Katharine Hepburn + Spencer Tracy: All of Hollywood kept quiet for their love

She was on fire from the start, while he was initially more of a low flame. Katharine Hepburn, †96, always had great feelings for Spencer Tracy, †67, but the love between them remained a secret – so much so that after his death no one believed in it. GALA looks back at a love story that all of Hollywood kept quiet about.

Katharine Hepburn and the great meeting with Spencer Tracy

Katharine Hepburn was already an established and successful actress when she met Spencer Tracy. She became a fan favorite in the film “The Night Before the Wedding” (1940). Two years later she was in front of the camera with the great Spencer Tracy. In “The Woman People Are Talking About” she played a very typical role for her: the independent and strong woman.

At first, Spencer Tracy wasn’t a huge fan of her. He is said to have said: “How can I work with a woman who has dirt under her fingernails, whose sexual preferences are ambiguous and who only ever wears trousers?” He was probably referring to the image of women at the time that Hepburn changed. She was a strong, courageous and self-confident woman who took her space and did what felt good to her. But the actress eventually wrapped her colleague around her finger. They began a relationship even though he was married, had two children and was struggling with an alcohol problem. This didn’t seem to be a problem for the young woman. She was completely infatuated with him.

They have kept this secret for 26 years

“I have no idea what Spencer felt for me,” the actress writes in her memoirs. Looking back, this sentence seems to have been characteristic of their relationship, because she was apparently never able to really see through him during the long years of their relationship. In 1991, her book “Me – Stories of my life” was published. She felt attracted to him, and he remained married to his wife Louise Treadwell, †87, during their relationship. Divorce was out of the question for him at the time due to his strict Catholic faith. She was able and wanted to hold on to this love – despite all adversities and uncertainties, and became the self-sacrificing part of the relationship. “All I can say is that I could never have left him. He was there, and I belonged to him,” the actress once explained.

The eternal guilt

Even though he never completely chose her, she stuck by him. “He was as difficult as a person could be,” Katharine Hepburn explained. This was certainly also due to the guilt he felt towards his family. She wanted to take this burden of guilt off his shoulders. She obviously always wanted to please him because she loved him so much. So she never complained about the fact that they were under the radar: on vacation? Separate rooms! Shared souvenir photos? None! She accepted all of this and never demanded that he get a divorce.

But as secret as they kept their relationship, it became something of an open secret in Hollywood. MGM and the press made sure that their relationship remained protected. Perhaps also because the two of them formed the most popular screen couple at the time. The relationship eventually led to him living apart from his wife.

The protective instinct lasted until death

The actor suffered from a serious drinking problem. This was not necessarily apparent on set, where he always remained professional, but after filming he often withdrew and is said to have even stayed in his hotel rooms for days on end – drinking. As he increasingly struggled with health problems, he tried to reduce his alcoholism. One of the reasons for this was probably Katharine Hepburn, who always looked after him.

From 1962, she even interrupted her career to care for him until his death in 1967. In addition to his alcohol problem, Tracy smoked a lot and took pills. In 1963, he was hospitalized for the first time because of shortness of breath. After that, he became increasingly weaker and Hepburn moved in with him to care for him. In 1965, he was diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease, for which he was treated. He also had type II diabetes, but he initially ignored this. In the same year, the actor almost died because he suffered kidney failure during a hospital stay. After that, he stayed almost exclusively at home – with Katharine Hepburn by his side. His life became quieter and shortly after completing his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967), the most tragic moment in their relationship occurred.

In her memoirs, the actress remembers that terrible night that changed her life forever: On June 10, 1967, the actor wanted to get something to drink in the kitchen at night, and she followed him. This is how she describes it: “[…]I heard a cup fall to the floor – and then a loud clatter.” She went into the kitchen and found her partner lying dead on the floor. The moment is made even more heartbreaking by the realization she had at that moment: “He looked so happy to be done with life, which, despite all his achievements, had been a terrible burden for him.” A tragic end that Hepburn kept to herself for many years, as the media reported that he was alone when he died and was discovered by his housekeeper.

Their love comes to light

It would be years before the relationship between the two stars became public. Even though Tracy’s wife is said to have had an inkling, Katharine Hepburn only reported the relationship after his death. She was also the one who informed Treadwell and the children about the actor’s death. This is how the truth about the relationship ultimately came out. The actor’s wife allegedly thought the relationship was just a rumor.

Despite this revelation, Katharine Hepburn did not attend the funeral – she was not invited. She said goodbye to him quietly and secretly and went to the morgue on the day of the funeral. Katharine Hepburn died at the age of 96 after a short bout with cancer.

Gala