Katharine Hepburn on Cary Grant: He Was A Dream

Interview with Katharine Hepburn

Conducted by James Grissom

NYC

1990

He was a dream, as all works of art are. All works of art are the physical manifestation of a desire, a hope, and you can't hope for something more beautiful and entertaining and nice than Cary Grant. 

No one moved like he did--smooth, off the ground. He was a good size, but he moved like the wind. And that laugh, that silly laugh. And impeccable manners. He was better at making me giddy than Champagne. He was a great and powerful drug--in person and on the screen.

I sat next to John Gielgud at a party once. Great actor, great gentleman. I thought he might even speak in couplets. What the hell did I know? John Gielgud wanted to talk about movie stars. Cary Grant. Bette Davis. Barbara Stanwyck. Humphrey Bogart. James Cagney. Me! I always hated that I couldn't be a great stage actress, and here was John Gielgud wishing he could breathe the same air as a Hollywood film star and learn how to move and speak and---well, enter a dream.

But he started the conversation with Cary Grant. Smart man.

© 2014 James Grissom