Oscar winner" and leave it at that, as though that were the only remarkable thing about it - that she won four of 'em.
Yet the thing that I always found remarkable was not only the amount of awards but also the context in which they were won.
Many a deserving actor has won more than one. But to me, the most amazing thing about these awards - and the true test of their meaning and HERS in the industry - is that between the first and the second lay a lifetime - 35 years! I find that astonishing.
Now, it has been argued that the second one wasn't really warranted and came as a sort of love letter to the team of Tracy and Hepburn. I've always agreed that it was a generous gesture on the part of the Academy to two pillars of the movies, but have always disagreed with the assessment that Hepburn's performance wasn't worthy on its own - because I think what she did in that film - the grace and simplicity of it - was deceiving.
(The crime here was that the Academy did not see fit to give Tracy his thoroughly deserved third Oscar that night.)
However, even if one were to concede that the second Oscar was a kiss from the Academy, usually those kisses come the year after an actor has given a great performance that people feel was overlooked. So they win it the following year as a sort of consolation prize. I guess one could say that this was Hepburn's consolation prize for not having won for LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. Except that JOURNEY was five years before - a lifetime in the movie business.
But still, logic would dictate that after her win for GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, that would have been the end of the story.
But Katharine Hepburn was nothing if not unpredictable. If her life and career had been predictable, she would have made THE LION IN WINTER before DINNER, lost and then been consoled with an award for the inferior DINNER.
But that's not what happened. She wins for DINNER and THEN makes THE LION IN WINTER, with a performance so powerful that the Academy simply cannot ingore it. So even though she just won the prize for the lesser DINNER, they give it to her AGAIN, this time tied with another performance that was impossible to ignore, that of Streisand in FUNNY GIRL.
Okay, so now the Academy has paid a very gracious tribute to this great star of the Golden Age. She now has three (two won back to back). Bravo Kate. We love you but it's probably the last time your name will ever be called on this stage.
Fast forward TWELVE YEARS(!). The laws of nature being what they are, Kate Hepburn SHOULD have been playing "featured" roles as the grandmother or crazy next-door neighbor or, worse, the crazy next-door-hatchet-m urdering neighbor.
But wait! There she is, on screen with loons and cabins in the woods and a great, great co-star. It's called the magic of the movies. And once again she is the heart of a picture....and its backbone.
And the Oscar goes to: Katharine Hepburn for ON GOLDEN POND.
It is now almost 50 years since the Oscar went to: Katharine Hepburn for MORNING GLORY.
THIS - to me - is the most astounding realization about the statement: "Katharine Hepburn, four-time Oscar winner."
JS
But people always say "Katharine Hepburn, four-time Oscar winner" and leave it at that, as though that were the only remarkable thing about it - that she won four of 'em.
Yet the thing that I always found remarkable was not only the amount of awards but also the context in which they were won.
Many a deserving actor has won more than one. But to me, the most amazing thing about these awards - and the true test of their meaning and HERS in the industry - is that between the first and the second lay a lifetime - 35 years! I find that astonishing.
Now, it has been argued that the second one wasn't really warranted and came as a sort of love letter to the team of Tracy and Hepburn. I've always agreed that it was a generous gesture on the part of the Academy to two pillars of the movies, but have always disagreed with the assessment that Hepburn's performance wasn't worthy on its own - because I think what she did in that film - the grace and simplicity of it - was deceiving.
(The crime here was that the Academy did not see fit to give Tracy his thoroughly deserved third Oscar that night.)
However, even if one were to concede that the second Oscar was a kiss from the Academy, usually those kisses come the year after an actor has given a great performance that people feel was overlooked. So they win it the following year as a sort of consolation prize. I guess one could say that this was Hepburn's consolation prize for not having won for LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. Except that JOURNEY was five years before - a lifetime in the movie business.
But still, logic would dictate that after her win for GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, that would have been the end of the story.
But Katharine Hepburn was nothing if not unpredictable. If her life and career had been predictable, she would have made THE LION IN WINTER before DINNER, lost and then been consoled with an award for the inferior DINNER.
But that's not what happened. She wins for DINNER and THEN makes THE LION IN WINTER, with a performance so powerful that the Academy simply cannot ingore it. So even though she just won the prize for the lesser DINNER, they give it to her AGAIN, this time tied with another performance that was impossible to ignore, that of Streisand in FUNNY GIRL.
Okay, so now the Academy has paid a very gracious tribute to this great star of the Golden Age. She now has three (two won back to back). Bravo Kate. We love you but it's probably the last time your name will ever be called on this stage.
Fast forward TWELVE YEARS(!). The laws of nature being what they are, Kate Hepburn SHOULD have been playing "featured" roles as the grandmother or crazy next-door neighbor or, worse, the crazy next-door-hatchet-m urdering neighbor.
But wait! There she is, on screen with loons and cabins in the woods and a great, great co-star. It's called the magic of the movies. And once again she is the heart of a picture....and its backbone.
And the Oscar goes to: Katharine Hepburn for ON GOLDEN POND.
It is now almost 50 years since the Oscar went to: Katharine Hepburn for MORNING GLORY.
THIS - to me - is the most astounding realization about the statement: "Katharine Hepburn, four-time Oscar winner."
JS