A Look at Katharine Hepburn’s Love Life and Why She Never Remarried—‘I Thought of Myself First’
Hepburn’s romance with Spencer Tracy and her fierce independence shaped her decision to stay single
When it comes to classic film stars, they seem to love getting married, divorced and remarried again until they eventually pass on; however, for Katharine Hepburn, that could not be further from the truth. Throughout her career, the Academy Award-winning actress was only married once and then opted to enter into a high-profile, scandalous romantic relationship with one of her costars that ended with him dead while betrothed to another woman. We have all the details on the affair and Hepburn’s love life below.
All about Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an Oscar-winning actress best known for her work in box-office hit films like Little Women (1933), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The African Queen (1951), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981).
Born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, she began working in the industry at age 25 after graduating from Bryn Mawr College, starring in both silent films and “talkies.”
Throughout her career, Hepburn starred in 53 different films and earned 12 Academy Award nominations, four Oscars, one Emmy, two Grammy nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also released a memoir in 1996 entitled Me: Stories of My Life.
Katharine Hepburn’s mixed feelings about acting
Still, despite her success, Hepburn claimed that she never really wanted to be on the silver screen.
“I drifted into acting. I think it’s a sort of idiot’s profession,” Hepburn said when she was 74. “I would’ve loved to have been a painter or a writer. Selling my deteriorating self is very humiliating work. If they don’t want you anymore, they dump you. I know g–damn well that’s true. I’ve been dumped and picked up again. I would’ve liked a more private profession.”
Hepburn died of natural causes in 2003 at the age of 96. She was survived by her nieces and nephews.
“Those of us who knew her well and loved her will miss her terribly, but through her films, generations to come will discover her humor and grace…and her soaring independence,” Hepburn’s executor Cynthia McFadden said in a statement at the time of her death.
Hepburn had no children and was never remarried.
Who was Katharine Hepburn’s husband?
In 1928, Hepburn married businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith, who came from a wealthy Philadelphia family and was considered good for the actress’ image the time of their marriage, she was 21 and he was 29, and shortly after tying the knot, Hepburn made him change his last name from Smith to Ludlow because she didn’t want to be known as Katharine “Kate” Smith.
“[I was] an absolute pig with Luddy, absolute pig,” the actress wrote in her memoir. “He was an angel. I thought of myself first, and that’s a pig, isn’t it?”
The couple divorced in 1934, citing Hepburn’s ambition and drive as the reason.
“We bought this house in ’31, and then the minute I won the Academy Award, I got rid of Luddy.” Hepburn wrote, before sharing that she tried to apologize to him before he died in 1979. “I tried to make up to him for the horror I had caused him. He was so generous-spirited that I don’t think he considered it a horror. He just considered it a kid who was wildly ambitious or something.”
Why Katharine Hepburn never remarried
Following that, Hepburn never married, claiming that she liked to be alone. However, it was also widely believed that she remained unwed so she could continue the love affair with her Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner co-star Spencer Tracy, who was a devoted catholic and refused to divorce his wife.
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy met in 1942 while filming Woman of the Year and were reportedly fascinated with each other from the get-go.
“It was a unique feeling I had for him… I would have done anything for him,” wrote Hepburn. “I can only say, I think that if he hadn’t liked me, he wouldn’t have hung around. As simple as that. He wouldn’t talk about it and I didn’t talk about it. We had just passed 27 years together in what was to be absolute bliss. It is called love.
“I could never have left him.”
The pair’s affair abruptly ended in 1967 after the actor died from a heart attack. He was 67 at the time and still married to his wife Louise Tracy, with whom he had two children.
Hepburn was with Tracy at the time of his death and reportedly told him, “Let go, Spencer. It’s over,” while in the ambulance to the hospital. She didn’t attend the funeral, though, because she didn’t want to cause a media frenzy.
After Tracy’s death, Hepburn never entered into another public relationship as she was still reeling from the death of her one true love.
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