Hepburn secrets 'to be revealed'

Hepburn did not want the book discussed until after her death

New information about the life of film star Katharine Hepburn is expected to be made public in a biography that the legend insisted was not published until after her death.

Kate Remembered, published in the United States on Friday, was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner A Scott Berg - who was friends with Hepburn during the last 20 years of her life.

It will include "untold biographical details about Miss Hepburn's entire phenomenal career and her famous relationships with such men as Spencer Tracy and Howard Hughes", its publishers said.

The book was surrounded by strict secrecy, with only a handful of people at the publishing company aware that it existed before she died two weeks ago.

"It sets down many of the stories of [her] life as she saw them, full of sentiments she felt should not be made public until her death," a statement from publishers GP Putnam's Sons said.

A Scott Berg won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999

Hepburn became friends with Berg in 1983 and told him countless stories, thoughts and feelings over the years.

"Almost from the moment I met Katharine Hepburn she began revealing stories of her life, not just professional anecdotes but personal stories," Berg said.

"Within days of our meeting and becoming friends, she made it very clear that she hoped all that she was imparting would somehow be preserved in a book, one that would not be published until her death."

She also wanted to put straight any incorrect information about her life that had come out, Berg said.

The screen star ordered that it could not even be discussed until she passed away, he said.

Hepburn had a four-year relationship with Howard Hughes

"In the last few weeks of her life, I wrote the final paragraphs, the hardest I've ever had to write."

Berg won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for his best-selling biography of pioneering pilot Charles Lindbergh.

Hepburn died on 29 June, aged 96.

She won a record-breaking four best actress Oscars in a career that spanned six decades.

She had suffered various health problems in recent years, including Parkinson's disease.