Bryn Mawr College Announces Launch of Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center

Bryn Mawr College Announces Launch of Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center

Lauren Bacall and Blythe Danner to Receive First Katharine Hepburn Medals at Inaugural Gala

BRYN MAWR, Pa., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- One of America's greatest screen legends, Katharine Hepburn was an extraordinary woman whose independence, passion and intelligence continue to have a lasting impact on women's roles in society. Now, her inspirational legacy is being passed to a new generation with the establishment of the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center at Bryn Mawr College. Honoring two distinguished alumnae, Katharine Hepburn (class of 1928) and her mother, also Katharine Houghton (pronounced Hoe-ton) Hepburn (class of 1899), an activist for women's suffrage and reproductive rights, the center challenges women to lead publicly engaged lives and to take on important and timely issues affecting women.

In conjunction with the launch of the center, Bryn Mawr has created the Katharine Hepburn Medal to annually honor women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four- time-Oscar-winning actress. The first awards will be presented to renowned actors Lauren Bacall and Blythe Danner at a black-tie gala to inaugurate the Hepburn Center, Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Hosted by ABC News journalist Cynthia McFadden, the program will include a video tribute to Hepburn featuring those who knew, worked with or were inspired by her. Hepburn's niece, the actress and playwright Katharine Houghton, will deliver the gala dinner's closing remarks.

"The legacies of Katharine Hepburn and her mother have been a proud part of Bryn Mawr's history," stated Nancy J. Vickers, president of the college. "With the establishment of the Hepburn Center and Hepburn Medal, we are pleased to honor these two illustrious alumnae -- actress and activist -- in a way that will perpetuate their bold spirit and inspire future generations of women to make a similar meaningful impact on the world."

The Hepburn Center will draw its focus from the life work of its namesakes -- film and theater, women's health, and civic engagement. Led by Director of Planning and Development Michelle Francl, the center initially will include three programming elements: the Hepburn Fellows Program, which will bring to Bryn Mawr's campus individuals who bridge academics and practice in nontraditional ways in any of the three thematic areas, the Hepburn Scholarships, originally established by Katharine Hepburn in memory of her mother, and the Hepburn Medal. Proceeds from the gala will benefit the Hepburn Scholarship fund. For the schedule of events inaugurating the Hepburn Center and ticket information, please visit http://www.brynmawr.edu/hepburn/launch_schedule.php

Commented Cynthia McFadden, "Having known Kate Hepburn personally, I think that she would be deeply gratified and delighted with the establishment of the Hepburn Center and the Hepburn Medal by Bryn Mawr College. Her own experience, combined with a lifetime of stories of her mother's college years, helped set her on her career path and mold her as an adult. That the college so important to the Houghton Hepburn women has created a way to challenge and inspire future generations of young women would mean a great deal to her, as would the fact that her dear friend Lauren Bacall is one of the first recipients of the Hepburn Medal."

A celebrated star of the stage and screen since her debut in To Have and Have Not with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall was named among the top 20 female film legends of the 20th century by the American Film Institute. Her early films with Bogart have been characterized as "classic pictures that embody '40s Hollywood," and she has continued to mesmerize audiences throughout her extensive career. Long known for turning down scripts that she didn't find interesting, Bacall became a highly visible advocate of better roles for mature women in the 1960s and '70s when she returned, to much acclaim, to the stage. Among her numerous awards and honors in a career that spans six decades, more than 40 films, numerous appearances on Broadway and three books, are two Tonys and the National Book Award, for her best-selling autobiography "By Myself." In 1997, she received the Kennedy Center Honor in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to American culture. A longtime friend of Katharine Hepburn, her son Sam Robards was Hepburn's godson.

Tony- and Emmy-winning actress Blythe Danner was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Rosemont, Pa., near Bryn Mawr. Danner won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in "Butterflies Are Free" and received nominations for her roles in Harold Pinter's "Betrayal," Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Stephen Sondheim's "Follies." She played Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing" in New York's Shakespeare in the Park. Her film work includes three Woody Allen films, "The Great Santini," "1776," "Meet the Parents," "Meet the Fockers" and "Sylvia" with her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow. Theatrically, she has followed in Hepburn's footsteps in ABC's "Adam's Rib," Lincoln Center's revival of "The Philadelphia Story" and the Williamstown production of "Holiday." She received three 2005 Emmy nominations, winning one for her performance in Showtime's "Huff," and she has received two nominations for the 2006 Emmy Awards, for her work in "Huff" and "Will and Grace." Active in environmental issues, Danner sits on several environmental advisory boards.

Cynthia McFadden is the co-anchor of "Nightline" and "Primetime" at ABC News. Over the course of her distinguished career in broadcast journalism, she has received numerous major awards, including a George Foster Peabody Award, a DuPont award and an Emmy. Prior to joining ABC News in 1994, McFadden had been an anchor and senior producer at the Courtroom Television Network, beginning with the network's inception in 1991.

Actress, playwright, screenwriter and lecturer, Katharine Houghton is perhaps best known for her role in the celebrated film "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?," in which she had the honor of bringing Sidney Poitier home to her parents, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Her play "Buddha" was published in The Best Short Plays of 1988, and "To Heaven in a Swing," a monodrama about the last day in the life of Louisa May Alcott, has toured the country. As an actress, she has appeared on Broadway and Off Broadway where she won a Theatre World Award for her performance in "A Scent of Flowers," and has played leading roles in over 50 regional theatre productions and appeared in nine films, the latest in "Kinsey," starring Liam Neeson.

Bryn Mawr College is a highly selective liberal-arts college in suburban Philadelphia for students who share an intense intellectual commitment, a self-directed and purposeful vision of their lives, and a desire to make meaningful contributions to the world. Bryn Mawr comprises an undergraduate college with 1,200 women, two coeducational graduate schools and a coeducational postbaccalaureate premedical program.

One of the world's most enduring actors who still holds the record for 4 Best Actress Oscar wins, Katharine Hepburn continues to be an inspiration to women for daring to be different and defying convention. A 1928 Bryn Mawr graduate, Hepburn's career spanned 70 years, including 20 stage productions, 56 films, 12 Oscar nominations, 4 Oscars and 2 Tony nominations. In 1999, Hepburn was ranked "the greatest actress of all time" by the American Film Institute.

An 1899 Bryn Mawr graduate, Katharine Houghton joined the women's right-to-vote campaign after hearing suffragist Emeline Pankhurst in 1907, later becoming president of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association. An early advocate of birth control, in 1916 she joined forces with Margaret Sanger, helping to found the American Birth Control League, forerunner of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

For more information, including complete biographies of Katharine Hepburn and her mother, Katharine Houghton Hepburn, please visit the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center website at http://www.brynmawr.edu/hepburn. For press inquiries, please call Nina Zucker Associates at 610-667-0706 or nzapr@aol.com.

Source: Bryn Mawr College

CONTACT: Nina Zucker Associates, +1-610-667-0706, or mobile,
+1-610-457-4387, or nzapr@aol.com, for Bryn Mawr College

Web site: http://www.brynmawr.edu/hepburn

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