John Huston directing Hepburn on location in Africa
John came in one morning to my hut.
“May I have a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, of course — what?”
“Well, I don’t want to influence you. But incidentally . . . that was great, that scene burying Robert. And of course you had to look solemn — serious. . . . Yes, of course — you were burying your brother. You were sad. But, you know, this is an odd tale — I mean, Rosie is almost always facing what is for her a serious situation. And she’s a pretty serious-minded lady. And I wondered — well — let me put it this way — have you by any chance seen any movies of — you know — newsreels — of Mrs. Roosevelt — those newsreels where she visited the soldiers in the hospitals?”
“Yes, John — yes — I saw one. Yes.”
“Do you remember, Katie dear, that lovely smile –?”
“Yes, John — yes — I do.”
“Well, I was wondering. You know, thinking ahead of our story. And thinking of your skinny little face — a lovely little face, dear. But skinny. And those famous hollow cheeks. And that turned-down mouth. You know — when you look serious — you do look rather — well, serious. [...]
“Then, I thought how to remedy that. [...] Whatever the situation. Like Mrs. Roosevelt — she felt she was ugly — she thought she looked better smiling — so she . . . Chin up. The best is yet to come — onward ever onward. . . . The society smile.”
A long pause.
“Well,” he said, getting up to go. He’d planted the seed. “Think it over. . . . Perhaps it might be a useful . . .”
He was gone.
I sat there.
That is the goddamnedest best piece of direction I have ever heard. Now, let’s see. . . .
Well, he’s just told me exactly how to play this part. Oh-h-h-h-h, lovely thought. Such fun. I was his from there on in.
– Katharine Hepburn on director John Huston,
The Making of the African Queen or How I Went to Africa
with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (1987)
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,