Katharine Hepburn

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May 12, 1907

June 29, 2003 (aged 96) in Fenwick, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, U.S.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn

Spouse Ludlow Ogden Smith (1928–34)

Partner Spencer Tracy (1941–67, his death)

1932 - A Bill Of Divorcement

1933 - Christopher Strong

1933 - Morning Glory

1933 - Little Women

1934 - Spitfire

1934 - The Little Minister

1935 - Break of Hearts

1935 - Alice Adams

1935 - Sylvia Scarlett

1936 - Mary of Scotland

1936 - A Woman Rebels

1937 - Quality Street

1937 - Stage Door

1938 - Bringing Up Baby

1938 - Holiday

1940 - The Philadelphia Story

Women in Defense (1941) (voice)

1942 - Woman of the Year

1942 - Keeper of the Flame

1943 - Stage-Door-Canteen

1944 - Dragon Seed

1945 - Without Love

1946 - Undercurrent

1947 - The Sea of Grass

1947 - Song of Love

1948 - State of the Union

1949 - Adam's Rib

Some of the Best (1949) (uncredited)

1951 - The African Queen

1952 - Pat and Mike

1955 - Summertime

1956 - The Rainmaker

1956 - The Iron Petticoat

1957 - Desk Set

1959 - Suddenly, Last Summer

1962- Long Day's Journey Into Night

The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963) (TV)

1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1968 - The Lion in Winter

The 40th Annual Academy Awards (1968) (TV)

1969 - The Madwoman of Chaillot

The 24th Annual Tony-Awards (1970) (TV)

1971 - The Trojan Women

1973 - A Delicate Balance

The Dick Cavett Show (2 episodes, 1973)

The Glass Menagerie (1973) (TV)

The 46th Annual Academy Awards (1974) (TV)

1975 - Rooster Cogburn

Love Among the Ruins (1975) (TV)

1978 - Olly, Olly, Oxen Free

The Corn Is Green (1979) (TV)

1981 - On Golden Pond

The Barbara Walters Special (1 episode, 1981)

1984 - George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey

George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)

1985 - Grace Quigley

Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) (TV)

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986) (TV)

Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story (2 episodes, 1987)

Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987) (TV)

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life (1987) (TV)

Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988) (TV)

Bacall on Bogart (1988) (TV)

Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues (1988)

American Masters (1 episode, 1989)

Night of 100 Stars III (1990) (TV)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1990) (TV)

The 63rd Annual Academy Awards (1991) (TV) (voice) (uncredited)

The Man Upstairs (1992) (TV)

Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993) (TV)

The Roots of Roe (1993) (TV) (voice)

1994 - Love Affair

One Christmas (1994) (TV)

This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV)

100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994) (TV)

Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell (1995) (TV)

The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996) (voice) (uncredited)

Academy Awards

1982 - Won Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - On Golden Pond (1981)

1969 – Won Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Lion in Winter (1968) Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968)

1968 - Won Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

1963 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

1960 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

1957 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Rainmaker (1956)

1956 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Summertime (1955)

1952 – Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - The African Queen (1951)

1943 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Woman of the Year (1942)

1941 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Philadelphia Story (1940)

1936 - Nominated Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Alice Adams (1935)

1934 - Won Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role - Morning Glory (1933)

American Comedy Awards, USA

1989 - Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy

American Movie Awards

1982 - Won Marquee Best Actress - On Golden Pond (1981)

BAFTA Awards

1983 - Won BAFTA Film Award Best Actress - On Golden Pond (1981)

1969 - Won BAFTA Film Award Best Actress - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

1969 - Won BAFTA Film Award Best Actress - The Lion in Winter (1968)

1958 - Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Foreign Actress - The Rainmaker (1956) USA

1956 - Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Foreign Actress - Summertime (1955) Italy/USA

1953 - Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Foreign Actress - Pat and Mike (1952) USA

Cannes Film Festival

1962 - Won Best Actress - Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

David di Donatello Awards

1968 - Won David Best Foreign Actress (Migliore Attrice Straniera) - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Tied with Faye Dunaway for Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Emmy Awards

1993 - Nominated Emmy Outstanding Informational Special - Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993) (TV) - Shared with: Joan Kramer & David Heeley (Producers)

1986 - Nominated Emmy Outstanding Informational Special - The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986) (TV) - Shared with: George Paris & George Paige (Executive Producers) | David Heeley & Joan Kramer (Producers)

1986 - Nominated Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special - Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986) (TV)

1979 - Nominated Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special - The Corn Is Green (1979) (TV)

1975 - Won Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Love Among the Ruins (1975) (TV)

1974 - Nominated Emmy Best Lead Actress in a Drama - The Glass Menagerie (1973) (TV)

Golden Apple Awards

1981 - Won Golden Apple Female Star of the Year

1975 - Won Golden Apple Female Star of the Year

Golden Globes, USA

1993 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - The Man Upstairs (1992) (TV)

1982 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - On Golden Pond (1981)

1969 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - The Lion in Winter (1968)

1968 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

1963 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

1960 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

1957 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama - The Rainmaker (1956)

1953 - Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy - Pat and Mike (1952)

Hasty Pudding Theatricals, USA

1958 - Woman of the Year

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards

1973 - Won KCFCC Award Best Actress - The Trojan Women (1971). Tied with Cicely Tyson for Sounder (1972)

Laurel Awards

1971 - Won Golden Laurel Star, Female

1970 - Won Golden Laurel Female Dramatic Performance - The Lion in Winter (1968)

1970 - Won Golden Laurel Female Star

1963 - Nominated Golden Laurel Top Female Dramatic Performance - Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) 5th place

1960 - Nominated Golden Laurel Top Female Dramatic Performance - Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) 5th place

Mexican Cinema Journalists

1965 - Won Silver Goddess Best Foreign Actress (Mejor Actriz Extranjera) - Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Montréal World Film Festival

1984 - Won Special Prize of the Jury - Grace Quigley (1984) For interpretation in the film and for exceptional achievements in cinema.

New York Film Critics Circle Awards

1940 - Won NYFCC Award Best Actress - The Philadelphia Story (1940)

People’s Choice Awards

1983 - Won People's Choice Award Favorite Motion Picture Actress - Tied with Jane Fonda

1976 - Won People's Choice Award Favorite Motion Picture Actress

Screen Actors Guild Awards

1995 - Nominated Actor Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries - One Christmas (1994) (TV)

1980 - Life Achievement Award

Venice Film Festival

1934 - Won Golden Medal Best Actress - Little Women (1933)

Walk of Fame

unknown - Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6288 Hollywood Blvd.

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Katharine Hepburn was not only one of the very finest actresses to work in Hollywood, but one of the most unlikely Hollywood stars. She was not, for one thing, conventionally beautiful - although she could, of course, appear quite ravishing, not only as the elegantly attired social aristocrat in The Philadelphia Story (1940), but even in drag in Sylvia Scarlett (1935). Those two films by George Cukor - undoubtedly the director most sympathetic to her talents and crucial to her career - demonstrate the other qualities that make Hepburn so unusual among U.S. movie stars: the slim, sporty, tomboyish androgyny, the almost masculine air of strong-willed independence, the self-confidence and intelligence born of a well-heeled, well-educated, upper-crust New England upbringing.

The daughter of a surgeon and a suffragette, she began acting as a teenager even before going to study at Bryn Mawr College. A year after graduation, she was playing bit parts on Broadway, although her career proceeded in fits and starts due to an outspokenness that provoked arguments with various directors and producers. She made her screen debut playing John Barrymore's daughter in Cukor's A Bill of Divorcement (1932); besides the two aforementioned titles, she would go on to work with him on Little Women (1933), Holiday (1938), Keeper of the Flame (1942), Adam's Rib (1949), Pate and Mike (1952) - these last two co-starring her off-screen partner Spencer Tracy - and Love Among the Ruins (1975) for TV. (Her onscreen chemistry with Tracy was to endure across nine movies.)

For some years she was regarded as "box office poison" by the movie moguls, who didn't really know how to respond to her intellectual superiority, no-nonsense honesty, and thoroughbred sense of dignity. Nevertheless, after a spate of uneven films - of which Alice Adams (1935) and Sylvia Scarlett were by far the best - she hit her stride with Quality Street (1937), Stage Door (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), and Holiday. Starring opposite Cary Grant in the last two, Hepburn revealed a brilliant, brittle talent for both comedy and darker, more serious drama; her deft timing, her nuanced subtlety, and her mercurial intelligence remain undimmed to this day.

Still, Hollywood remained wary and unsure of her commercial potential; passed over for Scarlett O'Hara, Hepburn herself commissioned Philip Barry, author of Holiday, to write The Philadelphia Story. When she played the Tracy Lord part on Broadway it was a smash hit. She next took the property to MGM and, after being rewarded with box-office success and a third Academy Award nomination, she was back in business. Her next project was Woman of the Year (1942), the first of her comedies with Tracy, which also saw a slight softening of Hepburn's persona. This was probably crucial to the growing affection for her on the part of studios and audiences alike; although films like State of the Union (1948), The African Queen (1951), and Summertime (1955) proved her enduring popularity, she had lost some of the sharp, sparky, sexy fire that had made many earlier roles so memorable. She also began to work less frequently, mainly because of her famous but very private affair with Tracy.

Many of Hepburn's movies were theatrical or literary in origin (or, indeed, tone) - Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), Guess who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Trojan Women (1971) - but they became increasingly imbued with a sentimentality quite at odds with her best work, culminating in Rooster Cogburn (1975) and a cameo in Love Affair (1994), where, despite failing health, she emerged from retirement for Warren Beatty. Of her few later roles, only On Golden Pond (1981) - where she sparred with the likewise lovable curmudgeon Henry Fonda - was properly worthy of her talents. She should undoubtedly be remembered primarily for her achievements prior to 1950, which remain, quite simply, magnificent.

"I always wanted to be a movie actress. I thought it was very romantic. And it was."

"I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be inferior."

"Enemies are so stimulating."

"I often wonder whether men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

"I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear."

"Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done."

"Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do."

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."

She did all her own stunts as she felt the stunt woman never stood up straight enough.

She never watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) because it was Spencer Tracy's last film.

She Was with Spencer Tracy the night he died and did not attend his funeral out of respect to his family.

Walked around the studio in her underwear in the early 1930s when the costume department stole her slacks from her dressing room. She refused to put anything else on until they were returned.

She was a direct descendant of Britain's King John through one of his illegitimate children and played King John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in The Lion in Winter (1968).