Former child actor recalls Hepburn's Jo.

Byline: The Register-Guard

For June Wyant of Eugene, Katharine Hepburn's most indelible role will always be Jo in the 1933 film version of "Little Women." And no wonder, considering that Wyant and Hepburn shared stage time in the movie.

Wyant, then known as June Filmer, was not quite 4 years old when she played the role of Tina, a boarding house girl, who sat on Hepburn's lap and told her the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

Wyant, now 74, said Sunday she was "much too young to be star-struck" and considered Hepburn "just really nice" and "sort of like my mother." Hepburn, like her mother, was in her 20s at the time.

Wyant, a retired librarian, said Hepburn lived ahead of her times: "She got into a lot of trouble because she was very opinionated and wanted things her way. She was brought up to speak her mind and she did, and got in trouble for it. But she didn't act up in any way."

Wyant had roles in three other movies as a child actor living in Hollywood. She said she never saw Hepburn in person after "Little Women" was completed. But she wrote Hepburn a congratulatory note after her 4th Best Actress Oscar - for "A Lion in Winter" in 1968 - and got a handwritten letter in return.

"I wrote, `I don't know if you remember me' and she wrote, `Of course I remember you,' ' Wyant said. "I still have that letter."

Wyant said she'll always recall Hepburn's acting range - "she was never the same person twice" - and independence. "I think she lived the life she wanted to live, I really do," she said.

- Jeff Wright