Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn

A love relationship as complicated as it was devoted, the bond between screen greats Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy stretched across three decades. But their offscreen union would remain publicly unacknowledged throughout Tracy’s life as the couple maintained separate residences and never wed.

They first met on the set of the comedy-drama Woman of the Year (1942), playing two journalists who fall in love and try to balance their personal lives with their commitment to their careers. Tracy was 41-years-old, Hepburn was 34.Hepburn immediately found Tracy 'irresistible'.It was a unique feeling I had for Tracy” Hepburn wrote in her autobiography Me: Stories of My Life. “I loved him. … I would have done anything for him.”

Onscreen their chemistry was undeniable, and audiences flocked to their films to witness the staccato, quick-witted bantering and long, meaningful looks that spoke more than any lines of dialogue could represent. Such ease together in front of the camera often had fans assuming Hepburn and Tracy were simply playing themselves. Their chemistry would be captured in eight more films.

Gene Kelly once recalled Hepburn and Tracy getting together at lunchtimes at the studio, where “they’d just meet and sit on a bench on the lot. They’d hold hands and talk – and everybody left them alone in their little private world.”

Though an open secret in and around Hollywood, the relationship was kept under wraps by the studio system. Hepburn had been married previously to Pennsylvania businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith but had divorced in 1934. Tracy married actress Louise Treadwell in 1923.A strict Catholic, divorce was not and would never be an option for Tracy, who remained married to his wife throughout his life. An early separation would end in reconciliation, but Tracy would continue to live much of his life in hotels and rented residences away from his wife and family.Tracy would never publicly acknowledge or articulate his feelings for Hepburn, a position that would only fuel the myths that would flourish around their relationship. They were rarely seen in public together, their separate homes helping to ensure Tracy’s wife would be protected.

Hepburn, who once described Tracy as “tortured,” said that all she wanted was for him “to be happy, safe, comfortable. I liked to wait on him, listen to him, feed him, work for him. I tried not to disturb him… I was happy to do this.”

Though devoted to Tracy, Hepburn continued to act, choosing roles that interested her more than fare guaranteed to be box office hits. Often away on location, she helped encourage the idea that they were not a couple and lived completely separate lives. When Tracy’s health began to deteriorate in the late sixties, Hepburn took time away from her career to care for him, saying she just wanted “to be there so that he wouldn’t worry or be lonely.”

Whether the relationship was a cover to hide what was then considered improper or one of the greatest romantic unions on and off the big screen, the affection between Tracy and Hepburn existed until their deaths. Hepburn was with Tracy when passed away in 1967.Hepburn was asleep when she heard a cup break in the kitchen. Tracy, who's health had been declining, died of a heart attack before she could reach him. After calling his brother with the news, Hepburn called his wife.

But she did not attend the funeral out of respect for his family and never publicly spoke of their relationship until after the death of Tracy’s wife Louise in 1983.

Hepburn was once asked why she stayed with Tracy for so long under the circumstances. “I honestly don’t know,” she replied. “I can only say that I could never have left him. We just passed 27 years together in what was to me absolute bliss.”