Life's work becomes the prize

“Without discipline, there's no life at all.” – Katharine Hepburn

Known for her fierce independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received four Academy Awards for Best Actress — a record for any performer.   

 

On a recent visit to the National Gallery in Washington, DC, we found this display of both the 4 Oscars AND one of her favorite portraits.  So I felt compelled to snap this photo and to write a few words about this marvelous actress, who also was a bestselling author for her 1991 autobiography Me: Stories of my Life.   The book topped bestseller lists for over a year.

In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.  Also a Kennedy Center recipient and Film Institute Hall of Fame inductee, she was named in a number of books and magazine lists among the most influential women of the 20^th Century.  Hepburn died at age 96 in 2003.

In her later life, she once remarked, “For me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.”

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