Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (12 Mey 1907 – 29 Juin 2003) wis an American actress kent for her fairce unthirldom an speeritit personality, that wis a leadin leddy in Hollywood for mair nor 60 years. She appeared in a range o genres, from screwball comedy tae leeterar drama, an she received a record (for ony gender) fower Academy Awairds for Lead Actin Performances, plus aicht forder nominations. In 1999, Hepburn wis named bi the American Film Institute the greatest female starn o Clessic Hollywood Cinema.

Katharine Hepburn
Portrait o Hepburn, aged 33
Studio publicity photograph, c. 1941
BornKatharine Houghton Hepburn
12 Mey 1907(1907-05-12)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Dee'd29 Juin 2003(2003-06-29) (aged 96)
Fenwick, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materBryn Mawr College
ThriftActress
Years active1928–1994
Hauf-marrae(s)Ludlow Ogden Smith (m. 1928; div. 1934)
Pairtner(s)Spencer Tracy (1941–1967, his daith)
KinSee Houghton faimily
AwairdsFull leet

Raised in Connecticut bi walthy, progressive paurents, Hepburn begoud tae act while studyin at Bryn Mawr College. Favourable reviews o her wark on Broadway brocht her tae the attention o Hollywood. Her early years in film war marked wi success, includin an Academy Awaird for Best Actress for her third pictur, Morning Glory (1933), but this wis follaed bi a series o commercial failyies culminatin in the creetically laudit but commercially unsuccessfu comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), a pairin wi Cary Grant. Hepburn mastermyndit her awn comeback, buyin oot her contract wi RKO Radio Pictures an acquirin the film richts tae The Philadelphia Story, that she sauld on the condeetion that she be the starn. That comedy film, again co-starnin Cary Grant, wis a box office success an laundit her a third Academy Awaird nomination, plus wan her ither co-starn, James Stewart, his anerly Academy Awaird. Baith movies are nou conseedert amang the greatest comedy films.

In the 1940s, she begoud focusin on a screen an romantic partnership wi Spencer Tracy, that spanned 26 years an nine movies, awtho the romance wi the mairied Tracy wis hidden frae the public. The pairtnership begoud wi Woman of the Year (1942), conteena'd wi Adam's Rib (1949), baith bein "battle o the sexes" romantic comedies, an concludit wi the race-issue drama Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), an aw starnin Sidney Poitier; Tracy dee'd shortly efter the movie's filmin.

Hepburn challenged hersel in the latter hauf o her life, as she tackled Shakespearean stage productions an a range o leeterar roles. She foond a niche playin middle-aged spinsters, sic as in The African Queen (1951), that laundit her anither Academy Awaird nomination an co-star Humphrey Bogart his sole Academy Awaird. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) wis anither commercial an creetical success an laundit her anither Oscar nomination. Hepburn earned three mair Oscars for her wark in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), an On Golden Pond (1981), co-starnin Henry Fonda, that wan his anerly Academy Awaird for the movie. In the 1970s, she begoud appearin in telly films, that later becam the focus o her career. She made her feenal screen appearance at the age o 87. Efter a period o inacteevity an ill heal, Hepburn dee'd in 2003 at the age of 96.

Hepburn famously shunned the Hollywood publicity machine, an refuised tae conform tae society's expectations o weemen. She wis ootspoken, assertive, an athletic, an wuir pants afore thay war fashionable for weemen. She wis briefly mairied as a young wumman, but efter leeved independently. Wi her unconventional lifestyle an the independent chairacters she brocht tae the screen, Hepburn epitomised the "modren wumman" in the 20t-century Unitit States, an is remembered as an important cultural feegur.