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CNN Live Today

Discussion With Barry Maynard

Aired June 30, 2003 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For six decades, Katharine Hepburn lit up the stage and screen with beauty, brilliance, grace and wit. In her life and her career, she was known for her independent spirit and her feistiness. Hepburn died yesterday at the age of 96 surrounded by friends and loved ones.
Our Deborah Feyerick joins us from Hepburn's hometown of Old Saybrook (ph), Connecticut.

Deb, good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, flags here in Old Saybrook at half staff. The entrance to her home guarded by police. They are keeping her privacy, which she very much valued while she was alive. People coming here and sharing many of their memories that they have of her. She was really a fixture here in Old Saybrook. Many people just calling her Kate, as was the habit.

I'm joined by Barry Maynard, one of those -- that your family owned a store, and she would come in. Tell me about your memories of her.

BARRY MAYNARD, FRIEND OF KATHARINE HEPBURN: Well, Kate would come into the shop, and you would not know she was in the store until, number one, she spoke. And the voice is a dead giveaway, obviously, but -- or unless somebody else identified and you would see the fidgeting and the nervousness, and say, there is Kate, there is Kate. You know, you could pick up on clues like that.

FEYERICK: Were you ever there when somebody asked for her autograph?

MAYNARD: Yes, I was. And Kate with her wonderful style and ease, said, oh, my dear, no, if I do it for you I have to do it for everybody who gets in line behind you. Very classy, very succinct, very firm, and handled it very well.

FEYERICK: She was very much beloved here in the community. People sort of let her do her own thing. What are some of your fondest recollections just of her living here?

MAYNARD: She was comfortable being among us, because we let her be one of us in a way. People respected her privacy. People understood when she was in Old Saybrook that she was here for a timeout or down time, or R&R, however you want to label it. But she was comfortable being among people because nobody bothered her. The incident that I spoke about due to the autograph, that was very, very rare. People let her be. You would not know that you would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Kate Hepburn at the butcher shop until it was her time to order and she would speak up. If she ordered her chicken, it would be like, oh, there's Kate, but still, people would just let it go and not acknowledge it, and that's how she wanted it to be and that's how she insisted it be.

FEYERICK: She was very independent, came across as very strong- willed, a woman of her own, a woman who people wanted to be like, yet she did all of her owner errands, she cooked for herself; she Just that kind of person. What did you see?

MAYNARD: That's right. As she was doing these things, she would come up here and bring driftwood off the beach to burn as firewood. Of course driftwood with the salts from the salt water give off wonderful colors. It had to have been, you know, a very fond memory of her to burn this firewood and bring back memories in the family cottage.

But as she was doing those chores, she would come into town that way. She never dressed as though there was a photographer behind shrubbery.

FEYERICK: No paparazzi?

MAYNARD: No paparazzi, absolutely.

FEYERICK: There's a picture of her looking in your store, and I just want to show it. This is a book, and this is by John Bryson. And this is your store that she was looking in at, a great sort of moment there. But you had another store where she bought a dress. Tell me the story of that dress.

MAYNARD: Actually this is the store that she bought the jacket in, a denim jacket. She pulled the door open one day and walked in, and one of the few times that Kate ever allowed anybody to assist her. She said, I am going to be photographed this afternoon and I need something new to wear.

FEYERICK: And that dress in the photograph turned up in "The Saturday Evening Post."

MAYNARD: Yes, about 10 days later, it was on the cover of "Saturday Evening Post."

FEYERICK: Barry Maynard, thank you very much for stopping by today.

MAYNARD: Thank you.

FEYERICK: So again, many people just filled with very warm recollections of this person who was such a part of Old Saybrook -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deb, thanks for those recollections. Appreciate that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 30, 2003 - 11:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For six decades, Katharine Hepburn lit up the stage and screen with beauty, brilliance, grace and wit. In her life and her career, she was known for her independent spirit and her feistiness. Hepburn died yesterday at the age of 96 surrounded by friends and loved ones.
Our Deborah Feyerick joins us from Hepburn's hometown of Old Saybrook (ph), Connecticut.

Deb, good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, flags here in Old Saybrook at half staff. The entrance to her home guarded by police. They are keeping her privacy, which she very much valued while she was alive. People coming here and sharing many of their memories that they have of her. She was really a fixture here in Old Saybrook. Many people just calling her Kate, as was the habit.

I'm joined by Barry Maynard, one of those -- that your family owned a store, and she would come in. Tell me about your memories of her.

BARRY MAYNARD, FRIEND OF KATHARINE HEPBURN: Well, Kate would come into the shop, and you would not know she was in the store until, number one, she spoke. And the voice is a dead giveaway, obviously, but -- or unless somebody else identified and you would see the fidgeting and the nervousness, and say, there is Kate, there is Kate. You know, you could pick up on clues like that.

FEYERICK: Were you ever there when somebody asked for her autograph?

MAYNARD: Yes, I was. And Kate with her wonderful style and ease, said, oh, my dear, no, if I do it for you I have to do it for everybody who gets in line behind you. Very classy, very succinct, very firm, and handled it very well.

FEYERICK: She was very much beloved here in the community. People sort of let her do her own thing. What are some of your fondest recollections just of her living here?

MAYNARD: She was comfortable being among us, because we let her be one of us in a way. People respected her privacy. People understood when she was in Old Saybrook that she was here for a timeout or down time, or R&R, however you want to label it. But she was comfortable being among people because nobody bothered her. The incident that I spoke about due to the autograph, that was very, very rare. People let her be. You would not know that you would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Kate Hepburn at the butcher shop until it was her time to order and she would speak up. If she ordered her chicken, it would be like, oh, there's Kate, but still, people would just let it go and not acknowledge it, and that's how she wanted it to be and that's how she insisted it be.

FEYERICK: She was very independent, came across as very strong- willed, a woman of her own, a woman who people wanted to be like, yet she did all of her owner errands, she cooked for herself; she Just that kind of person. What did you see?

MAYNARD: That's right. As she was doing these things, she would come up here and bring driftwood off the beach to burn as firewood. Of course driftwood with the salts from the salt water give off wonderful colors. It had to have been, you know, a very fond memory of her to burn this firewood and bring back memories in the family cottage.

But as she was doing those chores, she would come into town that way. She never dressed as though there was a photographer behind shrubbery.

FEYERICK: No paparazzi?

MAYNARD: No paparazzi, absolutely.

FEYERICK: There's a picture of her looking in your store, and I just want to show it. This is a book, and this is by John Bryson. And this is your store that she was looking in at, a great sort of moment there. But you had another store where she bought a dress. Tell me the story of that dress.

MAYNARD: Actually this is the store that she bought the jacket in, a denim jacket. She pulled the door open one day and walked in, and one of the few times that Kate ever allowed anybody to assist her. She said, I am going to be photographed this afternoon and I need something new to wear.

FEYERICK: And that dress in the photograph turned up in "The Saturday Evening Post."

MAYNARD: Yes, about 10 days later, it was on the cover of "Saturday Evening Post."

FEYERICK: Barry Maynard, thank you very much for stopping by today.

MAYNARD: Thank you.

FEYERICK: So again, many people just filled with very warm recollections of this person who was such a part of Old Saybrook -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deb, thanks for those recollections. Appreciate that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com