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A Pulitzer prize-winning author's conversations with a legendary screen actress recount the extraordinary life of Katharine Hepburn.

Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg

Twenty years of intimate conversations form the heart of this remarkable memoir. For seven decades Katharine Hepburn played a leading role in the popular culture of the twentieth century, reigning as an admired actress, a beloved movie star and a treasured icon of the modern American woman. She also remained one of the most private figures of her time.

In 1983 – at the age of seventy-five, her career cresting – the four-time Academy Award winner opened her door to biographer A. Scott Berg – then thirty-three – and began a special friendship, one that endured to the end of her illustrious life.

From the start, Mr Berg felt that Miss Hepburn intended his role to be not just that of a friend but also a chronicler, a confidant who might record for posterity her thoughts and feelings. Over the next twenty years, Miss Hepburn shared countless intimate stories, often reflecting on the people and episodes of her past, occasionally on the meaning of life.

Tender Farewell

Kate Remembered is a loving tribute and a tender farewell that reveals an unusual relationship in a unique life; one lived large – and largely according to her own rules. More important, it sets down many of the stories of that life as she saw them, full of sentiments she felt should not be made public until her death. Ultimately then, this book is not only a story of the poignant final years in which Mr Berg knew her, but also a tale of a great theatrical personality and the better part of the century that was the stage for her distinguished life.

“For more than twenty years, Katherine Hepburn imparted many of the details of her life to me,” said A. Scott Berg, “Suggesting that I weave them into a book – one that would appear upon her death. Sad to say, the time has come to publish that book. But I find comfort in knowing she lived a very rich 96 years; and I have tried my best to honour her wish of making the book as true to her spirit as possible – as inspiring, as loving, and as fun.”

Ian Chapman, CEO and Managing Director of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, commented, "Who in the world is not a little sad today following the news of Katharine Hepburn’s death? To be publishing this book is truly an honour.

Admired

I am especially excited about the publication of Kate Remembered because it brings together two people I have admired for years: Katharine Hepburn and Scott Berg. I can’t think of better hands in which to place Miss Hepburn’s unique life story than those of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Scott Berg, her longtime friend. Candid, lively and moving – this biographical memoir is a farewell worthy of its subject, one of the few genuine legends in modern times."

This book is not a critical study of either Miss Hepburn’s life or her career. It is, rather, as honest an account of her life as has ever been presented, based on countless hours of private conversations during which she reminisced. Even more than recalling events, Miss Hepburn often used her time with Mr Berg to reflect, an exercise that she apparently did not indulge in with anybody else. So, more than Mr Berg’s remembrances, the book conveys Miss Hepburn’s.

In addition to recording untold biographical details about Miss Hepburn’s entire phenomenal career and her famous relationships with such men as Spencer Tracy and Howard Hughes, the book also tells the amusing, often emotional story of one of the most touching friendships in her final years.

Mr Berg provides his own memories of Miss Hepburn’s final years off-stage – in her townhouse in New York City, swimming in the Long Island Sound and during weekend visits with family members, dear friends and such guests as Michael Jackson and Warren Beatty.

Final Years

Finally, Kate Remembered discusses the legendary actress’s moving final years all the while remaining true to her courageous character. This is a book about love and friendship, family and friends, Hollywood and Broadway – all punctuated by unforgettable lessons from an extraordinary life.

A Scott Berg is the author of Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, Goldwyn: A Biography and Lindberg, for which he received the National Book Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize, respectively. He lives in Los Angeles.

Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg is available now - as a book and as an audio 'talking book' release read by Tony Goldwyn, from Simon & Schuster UK.

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