Katharine Hepburn is of course known for her brilliant screen career. But the actress had a stage career as well, and a new collection of papers donated by her estate to the New York Public Library sheds light on her days treading the boards.

Turns out the confident, athletic young actress had a morbid fear of losing her voice while performing live -- and sometimes did. It was her inability to control her sometimes-tinny voice that led her to a speech coach, and the perfection of that clipped, upper-crust accent that made her voice so unmistakable.

The collection includes fan letters from other stars, Hepburn's own almost-obsessive recording of expenses during tours on the road, and her account of being hauled in on a speeding charge, and behaving, by her own admission, very badly indeed. Here's the New York Times take on the story.

Hepburn in Little Women/Getty Images