June 29, 2003.
The news I have been dreading has arrived.
Katherine Hepburn has died at the age of 96.

I have loved Katherine for a number of years now. I picked up a biography on her and was hooked. One led to another until I admit I was a bit obsessed. It wasn't really her acting that drew me in; it was her strength as a person. I admit to not having seen all (or even most) of her films (although today I will go pick some up and have a memorial to her myself), for again, my admiration was more for the REAL woman than for the one on the screen.

Katherine Hepburn took chances. One of those chances was the film Sylvia Scarlet:
Director George Cukor and star Katharine Hepburn were years ahead of their time when they brought the cross-dressing comedy-romance Sylvia Scarlett to the screen in 1935. Though they would pay for their forward thinking at the box office, the film would later be hailed as a decidedly advanced treatment of sexual politics and one of the biggest cult favorites of Hollywood's golden years.

Katherine was the first woman who wore pants and did NOT act lady-like in the roles she played, as she brought pieces of herself into the characters she played.

She was tough as nails, and although never publicly acknowledged; she was a feminist and perhaps the first on film.

As she once said: Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only what you are expecting to give — which is everything. What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving.

I will go on loving you Katharine.