She's not "outdoorsey", she's athletic.
"I don't know what it is, but I've got it."
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (1907 - 2003) was, according to the American Film Institute, the greatest female star ever to grace American cinema.
Katharine Hepburn, or "The Great Kate," had quite possibly the longest starring career ever seen in Hollywood. Her first film,
A Bill of Divorcement, hit theaters in 1932; her last,
Love Affair, was released in 1994. For those who hate math, Hepburn was a big-screen regular for six decades.
Her
first real success was in the 1933 release of
Little Women, playing Jo March; Hepburn broke box office records as the feisty, red-haired heroine. Before
Little Women was ever released, however, she had already won her first Oscar. She wouldn't win her next for over thirty years, but when she did, she went an unheard-of three for three on her last three nominations, nominated (and winning) in 1967, 1968 (one of only two actresses to win back-to-back), and 1981.
After
Little Women, Hepburn unfortunately hit a rough patch. For a number of years, she was given unsuitable roles by RKO, in films such as
The Little Minister,
Mary of Scotland,
Sylvia Scarlet, and
Quality Street. Even parts well-regarded now, such as her turn as the title character in
Alice Adams, Susan Vance in
Bringing Up Baby, Terry Randall in
Stage Door (which provided her
Signature Line, "The calla lilies are in bloom again..."), and Linda Seton in
Holiday failed to break her reputation as "box office poison." However, 1939 marked her triumphant return as Tracy Lord in
The Philadelphia Story. A long string of memorable films followed, among them
The African Queen (opposite the legendary
Humphrey Bogart),
Long Day's Journey Into Night,
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and
The Lion in Winter. She also made nine films — largely romantic comedies — with Spencer Tracy, whom she met on the set of their first film,
Woman of the Year. The couple
became romantically involved during that film and, in spite of Tracy's marriage to another woman whom he refused to divorce, remained together until Tracy's death in 1967. Hepburn categorically refused to watch
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, their last film together, because the memories of Tracy were too painful for her.
Hepburn is famous for winning four Oscars out of twelve nominations, all for Best Actress. Her next closest competitor, the great
Meryl Streep, has seventeen nominations under her belt — fourteen for Best Actress, three for Best Supporting Actress — and three wins, two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress.
Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for her portrayal of Hepburn in the
Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic
The Aviator, making Hepburn the only Oscar winner to be played by someone who would win an Oscar for the role.
She was also noted for:
- Never attending the Oscar ceremony as a nominee (she did attend as a presenter in 1974).
- Rarely, if ever, wearing skirts or dresses offscreen — she preferred slacks.
- And this was long before it was widely common or acceptable for women to do so... legend has it that one studio tried to force her to wear skirts by confiscating all of her slacks while she was out of her trailer. She responded by walking around the set in her underwear until she embarrassed the studio into giving them back.
- Being tart and abrasive, which led some of her Hollywood detractors to nickname her "Katherine of Arrogance."
- Writing a best-selling book, The Making of The African Queen: or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, a memoir of her time making the eponymous film.
- Her striking face and auburn hair.
- Her height — she was one of Hollywood's tallest leading ladies to date at 5'7".
- Making a lot of films with George Cukor, with whom she got on famously.
- Being something of a Deadpan Snarker.
No, she's not related to
Audrey Hepburn. (She was from across the pond.)
Some notable films Katharine Hepburn appeared in include:
Tropes that fit her include:
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