Katharine Hepburn

Hepburn's early years

Her father insisted that his children be athletic, and encouraged swimming, riding, golf and tennis — a characteristic for which Hepburn would later become recognized. Hepburn excelled at physicality, fearlessly performing her own pratfalls in films such as Bringing Up Baby, which is now held up as an exemplar of screwball comedy.

She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, receiving her drama degree in 1928, the same year she debuted on Broadway after landing a bit part in Night Hostess. A banner year for Hepburn, 1928 also marked her nuptuals to socialite businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith, whom she had met at Bryn Mawr. Hepburn and Smith's marriage was rocky from the start—she insisted that he change his name to S. Ludlow Ogden, so she would not be called the "too ordinary" name of "Mrs. Smith". Succumbing to the pressures created by Hepburn's burgeoning film career, the couple divorced in 1934.

Hepburn's film career begins

But in true Hepburn fashion, she demanded an outlandish $1,500 per week for film work (at the time she was earning $80 per week). After seeing her screen test for A Bill of Divorcement (1932), RKO agreed to her demands and cast her, launching her film career aside legendary actor John Barrymore and director George Cukor, who would become a lifetime friend.

Though she was headstrong, her work ethic and talent were undeniable, and the following year (1933), Hepburn won her first Oscar for best actress in \Morning Glory. That same year, Hepburn played Jo in the screen adaptation of Little Women, which broke box-office records. In 1935, in the title role of the film Alice Adams, Hepburn earned her second Oscar nomination. By 1938 Hepburn was a bona-fide star, and her foray into comedy with the film Bringing Up Baby was well-received both critically and at the box office. But it was not enough to rescue her from an earlier series of flops such as The Little Minister (1934), Spitfire (1934) and Break of Hearts (1935), and her career began to decline.

Box office poison

She could also be prickly with fans—though she relented as she aged, in her early career Hepburn often denied requests for autographs. She was saddled with the label "difficult to work with", an attitude that earned her the nickname "Katharine of Arrogance" among directors and crew. Soon audiences began staying away from her movies.

In 1939, Hepburn's career came to what was perhaps its lowest point when she lost out on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. It was around this time that a publication branded her "box office poison". Hepburn's retort was quick and telling: "Not everyone is lucky enough to understand how delicious it is to suffer."

Smarting, Hepburn returned to her roots on Broadway, appearing in The Philadelphia Story, a play which Philip Barry, the screenwriter for an earlier Hepburn film Holiday, wrote especially for her. She played spoiled socialite Tracy Lord to rave reviews. On the advice of millionaire Howard Hughes, who at the time was her lover, she purchased the rights to the play and turned it into a hit movie, which she appeared in with Cary Grant and James Stewart and was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Her career was revived.

Hepburn and Spencer Tracy

Hepburn in all filmed nine movies with Tracy, including Adam's Rib and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, for which Hepburn won her third Best Actress Oscar. They are one of Hollywood's most recognizable screen pairs, and have in large part become the standard by which other screen romances are judged. Hepburn, with her sharp wit and New England brogue, complemented Tracy's easy working-class machismo, and he seemed to be the only one Hepburn would allow to tame her. When Joseph Mankiewicz introduced them, Hepburn said "I'm afraid I'm too tall for you, Mr. Tracy." Mankiewicz retorted: "Don't worry, he'll soon cut you down to size."

As The London Telegraph observed in Hepburn's obituary, "Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were at their most seductive when their verbal fencing was sharpest: it was hard to say whether they delighted more in the battle or in each other."

The pair were openly in love with one another but never married, though Tracy lived with Hepburn. Tracy, a devout Catholic, had been married to another woman since 1928 and remained so until his death. Hepburn, out of respect for his family, did not attend Tracy's funeral.

Before Tracy, Hepburn had relationships with Leland Hayward and Howard Hughes. Hepburn figures in Martin Scorsese's 2004 biopic of Hughes, The Aviator, portrayed by actress Cate Blanchett, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Blanchett, who thanked Hepburn during her acceptance speech, had carried one of Hepburn's silk gloves in her purse during the Oscars for luck.

The African Queen

Filmed on location in Africa, most of the cast and crew suffered from malaria and diarrhea — except director John Huston and Bogart, neither of whom ever drank any water. The trip and the movie made such an impact on her that she wrote a book about that portion of her life: The Making of The African Queen: Or, How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, which made her a best-selling author at the age of 77.

Later Film Career

Hepburn continued to do filmed stage dramas, including The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), The Trojan Women (1971) by Euripides, and Edward Albee's A Declicate Balance (1973). In 1973 she first appeared in an original television production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. Two years later Hepburn received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy for Love Among the Ruins, which co-starred Laurence Olivier and was directed by George Cukor. Hepburn also appeared opposite John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn (a.k.a. Rooster Cogburn and the Lady), which was basically The African Queen done as a Western. Hepburn won her fourth Oscar for [On Golden Pond] (1981) opposite Henry Fonda. Her final movie role was as Ginny in the 1994 remake of Love Affair and that same year she gave her final performance in One Christmas based on a short story by Truman Capote.

Hepburn's legacy

Her autobiography, , was published in 1991. The book Kate Remembered, by A. Scott Berg, was published a mere 13 days after her death; it documents the friendship between the actress and biographer.

Hepburn's professional legacy is today carried on within her family. Hepburn's niece is actress Katharine Houghton, who appeared with her in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Hepburn's grand-niece is actress Schuyler Grant.

In 2004, in accordance with Hepburn's wishes, her personal effects were put up for auction with Sotheby's in New York. Hepburn had meticulously collected an extraordinary amount of material relating to her career and place in Hollywood over the years. The auction netted several million dollars, which Hepburn willed mostly to her family and close friends.

Stage work