Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003) was a notable American film and stage actress. She was nominated for twelve Best Actress Academy Awards, more than any other actress, and was awarded a record four.

Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut and was educated at Bryn Mawr College; she received her degree in 1928 and debuted on Broadway that same year in Night Hostess.

In 1932 her screen-test for RKO gained her a role in the George Cukor film A Bill of Divorcement (1932), opposite John Barrymore. In Woman of the Year (1942), she made her first appearance opposite Spencer Tracy, launching one of Hollywood's most famous romances. She and Tracy made a total of nine films together including Adam's Rib and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Though they were together until Tracy's death in 1967, the couple never married - reportedly because Tracy, a devout Catholic, would not divorce his wife. Hepburn had previously married and divorced Ludlow Ogden Smith and also 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.

Her autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life, was published in 1991. She died on June 29, 2003 at 2:50 p.m., at Fenwick, the Hepburn family home, in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was 96. 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.

Stage work

• These Days - 1928
• Art and Mrs. Bottle - 1930
• The Warrior's Husband - 1932
• The Lake - 1933
• Jane Eyre - 1937
• The Philadelphia Story - 1939
• Without Love - 1942
• As You Like It - 1950
• The Millionairess - 1952
• The Merchant of Venice; Measure for Measure; The Taming of the Shrew - 1955, On tour in Australia with the Old Vic
• The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado About Nothing - 1957, Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare Theatre
• Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night - 1960, Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare Theatre
• Coco - 1969
• A Matter of Gravity - 1976
• The West Side Waltz - 1981

Filmography

Further reading

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Katharine Hepburn

• Me, Stories of My Life, Katharine Hepburn, Knopf, 1991
• The Making of the African Queen Katharine Hepburn, Knopf, 1987
• IMDb filmography (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/)
• An Uncommon Woman: Katharine Hepburn (http://home.nyc.rr.com/alweisel/premierekatharinehepburn.htm)

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