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Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Birthday: 1907-05-12 | Place of Birth: Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Raised in Connecticut by wealthy parents, Hepburn turned to acting after graduation. Favorable reviews of her work on stage in 1932 brought her to the notice of Hollywood. After a few early film successes, including her first Academy Award, for Morning Glory, Hepburn endured a string of flops, which led to her being voted "box office poison". She arranged with playwright Philip Barry to write a play with her in mind, one that smoothed over her prickly public image. This play, The Philadelphia Story, turned out to be a huge success on Broadway. Securing the film rights for herself with the help of Howard Hughes, Hepburn sold them to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on the condition that she reprise her leading role as Tracy Lord. The hit film adaptation revived her flagging career. Throughout her six-decade career, Hepburn co-starred with screen legends including Cary Grant (Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story), Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen), John Wayne (Rooster Cogburn), Laurence Olivier (Love Among the Ruins) and Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond). Her most successful pairing was with Spencer Tracy, with whom she made a string of hit pictures, starting with 1942's Woman of the Year. The last of their nine films together was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), which was completed shortly before Tracy's death. Hepburn holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four out of 12 nominations. She won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins, and was nominated for four other Emmys, two Tony Awards and eight Golden Globes. In 1999, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema. Description above from the Wikipedia article Katharine Hepburn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1994
One Christmas

as    Cornelia Beaumont

1994
Love Affair

as    Ginny

1994
This Can't Be Love

as    Marion Bennett

1992
The Man Upstairs

as    Victoria Brown

1986
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry

as    Margaret Delafield

1981
On Golden Pond

as    Ethel Thayer

1978
Olly, Olly, Oxen Free

as    Miss Pudd

1975
Rooster Cogburn

as    Eula

1973
A Delicate Balance

as    Agnes

1971
The Trojan Women

as    Hecuba

1969
The Madwoman of Chaillot

as    Contessa Aurelia

1968
The Lion in Winter

as    Eleanor of Aquitaine

1967
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

as    Christina Drayton

1964
The Big Parade of Comedy

as    Tracy Lord (archive footage)

1962
Long Day's Journey Into Night

as    Mary Tyrone

1959
Suddenly, Last Summer

as    Violet Venable

1957
Desk Set

as    Bunny Watson

1957
The Iron Petticoat

as    Captain Vinka Kovalenko

1956
The Rainmaker

as    Lizzie Curry

1955
Summertime

as    Jane Hudson

1952
Pat and Mike

as    Patricia "Pat" Pemberton

1952
The African Queen

as    Rose Sayer

1949
Adam's Rib

as    Amanda Bonner

1948
State of the Union

as    Mary Matthews

1947
Song of Love

as    Clara Wieck Schumann

1947
The Sea of Grass

as    Lutie Cameron Brewton

1946
Undercurrent

as    Ann Hamilton