Katharine Hepburn was a lot of things. She won four Oscars, which is more than anyone else. She was fiercely independent and so confident that she once spat in a director’s face because she felt he had wronged her.
But even by the tough standards of Hollywood’s Golden Age, one co-star bothered her more than most. Hepburn said that the young starlet’s behavior was not just unprofessional, it was the height of “rudeness.”
‘Suddenly, Last Summer’ Set Tension
The movie was ‘Suddenly, Last Summer‘ from 1959. People remember it for its dark, gothic mood and powerful performances. But behind the scenes, the set was full of tension. Hepburn was in her 50s then, and trying to make the tricky transition into her character roles. Her co-star was the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor.
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Hepburn did not have a problem with Taylor’s talent. In fact, she said that when the cameras were rolling, Taylor was “truly brilliant.” Her problem was everything that happened before the cameras rolled: Taylor’s absence from scheduled time.
Why Being Late Was an Unforgivable Sin for Katharine Hepburn
Hepburn got really angry about her younger co-star and said, “There’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to work and not being able to. It’s the rudeness that I minded, keeping people waiting when they’re all ready to go. Not just the actors, but the crew, and the people paying the bills.“
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Hepburn was a workhorse. She took pride in being on time and being prepared. For her, Taylor’s habit of showing up late to the set was unforgivable. It confirmed something Hepburn already suspected about her colleague. Taylor “preferred being a movie star to an actress.“
Comparing Katharine Hepburn’s Fights With Other Hollywood Stars
This fight shows how Hepburn always had a combative relationship with Hollywood. She had no patience for what she saw as preening or vanity. Years earlier, she hurt Robert Mitchum’s feelings on the set of ‘Undercurrent‘. She reportedly told the rising star he had “nothing to offer” but his face. She once made Peter O’Toole call working with her “masochism.”
But the conflict with Taylor felt different. It was not about artistic ego or different acting styles. It was about respect for the craft itself. Both women got Oscar nominations for ‘Suddenly, Last Summer’, but the experience left a bad taste for Hepburn.
Maybe it makes sense that Hepburn found a similar frustration with a younger actress in the 1980s. Working with Jane Fonda on ‘On Golden Pond‘, Hepburn made sure the younger star knew her place. Fonda said she felt “intimidated” and that Hepburn was “really competitive.” After Hepburn won the Oscar for that film, she joked to Fonda, “You’ll never catch me now.”
But with Taylor, the dislike was purely about logistics. In Hepburn’s eyes, talent meant nothing if the actor was not willing to show up on time to use it.
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