“Too cerebral and over-reliant on technique.” Winner of 3 Oscars was Katharine Hepburn's “least favourite actress onscreen”
Katharine Hepburn didn't mince words when she assessed the acting skills of another Oscar winner, Meryl Streep.
Katharine Hepburn is a cinema legend and winner of 4 Oscars, who had dozens of roles to her credit. There is no denying the fact that she made history and can be put among the best actresses without hesitation. This group also includes Meryl Streep, whom, as it turned out, Hepburn was not particularly fond of.
However, this dislike was nothing personal, but only related to their profession. Despite being a phenomenon, Meryl Streep with her performances didn’t elicit sympathy from Hepburn, who accused her of being downright mechanical, as we could learn from the actress' biography, Kate ed, written by Scott Berg and published in 2003 (via Far Out Magazine).
Hepburn was said to think Streep was “too cerebral and over-reliant on technique.”
Meryl Streep was [Hepburn’s] least favourite actress onscreen. “Click, click, click,” she said, referring to the wheels turning inside [Streep’s] head.
Hepburn got not only 4 Oscars, but also at one time a record 12 Academy Awards nominations. It's a record that in later years was broken by Streep now having 21 Oscar nominations to her credit.
Despite Hepburn's harsh words, Streep respectfully referred to Hepburn when she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, humbly itting that there were many talented women in the film industry who should have received the award before her. And Hepburn was included in that group (via Stylist).
I don't want to spit in the eye of good fortune, but it was weird. I felt like I'd butted in line in front of Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn. Hello? How did this happen?
Whatever the actresses thought of themselves, it must be said that both are talented artists who have made major contributions to cinema.
- “I was a snob - I was like, no way I’m not doing that show.” Adam Goldberg almost wasted his chance in Friends because his ex starred in it
- “They tried to keep me away.” The author was forbidden to look at Tom Hardy when the movie based on his book was made
- “I don’t know, this is Mackey to me.” The famous monologue from Magnolia was created by Tom Cruise, because he didn’t like the original idea for his character
- “I feel embarrassed, really. I was sort of ignorant.” Dwayne Johnson and Rosamund Pike it their $58M flop was a total let down
- “Took me under his wing.” Ed O'Neill was a huge for the Modern Family actor, for which he even halted filming