Katharine Hepburn – Hollywood legend

Katharine Hepburn was an American actress. She was nominated for Oscar twelve times and won it four times – more than any other actor or actress in history. She was recognized the greatest actress in Hollywood history by the American Film Institute. She was a successful actress on the stage and on the screen for over 50 years.
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut. The girl grew up in New England into the family of a doctor, Thomas Norval Hepburn (1879-1962), who worked as urologist in the Hartford Hospital, and a prominent feminist Martha Katherine Houghton Hepburn, who headed the local branch of the suffrage organization. She was one of six children.
At the age of 12 Katharine began to take part in amateur theatricals, in 1928 she made her debut at the theater in Baltimore, and a year later found herself on the Broadway stage.

At the same time she married Philadelphia broker Ogden Smith. In 1934 they divorced. Among her other romantic attachments in the 1930s was the eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes.
In 1932, Hepburn made her debut in the film A Bill of Divorcement.
She won her first Oscar for her third film, Morning Glory (1933).
She tried to get the role of Scarlett O’Hara in the movie “Gone with the Wind,” but was rejected.
The actress returned to the scene, took part in the comedy directed by F. Barry The Philadelphia Story. Instead of the fee she demanded the rights to the play in film adaptation and in 1940 the actress returned to the cinema, starring in the eponymous film.

On the set of the film Woman of the Year (1942) she met Spencer Tracy. They starred together in nine films and their love story lasted for twenty-six years until his death in 1967. Garzon Kening devoted his book Tracy and Hepburn: Personal Memoirs (1972) to their relationship. It became a bestseller.
Katharine Hepburn died on June 29, 2003 at the age of 96.

Katharine Hepburn – Hollywood legend