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Karen Sharpe Kramer, actress and wife of the late producer/director Stanley Kramer.
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Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Karen Sharpe Kramer

Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Karen Sharpe Kramer

Karen Sharpe Kramer

Probably her greatest role was that of wife to Hollywood's legendary producer and director Stanley Kramer, who made such classics as "High Noon" "Ship of Fools" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Former model and actress Karen Sharpe Kramer gave up her career to work alongside her husband, who was 20 years her senior. After his death in 2001, she established the Stanley Kramer Library and the Stanley Kramer Foundation. She lives in California with her two grown daughters and continues to work as a producer. A DVD box set of some of her husband's most popular films ("Stanley Kramer Film Collection," Sony, $59.95) is now available.

Q: Do you ever wonder where your acting career would have gone had you not given it up to work with Stanley?

A: I never think of it anymore. I don't think I ever thought of it from the time I met Stanley and then finally decided to marry him. I never looked back. You know, I loved acting when I was involved in it, but it is a very narcissistic profession. ... As lucky as I was to work as much as I did and as often as I did from the time I was 16 to 33, my life didn't really begin until I married Stanley.

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Download and listen at your convenience to this interview with Karen Sharpe Kramer.

Q: I understand he asked you out several times before you accepted -- what didn't you like about him?

A: No, no, no. I had a strict rule that I didn't get involved with people in my own profession.

Q: When you finally accepted, was it an instant attraction?

A: No [laughing], it took him a year to get a date, actually. I just kept saying no, because if he wanted to kiss me goodnight after dinner, which sometimes happened, I'm going to say no automatically, and then my chances of ever working for him might have been in jeopardy. So I didn't want to take that chance. I told him, "OK, Mr. Kramer, I can give you two hours of my time, and I'll meet you for dinner in the Valley." He came and it was a disastrous dinner. I kept looking at my watch. I could hardly wait to get out of there. A few weeks later I had an appendicitis attack, and it was in all the newspapers. Stanley sent me flowers. He called me every day that I was in the hospital. He brought me dinner, and I had a friend of mine come to carry the conversation because I didn't feel up to it. They bonded and became good friends. And little by little I began to fall in love with him. Nine months after the first date we were married. It was a phenomenal marriage of 35 years. I became an instant mother to his two children, whom he had custody of, and I didn't know anything about children because I was an only child. I thought I'd play it like a part, you know? That part just never ended [laughs]. Then we had our own two little girls. He taught me about producing. I produced "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" with him.

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Q: So many of his films were about injustice and finding justice.

A: Stanley was born in Hell's Kitchen New York in 1913. At that time it was considered the armpit of America. He was raised by a single working mother, very unusual in those days.

Q: How well did you and Stanley know Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy?

A: Very well. Stanley had made four films working with Spencer, and, of course, working with Spencer meant you were actually working with Kate, too. She lived with Spencer. Even though she had a house up the street from him, she spent most of her time with him. [Stanley and Spencer] made four films all in a row, "Inherit the Wind," "Judgment at Nuremberg," "It's a Mad, Mad Mad World" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Stanley was not a very social man. He had limited social needs. His family was enough for him, and the work. He was really one of the very first independent filmmakers. He loved going to Kate's and Spence's home for dinner, which we did very often. He loved Sidney Poitier and Jonathan Winters. That was the extent of our social circle.

Q: What was Kate Hepburn really like?

A: She was very feminine. Not at all like the image of what Kate Hepburn was like on screen. She was very subservient in a way to Spencer. She waited on him hand and foot. She adored him. She did all the cooking herself. We had the same dinner every time we'd go. Chateaubriand, potato skins and a salad after (very European) and then, of course, vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce and walnuts. Spencer had been an alcoholic, so we never had liquor. But we had great conversations. They loved to gossip because Spence and Kate never went out. She was very impressed with Picasso's mistress, who had written a book about how she kept Picasso in love with her.

Q: Do you think Kate was insecure in her relationship with Spencer?

A: To tell you the truth, every woman I have known is always a little insecure about the man she loves. You know? You think people are solid, and they turn out not to be as solid as you think.

Q: Were you and Stanley surprised by the way "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was received?

A: Yes, we were. When we started this film, [interracial marriage] was illegal in 16 states. I remember Sidney Poitier saying to Stanley, "Do you think the country is ready for this?" Stanley said, "Nope, but we're gonna make it anyhow." Stanley didn't want to give Columbia Pictures the screenplay because he knew if they read it they would cancel the film. He just kept telling them it was a love story. When [Spencer Tracy] delivered the last line of that phenomenal speech -- the summation speech I call it (he and Stanley were like brothers by the way) -- they looked at each other and Stanley hugged Spence. They knew that was his last line, his last scene, and Stanley began to cry. I had never seen him cry before.

First Published: August 11, 2008, 8:00 a.m.

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Karen Sharpe Kramer, actress and wife of the late producer/director Stanley Kramer.
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