Katharine Hepburns' Brother Dies

O L D   S A Y B R O O K, Conn. Oct. 20, 2000 -- Richard Hepburn, a playwright and the younger brother of actress Katharine Hepburn, has died, his family said Friday. He was 89.

“Dick” Hepburn, who lived with his famous sister at thefamily’s Connecticut home overlooking Long Island Sound in theborough of Fenwick, died Wednesday of heart problems, saidhis brother-in-law, Ellsworth Grant.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1911, Hepburn was thethird of six children of Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn andKatharine Houghton Hepburn.

Katherine Hepburn in Good HealthWhile none of Dick Hepburn’s plays were ever produced onBroadway, writing “was his main occupation and interest,” Granttold Reuters. Some of his plays were produced on the West Coastand in repertory theaters, Grant said.

Asked about the health of actress Katharine Hepburn, whoturned 93 in May, Grant said: “She’s doing very well, for herage.”

In an interview with the Hartford Courant newspaperpublished Friday, Grant described his brother-in-law as “acompletely free spirit with an iconoclastic outlook.”

“He was just not like the others in the family,” Grant toldthe paper. “They are all very different but he was almost acompletely different, separate figure.”

“The rest of the family was all engaged in differentactivities,” Grant said. “Bob’s a doctor, Peg’s a librarian,Marion was a social activist, Katharine an actress. They allhad their particular pegs or niches. He was the playwright,standing back. He would be the social critic of his period.”

Hepburn is survived by four children, two sisters, and onebrother.