NYPL to Present Katharine Hepburn Exhibit, Film Series

The New York Public Library will present the exhibition, Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files at the New York Public Library for the performing arts, June 10-October 10. Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg are the curators.

The personal theatrical papers, which were acquired by the library in 2007, will be on view for the first time in this exhibition, which will include typescripts (some annotated in Hepburn’s hand), hundreds of photographs, scrapbooks, promotional ephemera, and 60 years of correspondence, including from such notable friends and admirers such as Judy Garland, Richard Burton, John Ford, Vivien Leigh, Peter O’Toole, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and Jeremy Irons.

The exhibition portrays Hepburn’s stage career in four chronological sections: the early years when she had small roles in productions outside of New York, but missed opportunities on Broadway; her return to Broadway with the Theatre Guild after her success in film; her commitment to Shakespeare and the classics; and the later years when she accepted three major theater roles — the musical Coco (1969), A Matter of Gravity (1976), and The West Side Waltz (1981).

In conjunction with this exhibition, a free series of Hepburn films based on stage plays will be screened on Saturday afternoons in July and August at the Library, including The Philadelphia Story (July 11), Morning Glory (July 18), Holiday (July 25), State of the Union (August 1), Summertime (August 8), Suddenly, Last Summer (August 15), The Trojan Women (August 22), and A Delicate Balance (August 29).

Admission is free. For more information, call 212.870.1630 or visit www.nypl.org/lpa.