With the recent passing of actress Katherine Hepburn I take the risk of being accused of speaking ill of the dead in an attempt at understanding the way her death has been portrayed in a flood of media epitaphs.
No, This Was Not a Fairy Tale
Actually, it is her life that is more problematic than her death since, joined at the hip along with her lexicon of thespian achievements — of which there are many, is the mention of her twenty-seven year “relationship” with the movie icon, Spencer Tracy.
In the news reports of her death, which in the case of elderly celebrities, are prepared in advance (and sometimes even produced in advanced in order to give one news media outlet an edge over a less prophetic rival) we were told about the “magic” of a love affair that has even found its way into Hollywood jargon. Movies with both a strong male and a female lead in a romance are still compared to Tracy-Hepburn. And we, as consumers of news, were certainly supposed to respond to the re-telling of this “special relationship” between Hepburn and Tracy with some kind of communal sigh of longing and enchantment.
There’s just one little fly in the ethical ointment. Spencer Tracy was a married man and he wasn’t married to Katherine Hepburn. In fact, Spencer Tracy remained a married man until the day he died. You can chalk that up to culture guilt, Catholic guilt, or the guilt of your choice. A social scientist would be able to explain all of the cultural, economic, and religiously “oppressive” reasons for the continuance of the Tracy marriage, but the fact remained that Mrs. Spencer Tracy did not enter into divorce proceedings against her wandering husband, and even her philandering spouse chose not to divide what God had joined.
Even Hollywood Knew Better
Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy did not invent adultery but they did “elevate” it to an art form. The proof of their “accomplishment” is found in the multiple Hepburn obituaries where a relationship that could get you stoned to death — even still today in some countries — is integral to the remembrance of one of America’s grand dames of the stage and screen. Now I’m not suggesting we start looking for adulterers to stone any time soon. I am suggesting that the praise and warmth and affection the current culture displays over a relationship that flaunted the sanctity of marriage is not a good thing.
Mrs. Spencer Tracy was not a glamorous movie star. She never had Barbara Walters ask her what kind of a tree she would like to be. Mrs. Spencer Tracy didn’t need to be asked what she was… She knew… She was Mrs. Spencer Tracy. She was a wife and a mother. Mrs. Tracy obviously understood these were things that couldn’t be excised through the decree of some civil magistrate.
They did adultery differently in the “golden age” of the movie business. There was just as much going on as there is today, but the main difference was that the Hollywood Industry machinery was calibrated to keep the lid on such “special” relationships.
Today, that same machinery has been re-tooled to exploit the same behavior that only a generation ago it sought to keep in the dark. Though the relationship between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn was no big secret within the Hollywood community, outside it, the secret remained safe. Whenever Spencer Tracy made any kind of public appearance where his wife and children were expected, they were there, not Katherine Hepburn. Even his funeral — in those days a public function — co-starred the widow, Mrs. Tracy. Katherine Hepburn did not attend.
Step Back and Look Up
If that same scenario were to play itself out today, Tracy and Hepburn would appear on the Oprah show as the “star” couple. The audience would ooh and ahh over them. Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, etc. would all be vying for coverage. And the coverage would be, as the obituaries of Ms. Hepburn have been, a celebration of the “relationship”. But what does the celebrating of this union between a woman and a man who was married to somebody else say about ourselves?
God has issued an edict making the activity forbidden and sent the ultimate emissary, His Son, to help all of us who fail to adhere to the commands God gave us through Moses. Jesus saved the adulteress from a horrible death by challenging the purity of her accusers. This important and profound message of forgiveness has been long abused by some who have interpreted it so thinly as to morally paralyze all who may want to suggest that certain sinful behavior should not be tolerated.
Everybody remembers Jesus saying to the crowd to drop their stones unless they themselves were sinless. But He also told the woman to go and sin no more. For twenty-seven years, by Katherine Hepburn’s own admission, she and Spencer Tracy sinned proudly. While in the end this is their business and something they must work out before those who they wronged and their Creator, the media's idolizing has sadly made it our business as well. We may wish to remember Ms. Hepburn for her talent and her contributions to the art of acting, but we have to regard her personal life as no cause for celebration. We should rather pray for her soul as we hope some day someone will pray for ours.
© Copyright 2003 Catholic Exchange
Robert Brennan is a professional television writer based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Melissa, are members of St. Cyril of Jerusalem parish in Encino, CA.
