“The greatest gift ever given to me was the family in which I was raised. All of us were encouraged to think and to cherish what we loved, whom we loved. Whenever doubt came to me, I knew I could defend myself; I could will myself into action.
“My parents felt that we should all be educated, and then we were on our own. I got no support once I announced my desire to be an actress. My family asked if I was happy, and that was that. When I wanted private acting classes, I simply couldn’t afford them, so I asked my father for the money. There was a very long silence. God, was he a stoic. A mountain–hard and silent. But he got me the money. I think it was ten dollars, a lot of money in those days. He told me it was money he got from gambling–on golf and cards–so it was ‘dirty money’ applied to a ‘dirty business.’
“He recognized that I was a fool with money, so when I got paid, he told me to take what I needed for rent and food, and to send the rest to him. He invested it. I am here today, solid, because of him. If I needed a dining table, I would have to ask him for MY money, and he would quiz me on the make and model of the damned table! But it’s that table right over there. Good stuff lasts forever, you see.”
“He kept me honest and tight. I think I still am.”–Katharine Hepburn/Interview with James Grissom/1990.
Photograph by Lucha Nelson, 1933.