Cynthia McFadden

[karina]

Hi Catherine,

This is actually in answer to your earlier question elsewhere on the board, but it's maybe time to start a new thread...

Cynthia was introduced to Katharine by a roomate from Bowdoin College where she (CF) was studying law. It was in the mid-70s and Cynthia was around 18 at the time. I'm sure I read more about their first meeting somewhere, and about Cynthia saying that Kate took her on "as a project", but I can't remember all the details. Anyway, they became good friends and Cynthia named her son Spencer in memory of Tracy.

[Cate]

That's sweet... I haven't heard much about her except that she was her executor and a close friend. Thanks for the info

[Shaun]

I remember reading in the Berg book that Kate didn't agree with Cynthia's marriage to...that guy who's name I can't remember. Was she against it because she saw CF making the same mistake she (Kate) did in the 20s with Luddy, or was she jealous because Cynthia would be spending more time with her husband than with Kate. Berg made it seem more like the latter.

[gypsygem81]

shaun said:

I remember reading in the Berg book that Kate didn't agree with Cynthia's marriage to...that guy who's name I can't remember. Was she against it because she saw CF making the same mistake she (Kate) did in the 20s with Luddy, or was she jealous because Cynthia would be spending more time with her husband than with Kate. Berg made it seem more like the latter.

That's funny, because when I read that bit, I thought it sounded like Berg thought it was the former - that the marriage reminded her of her own marriage to Luddy. As I recall, he said she seemed to be getting more angry the more she spoke about it and she then muttered 'pig', which I though was referring to herself.

Love Gem

[Shaun]

Oh, you're right. I remember reading that now...it's been a while since I last read the Berg book.

[smith]

I think Katharine was a bit sad that Cynthia was getting married but I think he was saying that Katharine didn't believe that Cynthia's marriage would last . Also Katharine didn't really believe in marriage anyway - I think Berg commented that she wondered why it was important that Cynthia would get married - I think also you have to read between the lines here - Berg knew more than he was letting on . Cynthia now has a son - I think she called him Spencer but neither of her marriages lasted . Katharine apparently was really happy about that she got to meet Cynthia's son

[Cate]

Please tell what the lines in between are. I think it was both. She wouldn't have this dear friend around as much and... she didn't think the marriage would last.

[isis]

I found this article about relation between Cynthia Mcfadden and kate in the Philadelphia Inquirer By Gail Shister

August 30, 2006


Newswoman remembers years under Hepburn's wing

ABC's Cynthia McFadden does a great Katharine Hepburn impression.

'I try not to do it, but sometimes it's irresistible... ,' McFadden says, sounding a lot like the great lady herself. 'She thought it was just horrible when I would slip into it.'

Hepburn's friend and surrogate daughter for more than 30 years, McFadden will serve as mistress of ceremonies Sept. 9 at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts gala for the new Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center at Bryn Mawr College. (Whew.)

McFadden, 50, coanchor of Nightline and Primetime and ABC's senior legal correspondent, met the legendary actress on the beach in Fenwick, Conn., while visiting her Bowdoin College freshman roommate. Hepburn lived one house away, by the water.

At the time, McFadden was about 19, Hepburn in her late 60s. McFadden was rigging a sailboat with her roomie's brother when the actress came upon them.

'We started a conversation that went on for the next 30 years,' McFadden says. 'Why she fascinated me was easy to understand. What she possibly saw in this kid on the beach was a mystery to me.'

McFadden's theory is that Hepburn, who was childless, 'was at a point in her life where she wanted to tell somebody the way she thought a good life should be lived. I was in the right place at the right time.'

Over the years, the two women bonded. Hepburn took McFadden on trips to California and Florida, among other places. McFadden brought Hepburn home to Auburn, Maine, for Christmas.

McFadden was married at Hepburn's Connecticut summer home. (Hepburn helped with the tab.) She named her own son Spencer, after Hepburn's longtime paramour, Spencer Tracy.

McFadden was in the room when Hepburn died in June '03 at 96. Three years earlier, Hepburn had named McFadden, a lawyer, executor of her estate.

'I always joke that I thought she liked me. Now I'm not so sure,' McFadden says. 'Being executor is a lot of work.'

Given Hepburn's vast collection of paintings, furniture, theater and movie memorabilia and personal correspondence, the settlement 'is a work in progress,' McFadden says. 'It won't be over for years.'

For McFadden, traveling in 'Aunt Kat's' charmed inner circle 'was like a junior Olympics for life.'

The notoriously prickly thespian 'was tough, a real taskmaster. She was very critical, but very supportive. Something about that appealed to me. She was a wonderful inspiration.'

Hepburn 'was without fear. She was a woman who had a sense of what was right and wrong, and tried to live by that code. She didn't put her finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing.'

An extremely private person, Hepburn 'always talked about 'putting on the creature,' the public version of herself,' McFadden remembers.

'All that fierce independence was real.'

When Cate Blanchett was up for an Oscar for her portrayal of Hepburn in 2004's The Aviator, McFadden gave her the pair of gloves Hepburn had given her at her wedding.

Blanchett put the gloves in her purse for good luck at the ceremonies. She won.

Couric debut tonight. In with the new, out with the old.

She doesn't start officially until Tuesday, but new CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric will pop up tonight on Bob Schieffer's last broadcast as 'interim' anchor.

Couric will appear in the last segment on the as-yet unseen spiffy new newsroom and will do a tribute piece on Schieffer.

Will Schieffer pass a baton to his successor? 'I don't have a baton,' he says, 'but I'm sure we'll exchange pleasantries.'

Mea culpa. Contrary to what was reported in this space Tuesday, the live town meeting after Ted Koppel's Discovery Channel special, The Price of Security, at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 10, will take place at the network's headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

[Cate]

Thanks Aurelie It's hard not to be envious of Cynthia McFadden. Or anyone who was close to Kate.

[isis]

I think everyone in this forum would have liked to be this young girl in the beach of Fenwick !!!! .... and go on trips in holidays with KATE ... some people are really lucky !!!

[lionessinwinter]

Wow tbat was a great article that I had not read though I have read the Berg bio. I sincerely doubt that Cynthia would ever write a book due to the conflict of interest at least in a personal way of being the executor of her estate and respecting her privacy and that by writing a book she would violate that privacy. But nonetheless it would be interesting if she ever did.

[courtneymarie]

Just wondering...I know that it's very...very highly unlikely that the rumor that Cynthia is Kate and Spence's "love child" is true...I wish it was lol ...but how many of you actually thought it could have been true...even if it was a fleeting moment?...

Here are two picture's of Cynthia that I really see the resemblance especially in the cheekbones...of the three of them


...or am I slowly going crazy in Kate/Spence mania? ;D

[babytheleopard]

Jul 2, 2009 21:41:27 GMT -5 courtneymarie said:

Just wondering...I know that it's very...very highly unlikely that the rumor that Cynthia is Kate and Spence's "love child" is true...I wish it was lol ...but how many of you actually thought it could have been true...even if it was a fleeting moment?...

Here are two picture's of Cynthia that I really see the resemblance especially in the cheekbones...of the three of them


...or am I slowly going crazy in Kate/Spence mania? ;D

Haha I can see somewhat of a resemblance in the cheekbones! But, I HIGHLY doubt she is theirs

Haha no you are not crazy...sometimes I still wonder about Kathy...

I think we all just wish they got married and had babies and lived happily ever after. *Sigh* Oh well....

Also, I just looked up Cynthia's birthplace. She was born in Lewiston, Maine. I go to the University of Maine which is not too far from there, and I must say that these parts of Maine are very rural and I do not see that being true

[dreamer]

Wasn't it a rumor started by Kate and Cynthia - just to see how far it got - hmm

It isn't difficult to imagine the two of them laughing and having fun at the stupidity of the gossip journalists.