The early life of Legendary Actress “Katharine Hepburn”

 

The early life of Legendary Actress

 “Katharine Hepburn”

 

 

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of six children. Her parents were Thomas Norval Hepburn, a urologist at Hartford Hospital, and Katherine Martha Houghton Hepburn, a feminist campaigner. Both parents fought for social change in America: Thomas Hepburn helped to found the New England Social Hygiene Association, which educated the public about venereal disease, while the elder Catherine led the Connecticut Women's Suffrage Association and later campaigned for birth control with Margaret Sanger. As a child, Hepburn attended many "Votes for Women" demonstrations with her mother. They raised their children to exercise freedom of speech and were encouraged to think and discuss any subject they wished. Society criticized her parents for their progressive views, which motivated Hepburn to fight against the odds she faced. Hepburn said she knew from an early age that she was the product of "two remarkable parents" and that her success was based on a "very fortunate" upbringing. Throughout her life, Hepburn was very close to her family.

Young Hepburn was a tomboy who liked to call herself Jimmy and cut her hair short. Thomas Hepburn was concerned that his children use their minds and bodies to their limits, teaching them to swim, run, dive, ride, wrestle, and play golf and tennis. Golf became Hepburn's passion; She took daily lessons and reached the semifinals of the Connecticut Junior Girls Golf Championship. She loved swimming in Long Island Sound and took ice-cold showers every morning, believing that "the medicine is bitter, it's good for you." Hepburn was a fan of movies from an early age and would go to the movies every Saturday night. For 50 cents a ticket, she would perform plays and plays with his friends and siblings to raise money for the Navajo people.

In March 1921, 13-year-old Hepburn and her 15-year-old brother Tom were visiting New York, staying with their mother's friend in Greenwich Village during the Easter holidays. On March 30, Hepburn found the body of her beloved older brother, who had committed suicide. The Hepburn family denied it was suicide, saying Tom's death must have been an experiment. The incident left the teenage Hepburn nervous, moody, and suspicious of people. She withdrew from other children, dropped out of Oxford School, and was tutored privately. For years she used Tom's birthday, November 8 as her own. Hepburn did not reveal her true date of birth until her 1991 autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life.

 

In 1924, Hepburn got admission to Bryn Mawr College and continue her studies. She initially agreed to join the institution to appease her mother, who studied there but eventually found the experience fulfilling. When she went to school for the first time in years, she was self-conscious and uncomfortable with her classmates. She struggled with the university's academic demands and was once suspended for smoking in her room. Hepburn was interested in acting, but roles in college plays were conditional on good grades. As her grades improved, she continued acting. During her senior year, she starred in a production of The Woman in the Moon, and the positive response to it confirmed Hepburn's plans to pursue a theatrical career. She graduated in June 1928 with a degree in history and philosophy.

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