Rating: 
Summary: "All About Scott"
Review: Fascinating! - not as a study of Katharine Hepburn, but as the intricate study of an astonishingly shrewd opportunist - the author, Mr. Berg. Berg, theatrical and self-dramatizing in the extreme, always eager to inflate his own importance by creating famous parallels to mythic popular history, tries to equate his experience with Hepburn to the story of Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard". But this, although very flattering to Berg, is quite erroneous. He certainly is not the sexually alluring young innocent caught up in an intense relationship with a predatory aging star. Far more accurately, he might have compared his adventure to the movie classic "All About Eve". This is far more exactly to the point. A slick and clever opportunist carefully insinuating their way into the private life of a celebrated, decent, but lonely aging star. This atually is Berg's story - the story of his climb to success as a writer, moving from one book and writing assignment to the next, all the time rising higher and higher up by gently and expertly cultivating the rich and famous and the influential, slickly making one greatly advantageous connection and skillfully parlaying it into another, becoming "close friends" with one elderly and isolated powerful grand dame after another, passing himself around with his courtier's modest smile and patient (and undoubtedly long-suffering) ear. It's an egomaniac in apprentice pursuing the world-class egos in their last act. According to his testimony, Berg is the consumate "friend" for these sad, aging empresses. As displayed in his numerous TV appearances, Berg has the hushed, obseqious demeanor of a funeral director, and one can well understand how this plays so well and is so appropriate to the elderly women as near death whom he attaches himself to. It is a perfect match - Eve servilely approaching Margo - but Margo after she has played her last act and is far more vulnerable to the slavish attentions. But Berg is not stealing their roles in a play, he is, in a real sense, stealing their lives - to be recycled after their death and rearranged with himself as the central, far more important and influential player. Many of his claims can never be truly substantiated. His private talks and meetings with Hepburn and Irene Selznick can no longer be disputed or corrected by them. We only have his memory and his view, and any careful analysis of his character would make much of what he says highly suspect. Next to Tracy, he may have been the love of Kate's life - who's ever to know? But who wants to? Who wants to read about the crafty manuevers of a moderately talented young writer social-climbing his way to success. He's a very bland and colorless personna, and not intersting in the least. And what he has to say about Kate is so pedestrian and tedious - theres no new insights or clever analysis presented here. We learn almost nothing new about Hepburn that we haven't been hearing and reading for years. She apparently didn't say anymore to Berg than she did to us directly in her last TV interviews and her autobiography, "Me" (which would have made an excellent title for Berg's self-centered book). Half of this book is a historical rehash of Hepburn's life, Tracy's life, their life together, Irene Selznick's life. The other half is the boring, manipulative adventures of A. Scott Berg (what does the A stand for?) - his obseqious quest to capture the affections and confidence of powerful old women. And his insights and observations center mostly on what they were wearing, what they ate, what rare beverages they drank, and the boring and dull minutiae of their private lives - what part of the kitchen at Fenwick Hepburn used, who made the beds in the morning. If you're so obsessed with Hepburn that your breath hangs on such trite and mundane axillary facts, then maybe you are part of the multitudes here raving about the book. But if you came to "Kate" hoping for anything deep and meaningful and truly interesting, I have no doubt you'll be as disappointed as I was. Like Edmund Morris in his biography of Reagan "Dutch", Berg has egotistically inserted hiself center-stage into his study and created a very tedious and dubious work. But Berg also has, probably unintentionally, told far more about himself than Hepburn, and what he's conveyed isn't very pretty. He's proved positive the old adage that "It's not what you know or what you can do - it's WHO you know that determines success in life." Sadly, by exploiting this elderly celebrity, he may have fed the hungry gossip mills who long to know the details of her physical and mental deterioration into death, but he has rendered his "dear friend" an almost stunning betrayal. Very depressing stuff.
Rating:
Summary: This...is Katharine Hepburn? Not according to her Auto-bio
Review: Berg's book was well written, but wasn't a REAL biography-just an idiot wanting to brag of his "friendship" with such an amazing star. I feel that Berg knows next to nothing about Kate because he took all false facts from Leaming and Edwards-both authors THINK they are talking about the actress Katharine Hepburn, but really they aren't.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I agree with the reviewers who have expressed feelings of disappointment. This book gives very little insight into the Katharine Hepburn, and too much insight into Scott Berg. I had hoped to learn some of what Katharine Hepburn thought and felt about so many things she experienced in her very full and interesting life. Not much of that is revealed here, and very little else is covered here that was not in Hepburn's autobiography "Me," which I heartily recommend instead of this book. The author met Hepburn in her later, lonely years, and describes the deterioration of her body and mind in great detail. I doubt this is what Hepburn had in mind when she told him her story, and this is not what a true friend does.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Wonderful, wise, funny, heart-felt, full of insight (by Ms. Hepburn and Mr. Berg) and an overall joy to read. Should be read along with "Me."Also recommended: House of Sand and Fog, and Bark of the Dogwood by Jackson McCrae
Rating:
Summary: Clearly written by a good friend
Review: One quickly gets the sense that this timely biography of the inimitable Hepburn was written by someone she knew and trusted, someone who would do a good and honest job of getting her life, thoughts, loves, friends, and history recorded in a way that did them kindly justice. Much has already, of course, been written by this icon, but Kate (the book) is full of fresh and intimate looks at her life with more emphasis on her thoughts and memories than other more straightforward biographies. It becomes something of a cross between the introspection of a memoir blended with the fact-based details of a biography. Katherine Hepburn's own voice comes through clearly in the many quotes with which author Berg seasons his book.
Wonderful. Highest recommendation for those who can't get enough about this very special woman.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo, Berg!
Review: This is one of the best "as told to" biographies I've read. It does help, of course, that Berg had a fascinating subject: Ms Hepburn.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book about Kate, but a bit too much about author..
Review: First, this book is a very good look at Katharine Hepburn's life. It is not a meticulously researched, cross-referenced, 1000-page bio, nor does it claim to be. It's more about Kate's later years and how those years tie into the rest of life, giving insights on why she was as she was. There are some entertaining anecdotes about Hollywood stars (Michael Jackson and Warren Beaty using her as social climbers) and some touching ones (Howard Hughes being deaf as the underlying reason for his insanity). Most readers of this biography won't find much new information, maybe a few new details, but no actual new events.
As for the downside (and reason it's not 5 stars), the author works himself into the book a bit too much. Generally, it's in relation to Kate in some way, such as how he couldn't see when in later years because he was writing, but there's a bit too much about A. Scott Berg. At the beginning, he gives several blatant facts about himself (he meditates twice a day, as he will tell you often in the first 50 pages) and the people he knows (very chummy with L.B. Mayer's daughter), but again, the references are generally related to Hepburn in some way.
The one very unique quality about this book is that it gives an "insider's" view of Kate's life. Even though Berg obviously glosses over a few things, it's still the Kate in her kitchen, the Kate outside gardening, and the Kate of real human emotions. The flip side of this inside view, though, is the look at Hepburn's last few years, a time when she really deteriorated. It's pitying to see her losing her mind and her physical strengths, and I could have done without it. Berg almost uses it in a way to evoke emotional impact about Hepburn--really the only part of the book that seems to be tabloid-fare--but it's still heart-wrenching in the last few pages.
Bottom Line: This is a solid, if lighthearted, look at Hepburn's career. The author sticks himself into the book frequently, but it's usually used to advance the story. Wonderful for the anecdotes alone.
Rating:
Summary: great biography
Review: If you want to know about Kate & her work, beginning to end, this will give you the facts. A compelling read. Not really a story, but rather, a running diary of Kate and Scott's relationship as friends, as well as alot of Kate's secrets that she entrusts to the author. Made me feel as if I was sitting there in the room, listenning to her speak and reminisce. I learned alot about Katherine Hepburn in this book, which made me want to go back and review all her old movies again, to see all the things she refers to.....Addicting & a great book!!
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I enjoyed this warm and respectful book detailing the author's friendship with Katharine Hepburn. It's the only book I've read about her so far, and I felt I received not only a satisfying glimpse of her personality but enough background to get a handle on the important moments of her career and private life (such as her relationships with Howard Hughes and Spencer Tracy). There were also fascinating glimpses of Michael Jackson (who has dinner with her, in one anecdote) and the monumentally egotistical Warren Beatty (who has the author convince her to appear in "Love Affair"). The only thing I found a bit strange about this book is that the author wrote a biography of an editor and mentions publishing and editing quite a bit - and this book has more than a few spelling and punctuation errors. I don't think it was a good idea to rush it to market. Otherwise, it's great. It was a refreshing and pleasant read.
Rating:
Summary: A great star's biographer deserves no stars
Review: I read this book from cover to cover shocked that such an excellent writer could so suffuse himself into his work that he overshadows his subject, Katharine Hepburn. Unless you want to read about this author's contacts with the rich and famous, skip this book. The author has written his own bio. He obviously thinks that we will find his life more interesting than that of Miss Hepburn's. If ever he even thinks of writing another bio, he should make sure it is of someome whom he has never met. That way, he won't think he's so important.
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