Tom and Katharine Hepburn, the two eldest siblings, shared a particularly close bond. According to William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, “They both excelled in athletics, enjoyed boating, sailing, and climbing trees. Their mutual love for theater and silent films further united them.”
Katharine, significantly older than her younger sisters, noticed at a young age that boys seemed to have more fun. At the age of nine, she cut her hair short and requested her family to call her Jimmy. Mundy commented, “I believe this was influenced by her mother’s experiences with abuse and disrespect. Kate observed, ‘They don’t treat my brothers like they treat me, so I’ll be Jimmy.'”
During an Easter visit to her aunt’s residence in New York City, a 13-year-old Katharine discovered her brother Tom dead, having hanged himself with a torn bedsheet.
In the aftermath, Tom’s name was seldom spoken within the family. Munday explained that their time was one of simply enduring hardships. He recounted how his father, playwright Richard Hepburn, only once saw Dr. Hepburn’s private mourning. “He shared with me, ‘I recall seeing my father with his head buried in his hands, asking repeatedly, ‘Why? Why?””
Tom’s passing profoundly affected Katharine. She adopted his birth date, November 8, 1905, as her own, only revealing her actual birth date in her 1991 memoir, Me: Stories of My Life. Mann remarked, “I think she started living for Tom. Her acts of rebellion may have stemmed from Tom not having the opportunity to live as he wished. She pursued life for both of them.”
