It was night. I had had a bath and a swim and I was in bed. And I was thinking, You have now discovered the truth about yourself. Your parents gave you a great start. You were planted in good soil—fed—watered—carefully nurtured. And you were sent out into the world. And you were lucky. And apparently you have been successful. But have you accomplished all that you could have—given your beginning? No, you have been careless. You did not get to the essence of things.
—Katharine Hepburn, Me: Stories of My Life
I have a lot of respect for this lady. When she wrote this book she was under no delusions about the reasons for her success. Her upbringing was truly idyllic and her parents gave her both good genes and good sense. Her first husband was completely devoted to her and her career, asking nothing in return (and indeed she gave very little), and she had a lot of help on her way to stardom. Hepburn looks back with horror at how self-absorbed and single-minded she was in her younger days, which should be a lesson to today's driven young performing artists. Not for a minute does she take credit for her success, which is refreshing compared to today's popular belief that if you just work hard your dreams will come true. In the book she shows proper appreciation for all the people, including servants, who supported her and made her life what it was. She does describe the major turning points in her life and career, but mostly this book is about other people, which makes the title somewhat (and perhaps intentionally) ironic.
The quote above is just about the only mention of dissatisfaction with her life in the book. She was naturally a happy person and not prone to regrets. After reading about her remarkable upbringing I did begin to wonder that she only became a movie star and not, say, President of the United States. She really had that much going for her, but all she wanted was to be a star and live the posh life, so that is what she did, and was happy doing so. She may not have done as much with her life as she could have, but she was honest with herself, and that counts for a lot with me.
