Why Katharine Hepburn never personally accepted any of her Oscars: “Prizes are nothing”
The art of filmmaking should never be about the trophies. It’s probably nice that a movie be awarded for its outstanding contribution to the history of cinema, but it’s always about doing something that you want to express rather than trying to compete with the rest of Hollywood. Although many directors are happy to make something that will please an algorithm or become the next answer to the MCU, an actor like Katharine Hepburn was always about the craft when it came to the Oscars.
From the glory days of the motion picture, Hepburn was one of the few people who could have claimed to be there from the beginning. While there have been actors who have made their art out of striking performances onscreen, Hepburn’s approach was always muted when it needed to be and extravagant if the scene called for it.
The Oscars may have just been starting out when Hepburn made her film debut but Morning Glory was the first time she was acknowledged for her talent. Looking at her outstanding performance, The Academy awarded her for ‘Best Actress‘ just before her career was about to take a massive hit.
While Morning Glory was just one of the three different movies she starred in that year alone, the rest of the 1930s would not bode well for her, with some outlets calling her being cast in a movie as the kiss of death. Time is always kind to those who wait, and once Hepburn adapted The Philadelphia Story from the theatre show of the same name, fans went through the roof again.
Although she wasn’t given the Oscar, it put her back in good graces with the public in her next run of films. Throughout the 1960s, Hepburn picked up Oscars for Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner and The Lion in Winter before waiting a few more decades to get showered with praise again for 1981’s On Golden Pond.
So, how many ceremonies did she receive her award for? Absolutely none of them. Even though many actors dreamed of having those precious few minutes onstage before a bunch of hapless musicians played them off, Hepburn didn’t really see the point of having to endure that kind of extravagance.
As she remarked time and time again, Hepburn was willing to leave the extravagant side of herself on the screen instead of in reality, claiming, “As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work”. A comment like this might read as overwhelmingly pretentious for any other actor, but it’s 100% sincere coming out of someone like Hepburn.
From day one, she never claimed to be in it for anything other than the love of making movies. Her craft always involved getting to know her character on an intimate level, and if she saw the dailies of her films and felt that she gave it her all, that was more than enough for her to be satisfied.
The same could be said of actors of today like Daniel-Day Lewis, usually walking away from Hollywood the minute they get off the set. Winning might be enticing for many actors, but for the seasoned veterans, the applause at the end of the show is really all they need.
