De grands mercis à Emma Burbank, Museum Coordinator au musée Katharine Hepburn depuis un an, d’avoir répondu à nos questions de manière aussi complète et détaillée.
Tiphaine Martin – How, when and why did you have the idea of a museum dedicated to Katharine Hepburn?
Emma Burbank – The building was built in 1911 as the town meeting place and theater. It was used as town hall, and the theater even doubled as a basketball court ! It had a few different uses throughout the years, and then in 2009 it was rededicated as the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. There are about 300 acts on our stage each year (bands, movies, comedians, plays, and children’s shows), and the first floor lobby is dedicated to the official Katharine Hepburn Museum. Miss Hepburn’s legacy is very much alive in this town as she spent much of her life here, and it is a perfect fit for a tribute to her lasting impact.
T.M. – Where is the museum located?
E.B. – We are in Old Saybrook, Connecticut in the United States. The location matters because this was Kate’s childhood summer home as well as her haven when she got older. She wanted to be here as often as she could, where the townspeople treated her like a normal person instead of a star. It is also special because there are many people still living—including some of our docents—who remember seeing Miss Hepburn at the local deli, riding her bike, or attending the town library’s annual bake sale. The fact that so many people have memories of her outside of her movies helps us learn more about her, feel connected to her, and provide a more authentic experience to our visitors.
T.M. – Has the museum others purposes that Katharine Hepburn’s legacy?
E.B. – The museum is dedicated almost entirely to Katharine Hepburn’s legacy. While the bands, comedians, and plays that perform here are often not directly related to Katharine Hepburn, it all comes back to our mission of keeping the arts alive and thriving ; Kate’s place as a theater and film icon ties that together.
The museum has a small section on the theater’s history, and a section where we honor past recipients of the Spirit of Katharine Hepburn Award. This is an award we give to prominent people who share Kate’s independent and passionate spirit, and whose careers have overlapped with or been influenced by hers. It has gone to Cher, Laura Linney, Martina Navratilova, and Dick Cavett just to name a few. This year we will be honoring Jane Fonda, who starred with Kate in 1981’s « On Golden Pond ! »
T.M. – What is your favorite room in the museum?
E.B. – This is a tough question ! The museum is small and is all technically in one room, with 5 display cases. Each of them tells a different part of her story – her family, the summer house here in Old Saybrook that was her «paradise,» her early career, and her late career. The fifth case changes every 6 months with a new special exhibit, and this might be my favorite because it is always challenging my creativity and creating excitement for our visitors. Right now, the special exhibit features Katharine Hepburn’s own wedding dress from her 1928 marriage to Ludlow Ogden Smith. We also included two costume wedding gowns from « The Lake » (1933 Broadway play) and « The Sea of Grass » (1947 film). They are all totally different from one another and, aside from being visually stunning, offer an interesting way for us to talk about Kate’s fashion preferences, her work with costume designers, and how she approached dressing for different eras (« The Sea of Grass » is one of her many period films, and takes place in the 1880s).
T.M. – How could Katharine Hepburn be an inspiration/a modele for actors and actresses of nowadays, but also for men and women of today?
E.B. – I love talking about Kate as a young actor because she made sure that she didn’t lose herself to stardom and Hollywood. Even before she went to Hollywood, she was in a play called « Art and Mrs. Bottle ». She got fired because the male lead didn’t like her. They couldn’t find a replacement, so they called and asked her to come back ; she said, « Fine, but you have to give me more money. » And they did ! I think it’s a great example of knowing your worth and not letting others take advantage, especially for younger people.
Outside of acting, she was raised to be politically aware and outspoken. Throughout her life, she spoke up for causes she cared about, often chose roles that made a political or social statement, and recognized that as someone with privilege, she had the responsibility to speak up when others could not. I think this is a very admirable and important quality, especially in times of upheaval like we are seeing now. Her parents were consistently vocal on taboo topics (women’s suffrage, birth control, educating the public about venereal disease, and so on) and I think that had a lasting impact on how Kate interacted with the world.
T.M. – What part of Katharine Hepburn career and life do you prefer?
E.B. – I don’t think I can choose ! She reinvented herself (as an actor, at least) many times throughout her career so that she didn’t get tossed aside by an industry that values youth. As is pointed out by Simone de Beauvoir1, she did something very uncommon by portraying middle-aged and older women who were lively, romantic, and desirable. That still feels rare in films, even today.
She kept her personal life as private as she could—no autographs, no real interviews, no playing the classic Hollywood starlet. She had « Hollywood Kate » and « at-home Kate, » and they were essentially two separate people, though neither of them was necessarily « fake. » I’m glad that later on in life, she started to open up a little and trust people to let them know her better. She did an interview with Dick Cavett in 1973 in which she spoke about things she had never discussed publicly before, and I can only imagine the sort of relief that gave her. While she was always determined and ambitious and assertive, I think she was much more secure in herself as she got older. I’m very happy for her that she arrived at that place.
One of my favorite stories from her career is when she played Coco Chanel in the 1969 Broadway musical Coco. It was the only time she sang for a role. She wasn’t an exceptional singer, but she had been in the business for nearly 40 years, and she sold out the show every single night. That was when she realized that people loved her. They were there to see her. It is so touching to me that, likely due in part to how much pushback she got from Hollywood and the public early in her career, she didn’t really understand how beloved she was until then.
1 Simone de Beauvoir, Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrom, The New English Library Ltd, 1959, p. 38 :
In African Queen, neither Humphrey Bogart nor Katharine Hepburn, who are presented as aged and worn, arouses desire before-hand. Yet when Bogart puts his hand on Katharine’s shoulder for the first time, his gesture unleashes an intense erotic emotion. The spectators identify themselves with the man, or the woman, and the two characters are transfigured by the feeling that each inspires in the other.
Cf. aussi Simone de Beauvoir, Lettres à Nelson Algren, Paris, Gallimard, « Folio », 1999, p. 745, 746-747 :
[PARIS] 4 MAI [1952]
(…) Oui, j’adore African Queen11, peut-être parce que c’est un film qui montre un amour entre des gens d’âge moyen. Leur premier baiser émeut énormément, un baiser plus sexuel que sentimental, mais où, et on le sent, du sentiment émane du sexe. K. Hepburn est sensationnelle, et bien que lui aussi soit remarquable, elle méritait plus que lui de remporter l’Oscar.
« 11 De John Huston (1952), avec Humphrey Bogart et Katharine Hepburn. »
Pour citer cet article : Tiphaine Martin, Emma Burbank, « Interview d’Emma Burbank, The Katharine Hepburn Museum – Memory for the 21th Century », Voyages autour de mon cerveau, juin 2025. URL : https://vadmc.hypotheses.org/26377