News coverage

[Shaun]

Did anyone see news coverage concerning Kate's death in 2003? Unfortunately for me I knew nothing about her at the time and saw nor heard a thing. Since then I've become a little more observant and saw minute by minute coverage on CNN when Marlon Brando died. There was a special on about Bob Hope when he died. They spoke to friends and relatives of the stars and I was just wondering if the same treatment was given to the legendary Kate.

[Cate]

I remember reading about her death but I don't remember a lot of specials on TV unless they were on TCM or something. I also remember thinking I didn't know she was still alive...... heh.

[Richard]

I think this is the best anyone can find that's still on the net. It's from channel 4, but still coverage.

alltheweb.com/search?cat=vid&cs=utf8&q=Katharine+Hepburn&rys=0&itag=crv

NOTE: Just copy and paste the entire link into a new broswer, because only partial is activated as a hyperlink.

[smith]

2 must see programs that were screened at the time of Katharine's death were the interview with Kathy Houghton and the panel discussion which involved Susie Tracy and other guests .

[Judy]

Richard: Thanks for posting this link. I had not seen these particular reports before, and you're right - they are very nice. Thanks again! Judy

[Cate]

Thanks, Richard Surprisingly I was able to watch them on my really slow computer!

[Richard]

No problem. And if anyone has yet to see her documentary "All About Me", it's going to air on TCM August 5th. I haven't seen it, so I'm pretty excited.

[Richard]

I was bored last night and ran across some news coverage about her death that maybe some of you haven't seen before.

There are two on this website I believe.
www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1340793&nav=3YeXGdda

This one is in spanish and really bad quality. For a brief moment within the clip I saw her at, I believe, the Academy Awards. Does anybody have actual footage from that? It's killing me because I really want to see it.
lcn.canoe.com/artsetspectacles/cinema/archives/media/2003/06/20030629-182046.ram

This is a short one. It is not about her death, but rather her recovery from a urinary tract.
www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=407868&nav=0RdVIUCE

This one is with Scott Berg remembering Kate.
www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1366770&nav=0RdaI12H

Another one reporting about her death.
www.rte.ie/arts/2003/0630/hepburnk.html

This one isn't really Kate coverage but it involves Kate Mulgrew.
www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=643666&nav=3YeX2ScG

And this one is in spanish again.
www.tvazteca.com/hechos/archivos/2003/6/78971.shtml

Did I ever tell you guys I became a fan of Kate's after her death? That's the part that I hate. I missed a lot of very interesting coverage and I'm so desperate now that I have to scrounge around the web just to find very few clips, I thought I'd find more. I remember, vaguely, the day she passed away. I was sitting at my computer when my father told me that Katharine Hepburn died. I sat there with a blank look on my face because I didn't know who the hell she was. It's amazing how much has changed. I went from knowing nothing to reading four books about her and watching more than half of her films. I sort of idolize her now. I can't remember if Larry King did a special on her. He usually does that stuff, I think. I would've really love to have seen that. I would've also really love to have seen the modern celebrities saying wonderful things about her, even just random people off the streets. I love that sort of stuff.

It's better late than never.

[Cate]

Does anyone else find it depressing to watch video footage covering her death? I still watch them because I might get some shred of information that I haven't heard before (being the obsessive fan that I am).

Richard: I also didn't become a fan until after she died. . . After sitting and thinking about whether or not I heard about her death, I realized I was at work when someone brought it up and I remembered thinking it was sad because I remembered her from my childhood but I also didn't know she was still alive... Speaking of the days before fanhood, I remember going to Bryant Park and seeing The Philadelphia Story on that huge screen (during that thing they have every summer where they show old movies) but not really paying any attention because we were walking and talking. But I remember seeing Katharine Hepburn and saying "Hey that's the woman from Bringing Up Baby! I love her.." lol Yeah... then we went on our merry way. It's moments like that that I remember and I wish I had been a Kate fan.

[smith]

Yes I get sad but she didn't have a great quality of life in her final years and I don't think she would have wished to linger on . I am reading between the lines here but I suspect one of Katharine's fears might have been becoming dependent on other people in her old age . She had lived a wonderful life and it was time .

[Cate]

I'm not saying I think she should have lived to 120... Whether or not she had a poor quality of life doesn't make it any less sad that she is officially gone. She lived to 96. That in itself is a feat and is symbolically Katharine Hepburn.

[Richard]

I didn't mean to make anybody sad by posting those clips. I'd just thought some of you might be interested in seeing them.

But what's more sad is to have her pass away right under my nose, without any knowledge of knowing who she was. Sometimes when I like an actress from the early Hollywood eras, if they're still alive of course, I would ask myself what they're doing today. I could've done that with Kate but I became a fan too late.

To be living in a generation when an actress from her time is still alive is really something we should all be thankful for. I'm happy Lauren Bacall is alive and well. Like Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor. Kirk Dougles and Joan Fontaine.

[Judy]

I know what you mean, Catherine....I get enormously sad, still, when I think of her later life - especially of, say, the last 6 or 7 years when her health declined. So hard to think of her in poor health.

That's why I rarely go back to read the last part of the Berg book. I can't take it. I cry all over again....

But I also agree with Kerrie that her life was a triumph and we must be happy to have lived in the same time and been able to enjoy her....Well, I guess like you and Richard fall into a different category. But, really, when you think of it - is there ANYTHING that testifies to her greatness more than the two of you who really didn't notice her before 2003 other than in the most passing of ways - and then (just as she described to Berg her reaction to ST just got hit upside the head by her.

What was it that drew you to her after you heard that she had died? I'm curious.

[Richard]

I don't think anything caught my attention around the time of her death. I'll that I can remember were people gathered around her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and them saying things about her.

It was really a movie - Bringing Up Baby - that caught my attention. That one film, among many, can make anyone fall for her.

[Shaun]

I'm afraid that I'm in the same boat as Richard; I had no idea who she was when she died. I first caught wind of her death in a TV Guide article that spoke of how great she was. I thought "wow, she must have been pretty good for them to shower her with so many praises." So one day I sat down to watch one of her movies that was mentioned in the article-On Golden Pond. I was amazed by this woman, and the rest was history. I guess I have TV Guide to thank for my Kate obsession!