Name: Katharine Hepburn

Birth Name: Katharine Houghton Hepburn

Birthdate: May 12, 1907

Date of Death: June 29, 2003

Birthplace: Hartford, Conn.

Raised by parents who always encouraged her to speak her mind, Hepburn became known for playing strong, independent women from the moment she decided to become an actress while attending Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Progressively bigger roles in Broadway plays led to film offers and, after a few screen tests, she was cast in A Bill of Divorcement in 1932, her first onscreen performance. With a career that spanned six decades, "Kate" often bounced back and forth between stage and screen, riding a Broadway hit back into Tinseltown after having been famously labeled "box-office poison" following a string of flops. This American icon's formidable resume includes eight Academy Award nominations and four wins for the films: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981).


1. She often wore slacks instead of dresses, decades before it became fashionable for women to do so.
2. She was a leading choice to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939).
3. She appeared in nine films with boyfriend Spencer Tracy.
4. Her affair with Howard Hughes was loosely portrayed by Cate Blanchett and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator (2004). When Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the role, Hepburn became the first previous Oscar winner to become an Oscar-winning movie role.
5. She suffered from pyrophobia, the fear of fire.


"Everyone thought I was bold and fearless, and even arrogant, but inwardly I was always quaking. I've never cared about how afraid I may have been inside; I've always done what I thought I should."


Boyfriend: Spencer Tracy, actor, dated 1940 until his death in 1967
Husband: Ludlow Ogden Smith, married December 12, 1928, divorced September 19, 1942

1993: Golden Globe nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, The Man Upstairs

1982: Academy Award: Best Actress, On Golden Pond; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), On Golden Pond

1969: Academy Award: Best Actress, The Lion in Winter; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), The Lion in Winter

1968: Academy Award: Best Actress, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1963: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, Long Day's Journey Into Night; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), Long Day's Journey Into Night

1960: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, Suddenly, Last Summer; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), Suddenly, Last Summer

1957: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, The Rainmaker; Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama), The Rainmaker

1956: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, Summertime

1953: Golden Globe nomination: Best Motion Picture Actress (Musical/Comedy), Pat and Mike

1952: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, The African Queen

1943: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, Woman of the Year

1941: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, The Philadelphia Story

1936: Academy Award nomination: Best Actress, Alice Adams

1934: Academy Award: Best Actress, Morning Glory

 

FILMS

Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults - (2000) - Featured
Love Affair - (1994) - Actor
One Christmas - (1994) - Actor
The Man Upstairs - (1993) - Actor
World of Stories With Katharine Hepburn - (1993) - Actor
Mrs. Delafield wants to Marry - (1986) - Actor
Grace Quigley - (1985) - Actor
Storytime Classics - Katharine Hepburn's World of Stories - (1983) - Actor
On Golden Pond - (1981) - Actor
The Corn is Green - (1978) - Actor
Love Among the Ruins - (1975) - Actor
Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady) - (1975) - Actor
Glass Menagerie - (1973) - Actor
A Delicate Balance - (1973) - Actor
The Trojan Women - (1971) - Actor
The Madwoman of Chaillot - (1969) - Actor
The Lion in Winter - (1968) - Actor
Lion in Winter, The - 25th Anniversary Edition - (1968) - Actor
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - (1967) - Actor
Long Day's Journey Into Night - (1962) - Actor
Suddenly, Last Summer - (1959) - Actor
Desk Set - (1957) - Actor
The Rainmaker - (1956) - Actor
Summertime - (1955) - Actor
Pat and Mike - (1952) - Actor
The African Queen - (1951) - Actor
Adam's Rib - (1949) - Actor
State of the Union - (1948) - Actor
The Sea of Grass - (1947) - Actor
Undercurrent - (1946) - Actor
Without Love - (1945) - Actor
Dragon Seed - (1944) - Actor
Stage Door Canteen - (1943) - Actor
Woman of the Year - (1942) - Actor
Keeper of the Flame - (1942) - Actor
The Philadelphia Story - (1940) - Actor
Bringing Up Baby - (1938) - Actor
Holiday - (1938) - Actor
Stage Door - (1937) - Actor
Quality Street - (1937) - Actor
Sylvia Scarlett - (1936) - Actor
Mary of Scotland - (1936) - Actor
Alice Adams - (1935) - Actor
Break of Hearts - (1935) - Actor
The Little Minister - (1934) - Actor
Spitfire - (1934) - Actor
Christopher Strong - (1933) - Actor
Little Women - (1933) - Actor
Morning Glory - (1933) - Actor
A Bill of Divorcement - (1932) - Actor