Thursday, June 1, 2023

TCM Star of the Month June 2023: Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn (r.) with Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter (June 15, 10:00 PM)

We've reached the start of a new month, and that means that it's time for a new Star of the Month on TCM. This time out, that star is Katharine Hepburn, who was last Star of the Month in conjunction with her 100th birthday in May 2007. That time was a bit different since John Wayne was also born in May 2007; both stars got seven straight days of their movies at different points of the month. This time there's more traditional scheduling, with a night of Hepburn's films every Thursday in prime time. That having said, we get surprisingly few of Hepburn's movies as the nights don't really continue into Friday mornings.

The Lion in Winter, pictured above, earned Hepburn her third Oscar, and all four of her Oscar-winning performances will air in prime time on June 15, although not in order. June 29 is a night of some of her films with Spencer Tracy on June 29, although it's only five of the nine. Woman on the Year will also be airing outside of this, at 3:00 AM on June 9, in addition to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner being used for Hepburn's Oscars night rather than Hepburn with Spencer Tracy.

Doing a search of the blog revealed that I've got only two other photos of Katharine Hepburn that I've used to illustrate posts before, which surprises me a bit, although my posting of images has really tailed off in the past few years. One of the is with Fred MacMurray in Alice Adams, which comes on at 5:00 AM on June 9, or immediately after Woman of the Year. And, wouldn't you know it, but the other of the photos comes from The Philadelphia Story, which just so happens to bookend Woman of the Year, getting an airing at 12:45 AM on June 9. (Note that this will still be late in the evening of June 8 in time zones west of mine.)

Among the Hepburn films not airing are two with Spencer Tracy: State of the Union, which is not that surprising because director Frank Capra regained the rights to it, which eventually wound up with Universal. The other one is more surpising, Sea of Grass, since as far as I know that one wound up in the Turner Library. Also apparently not on the schedule is Rooster Cogburn, Hepburn's pairing with John Wayne.

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