The death-defying stunt that earned Katharine Hepburn a standing ovation from Hollywood’s toughest director
Katharine Hepburn scandalised Hollywood and America at large when she insisted on wearing trousers.
Back in the 1930s, this sort of brazen disregard for heteronormacy was all but illegal, and she took great pleasure in upsetting people. Mostly, though, she was just trying to be comfortable. Throughout her life, she was labelled as a firebrand for doing such wild and provocative things as turning down roles, being politically active, and being good at golf and tennis. In other words, she was often criticised for doing things that, by modern standards, wouldn’t garner much attention.
When it came to acting, though, Hepburn was indeed in a league of her own. She remains the only person – male or female – to win four competitive acting Oscars and is generally considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. She could cry on cue, fling barbed lines of poetic comedy faster than just about anyone, and, it turns out, refused throughout her whole career to use a stunt double. Forget about Tom Cruise. Hepburn was the original cinematic daredevil.
Her lifelong athleticism came in handy on several occasions. In one of the more lighthearted uses of her athletic prowess, she and former acrobat Cary Grant performed a delightfully unexpected routine in the 1938 comedy Holiday. But in 1936, she performed a stunt that was less freewheeling and considerably more dangerous.
During the filming of Mary of Scotland, a scene called for the character to run down a flight of stairs in high heels and a billowing dress that weighed seven kilos (15 pounds) and then, without stopping, vault onto the back of a waiting horse and tear away at top speed riding side saddle.
The director of the film was John Ford, a man so tyrannical and fearsome that he brought Henry Fonda to tears and mercilessly bullied John Wayne. His directorial style consisted mainly of belittling his actors and making them feel spineless and utterly without value. It seemed to work pretty well for him because he made such all-time classics as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but he wasn’t the most enjoyable guy to work with. He was feared and respected, but even he didn’t want Hepburn to do that stunt.
In what might have been a first, an actor proved themself to be tougher than Ford. When he insisted that Hepburn use a stunt double, she said, “Mary of Scotland supposedly did it, and I’m a damned good horsewoman”. An argument ensued, and, in another first, Ford lost. Determined to gain the upper hand again, he forced her to do the stunt no fewer than 11 times. She did, and received a standing ovation from the crew.
Ford wasn’t particularly happy with Hepburn’s display of defiance, especially since it showed that she was made of sterner stuff than he was. It’s not difficult to imagine that seeing her stand up to him and do that stunt in 1935 informed what he expected from his actors in later years, whether they were able to or not.
