Actresses & Artists

Katherine Hepburn

Katherine Houton Hepburn was born May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Katherine's father was a wealthy & prominent surgeon, in Connecticut and her mother was a leader in the women's suffragette movement. From early childhood, she was encouraged to pursue intellectual endeavors, speak only the truth & keep herself in the best physical condition at all times. She would apply all of these values to her acting career, which began after her graduation from Bryn Mawr College, in 1928. That year, Katherine made her Broadway debut in, Night Hostess, appearing under the alias of Katherine Burns. Her first big hit on Broadway was, The Warrior's Husband (1932), a comedy set in the land of the Amazons. Shortly thereafter, she was invited to Hollywood by RKO Pictures.

Hepburn was an unlikely Hollywood star, possessing a unique speech pattern (perhaps due to her lively, well-bred New England accent) and a slew of peculiar mannerisms; which caused her to receive both praise from admirers and merciless criticism from others. Unashamedly outspoken and dissident, Katherine defied societal standards, refusing to grant interviews, dressing casually at a time when Hollywood starlets were expected to exude glamour 24/7. She also clashed with her more experienced colleagues, whenever they didn't live up to her standards. Nonetheless, Katherine made a big splash in her film debut, A Bill of Divorcement (1932). For her 3rd film, Morning Glory (1933), Katherine won an Academy Award for her portrayal of an aspiring actress. However, her highly-publicized return to Broadway, in The Lake (1933) flopped. Her following films, Little Women (1933) & Alice Adams (1935) were relatively well received by audiences but historical films such as, Mary of Scotland (1936), A Woman Rebels (1936) & Quality Street (1937) were panned by critics and moviegoers alike. Katherine gained some lost ground with the release of the comedic films, Bringing Up Baby & Holiday, both released in 1938 and co-starring Cary Grant. Unfortunately, it was too little too late, a group of leading film critics labelled, Katherine as "box-office poison".

Undeterred by this, Katherine accepted a role specifically for her, in the Broadway comedy, The Philadelphia Story (1938), about a socialite whose ex-husband tries to win her back. It was a huge success and Katherine bought the motion picture rights to the play. For the 1940 film, she teamed up with George Cukor (the director of A Bill of Divorcement) and Cary Grant, the film was hugely successful and served as a kick-starter for Katherine's career in Hollywood. She returned occasionally to Broadway in a number of plays later on, notably in the musical, Coco (1968) but largely remained a film actress for the rest of her career. Her reputation in Hollywood grew with the cinematic victories of films like, The African Queen (1951), where she played a missionary who escapes from German troops with the aid of a riverboat captain played by, Humphrey Bogart & Summertime (1955), a love story set in Venice. In A Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), Katherine plays a mother who struggles with a drug addiction.

Katherine won a 2nd Academy Award for, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, a drama-comedy about interracial marriage; a 3rd for, The Lion in Winter (1968), where she played Eleanor of Aquitaine & a unprecedented 4th Academy for, On Golden Pond (1981), about a New England couple who were married for many years. She held a record with 12 Academy Awards, which was only broken by Meryl Streep, in 2003.

Katherine also frequently appeared on television, in the 1970's & 80's. She was nominated for an Emmy, for her memorable portrayal of Amanda Wingfield, in Tennesse Williams', The Glass Menagerie (1973) and she won an Emmy for her performance opposite Laurence Olivier, in Love Amoung Ruins (1975), which reunited her with her favorite director, George Cukor. Though suffering an increasingly worsening neurological disease, Katherine continued to stay active into the early '90's, appearing in prominent roles including, Love Affair (1994), which would be her last film.

Katherine was married once, to Philadelphia broker, Ludlow Ogden Smith but they were divorced in 1934. While filming, Woman of the Year in 1942, Katherine became intimate with her co-star, Spencer Tracy, with whom she would appear in films such as, Adam's Rib (1948) & Pat & Mike (1952). Spencer & Mary never married, Spencer was Roman Catholic and refused to divorce his wife but they remained close, both personally and professionally, until Spencer's death in 1967, just days after the filming of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? wrapped. Katherine had set aside her acting career for nearly 5 years, to nurse Spencer during his last illness. In 1999, The American Film Institute named Katherine Hepburn the top female American screen legend, of all time. She published a series of autobiographies including, Me: Stories of My Life (1991). Katherine Hepburn died on, June 29, 2003, in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katharine-Hepburn