Katharine Hepburn's Time On The African Queen Set Was More Dangerous Than You Thought

May 2024 ยท 1 minute read

You've likely heard of dysentery. If you're not familiar with the particulars, you probably know well enough that it isn't pretty, and it can even become fatal if it goes untreated. According to Web MD, the nasty illness is generally caused by bacteria or a parasite that enters your system through the food you eat, the water you drink, or from swimming in a contaminated body of water. The most common side-effects include bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and severe stomach cramps. Unfortunately, dysentery is something people have to be wary of if they ever travel to a tropical location like Africa, and Katharine Hepburn learned this the hard way. 

Express U.K. reports that Hepburn refused to consume a single drop of alcohol while filming "The African Queen," so she played it safe and stuck to drinking water instead. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything safe about her decision. After becoming violently ill, she apparently couldn't even leave her bed and almost wasn't able to continue filming. She, along with several other crew members, had all come down with a horrific bout of the dreaded dysentery.

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