Katharine Hepburn’s Beverly Hills hideout hits market for $1.4 million

A two-bedroom, wood-paneled cabin in Benedict Canyon, Beverly Hills, is on the market for $1.4 million. The 1,200-square-foot home sits on about a half-acre of wooded land and was at one point owned by Laura Harding, a New York socialite who was Hepburn's close confidante. Hepburn and Harding moved from New York to Hollywood in the late 1920s and lived together in Benedict Canyon for several years, a period that has long drawn interest from biographers and film historians alike. Harding helped Hepburn with wardrobe design, public relations and negotiations with producers and directors, and was often described in contemporary circles as Hepburn’s secretary. The property’s lineage and its secluded setting have fed ongoing curiosity about the pair and their relationship.

The property has been upgraded since Harding’s era. It sits on a half-acre with a wooded feel, and the 1923-built cabin is described as cozy and private. It features two bedrooms and one bathroom, about 1,200 square feet of living space, wooden floors and vaulted ceilings, and a working Magic Chef stove from 1928. Recent updates include solar power, skylights and a large, renovated deck that looks out into the canyon. The home’s charm is tempered by modern conveniences, while still preserving period details that reflect its 1920s origins.

Hepburn and Harding’s relationship has been the subject of extensive literary exploration. A 2007 biography, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn by William J. Mann, draws on interviews with people who knew both women and portrays their bond as deeply intimate. One friend told Mann that the two were “genuinely, deeply in love,” a characterization that echoes through biographies and anecdotes collected by scholars over the years. Hepburn herself officially denied any romantic involvement with Harding in her 1991 memoir, Me, a stance that some historians have noted as a measured attempt to manage public perception of her private life.

Emily King, Harding’s grandniece, has preserved family recollections that complicate the public narrative. King described Harding as someone who lived with a sense of constraint shaped by her upbringing and societal expectations, suggesting that Harding’s happiness might have been different had she been openly aligned with her own truth. In Mann’s interview-based portrait, others also described the bond as unusually strong — a “passionate friendship” that endured as Hepburn’s career flourished and Harding carried on with a life in New York’s social and financial circles. The biography notes that Harding remained closely tied to Hepburn’s life, even as she maintained a separate heiress lifestyle and later returned to New York.

The property is listed through the Gambino Group at Compass, with Cassie Levine and Carl Gambino as listing agents. The listing underscores how a place once shared by two of Hollywood’s most iconic figures has become a fresh entry in the market, appealing to buyers drawn to history, privacy and the ambience of a secluded hillside retreat in one of Los Angeles’ most storied neighborhoods.