MovieChat Forums > Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Discussion > Audrey Hepburn as 'Joey' instead of the ...

Audrey Hepburn as 'Joey' instead of the disasterous Houghton.

posted 14 years ago by bpbfde4-1
32 replies | jump to latest

I'm watching it right now and I find myself unable to look at the screen when Katharine Houghton is "performing". She is just horrible. Even with Tracy/Hepburn/Portier(how can you beat this!) I've always had a hard time watching this film through to the end. It's because of her. Jeez, she's worse than horrible.

And no, it's not the character she's portraying. It's her. No ability and no chemistry between her and any other characters. My gawd, you can almost feel Portier cringing in scenes with her. I equate watching her to having a 3/4" drill bit bored into my forehead.

Audrey Hepburn could've portrayed the same character and would have done a perfect job. Yes, she was a few years older than this Houghton disaster but she could've been "younged up", if need be, even though the age difference between the two characters never really became an issue. Putting her in this film would have made this a truly great film.

I doubt that "In The Heat Of The Night" could've been beat for Best Picture but Houghton certainly made the choice easier by being in this film. Actually, almost anyone instead of Houghton would've made this a much better film but Audrey gets my vote.

[–] nycruise-1 12 years ago

Back then, when the Academy Awards were big news, I kept getting KH mixed up with Katherine Roos of "The Graduate" fame.

That made me wonder how KR would have fared in the role of "Joey" vs. KH.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] Howlin Wolf 12 years ago

Hepburn would have been wasted in a part like this... There wasn't much 'meat' to the role, I don't think.

"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

[–] freerun250 12 years ago

She is definitely the weakest link. The only weak link in fact. She didn't have much of a career afterwards.

[–] AndersonWhitbeck 12 years ago

Katharine Hepburn and her neice Katharine Houghton are heirs to the Corning Glass fortune. No need to worry re Katharine Houghton who I thought was fine in the film.

Alternate casting might have been Stefanie Powers who was a Columbia contract star.

[–] Forlorn_Rage 10 years ago

Stephanie Powers would've been great! She brings intelligence and likeability to bubbly characters and would've done a good job here as well.

[–] liamforeman 10 years ago

I just watched it again. I think the problem is also the direction and screenplay. She played her part as a silly little girl trying to be 'liberal' in such a cutesy way it made no sense. First that Hepburn and Tracy with all their wealth and education and success would have raised such a bubblehead. And then why would a much older and successful doctor waste his time with her? Maybe for a quick throw, but marriage? It would have been nice for this to win Best Picture, but Houghton was so awful and her character WAS important.

[–] bradford-1 9 years ago

Yes, Stefanie Powers! I didn't realize Columbia still had contract players that late in the game. Ms. Fonda would've been a decent choice. I vote for Kim Darby or Barbara Hershey, though I'm not sure either one of them bore the required resemblance to Tracy/Hepburn.

May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

[–] SweaterCannons 9 years ago

I think the OP's point basically is: Imagine what this would have been like with a real actress.

Houghton really is dreadful; she makes me cringe too when she's onscreen. You've got Tracy, Hepburn, Poitier...the cream of the crop. Very natural styles of acting. Then you throw Houghton in there, and...I don't know what to make of what she's doing, it's so artificial and affected and awful.

I just scanned a list of 1967 movies on Wiki; I don't know what professional and/or trained actresses of the right age would have been right for the role. Sandra Dee was 25 in '67; she was pretty good in Imitation of Life, right? She certainly couldn't have been any worse than Katharine Houghton. Shelley Fabares? She was a year younger than Houghton.

Can't unring the bell anyway, but the armchair quarterbacking is kinda fun.

[–] liamforeman 9 years ago

I think Katharine Ross would have played a wonderful Joey. What a coup that would have been for her that year to get The Graduate and GWCTD. She looked enough like a cross between Hepburn and Tracy. I don't think someone as glamorous as Stefanie Powers would have fit.

Houghton was just all wrong with her baby girl voice and impossibly clueless or naïve act. She was pretty enough, but when you are playing opposite Hep, Tracy, and Poitier you kind of need to be a good actress. I'm sure Poitier was cringing between takes with her.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

Audrey Hepburn was too old for the part of a student, and it sn't really a good enough part for her anyway. But they could hAve altered it, made her a teacher instead of a student, given her some better lines perhaps.

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 9 years ago

Houghton was actually Katherine Hepburn's niece, in real life. It looks like a case of nepotism. And Since Audrey Hepburn was in that "Wait Until Dark" movie, that came out at the same time, she might have not been available to do "Dinner", even if she wanted the role.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

That is interesting about houghton being Hepburn's niece, I didn't know that. i can't really imagine Audrey hepburn wanting the part. perhaps if the film had been made when she was at the start of her career, before she became a star.

[–] aleach26 8 years ago

It wasn't nepotism - Stanley Kramer confirmed that a long time ago, saying that he wasn't really aware that Houghton was Hepburn's niece, and that he only cast her after a screen test, so the normal process was gone through.

[–] Mynvosa (117) 5 years ago

I agree that Houghton was out of place... but, Audrey Hepburn? She wouldn’t have fit in at all with the rest of her family, and would have required the recasting of her whole family to feel genuine.

Given the time period and the physical requirements of the character, Jane Fonda would have been a good choice. Fonda had the ability to encompass the girlish and playful elements of Joey’s character without coming across as brainless, as Houghton often did.