Mundy Hepburn, nephew of legendary Actress Katharine Hepburn, makes blown glass ranging from bowls to giant forms that are filled
with rare gas mixtures such as helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. Glass in the bowls is often mixed with substances for color. For
example, the pink comes from gold, while other colors are from different substances. All of Mundy Hepburn's glass begins with common sand from Connecticut, where he grew up, which is then purified and actually boiled into glass, and then blown, stretched, coaxed and evaluated to ensure appropriate levels of stress. The glass bowls in the gallery are hand blown by Mundy Hepburn, molded and each unique and never duplicated. Each is signed and dated. Hepburn’s father was Katharine’s younger brother, and Mundy Hepburn recalls growing up in the famous Fenwick mansion in Old Saybrook. The bowls come with a formal Certificate of Authenticity. They range from vases to large bowls that can be 22 inches wide.
CNN LIVE TODAY
Interview With Mundy Hepburn, June 30, 2003
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A newspaper headline this morning called her "Katherine the Great." American lost an entertainment icon this weekend when legendary actress Katherine Hepburn died at the age of 96.
Our Deborah Feyerick is in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, that Hepburn's hometown, with reaction. Deborah, hello.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Daryn.
Well everyone called her "Katherine the Great." Here she's known as Kate, a very simple name for a remarkable woman. She grew up in this town, she spent much of her life here, this is where she died. She was surrounded by family. I am joined by her nephew, Mundy Hepburn. You came here to honor her memory today.
MUNDY HEPBURN, KATHARINE'S NEPHEW: That's why I'm here.
FEYERICK: Tell me about her, her final days.
HEPBURN: She got old and then she died.
FEYERICK: But when we were talking earlier, you said something a bit more eloquent. That it wasn't traumatic, it was more as if...
HEPBURN: It was a gentle fade to gray, yeah.
FEYERICK: OK. What is your most fun memory of her as an aunt, as a person?
HEPBURN: Just her crazy way of being, having fun, just being a regular person. And just thinking about her work and the unique position that it brought her in the world. She was fascinated and mystified that what happened happened. She didn't expect to be famous.
FEYERICK: Her movies very much reflected the kind of person she was. Many of her friends who wrote the movies had her in mind when they were doing it. But there was something perhaps that she didn't show in her movies. What was that, would you say?
HEPBURN: I'd say her vulnerability, her humanity. She was shy. She was actually -- she really had to make an effort to go on stage.
FEYERICK: And yet you wouldn't read that in the roles. Her roles were confident and witty and she was elegant, the picture of grace.
HEPBURN: Well, once she got over her shyness her natural qualities came out. I don't think she ever really acted so much as interpreted herself or presented herself in her best light.
FEYERICK: Many people see her as a role model, yet she did not consider herself so much as a role model. But for many women she was the kind of woman they wanted to be.
HEPBURN: Yes, she just said, You've got to be yourself. And herself ended up being a person that many people admired. And she used to sort of be mystified and at other times joke about it. Oh, yes, I'm adorable.
But I think there is definitely a natural adorableness to her. I mean, same as everybody. We all have good qualities. But as she said, I was lucky. And she was lucky. She got to show her good qualities to the whole world through the medium of her movies.
FEYERICK: She spoke to you about death. What was her -- what was her take on it?
HEPBURN: Well, she always said, You've got to be practical. So, you die. And where do you go? Well, I expect I'll be looking at you. What'd she say? She goes, I'll be looking down at you from a cloud, laughing.
FEYERICK: And basically, you're going to have to deal with the rest of us, the media.
HEPBURN: Yes, the world is your problem from there on. So here I am.
FEYERICK: And the family, what are the plans for the funeral service? What will be happening?
HEPBURN: As she would say, none of your business.
FEYERICK: Good note to end on. Mundy Hepburn, thank you very much for joining us.