Hepburn, Katharine (1909-2003)

US actor. An acclaimed actor of the classical Hollywood era, Hepburn won four Academy Awards and was nominated on 12 separate occasions. Feisty self-assurance was her trademark in both comic and dramatic roles. She was a frequent collaborator with the director George Cukor, and appeared in several films with her off-screen partner Spencer Tracy, including Woman of the Year (1942) and Pat and Mike (1952).

Hepburn's many films include Little Women (1933); Sylvia Scarlett (1935), in which she spent much of the film disguised as a boy; Mary of Scotland (1936); the screwball comedies Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), and The Philadelphia Story (1940); and The African Queen (1951).

After a period on the stage she entered Hollywood in 1932, featuring in A Bill of Divorcement. The following year she appeared in Morning Glory and in Dorothy Arzner's Christopher Strong (1933), the first of many roles in which she was able to convey a feminist viewpoint. Latterly, she appeared in Adam's Rib (1949), Summertime (1955), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981), and Love Affair (1994).

Hepburn was named the top female screen legend in an American Film Institute poll in 1999.