Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an iconic star of American film, television and stage, widely recognized for her sharp wit, New England gentility and fierce independence. A screen legend, Hepburn holds the records for the most Oscars (4) and also Best Actress nominations (12). Hepburn won an Emmy Award in 1975 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins, and was nominated for four other Emmys and two Tony Awards during the course of her more than 70-year acting career. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Hepburn the greatest actress of all time. Hepburn had a famous and long-time romance with Spencer Tracy, both on- and off-screen.

Hepburn's early years

Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn, a successful urologist, and Katharine Houghton, a suffragette and birth control advocate who, along with Margaret Sanger, helped to found the organization that became Planned Parenthood. Hepburn's father was a staunch proponent of publicizing the dangers of venereal disease in a time when such things were not discussed, and her mother campaigned for birth control and equal rights for women. The Hepburns demanded frequent familial discussions on these topics and more, and as a result the Hepburn children were well-versed in social and political issues. Once a very young Katharine Hepburn even accompanied her mother to a suffrage rally. The Hepburn children, at their parents' encouragement, were unafraid of expressing frank views on various topics, including sex. "We were snubbed by everyone, but we grew quite to enjoy that," Hepburn later said of her unabashedly liberal family, who she credited with giving her a sense of adventure and independence.

Related Topics:
Hartford, Connecticut - Urologist - Suffragette - Birth control - Margaret Sanger - Planned Parenthood - Venereal disease

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Her father insisted that his children be athletic, and encouraged swimming, riding, golf and tennis. Hepburn, eager to please her father, emerged as a fine athlete in her late teens, winning a bronze medal for figure skating from the Madison Square Garden skating club, shooting golf in the low eighties, and reaching the semi-final of the Connecticut Young Women's Golf Championship. Hepburn especially enjoyed swimming, and regularly took dips in the frigid waters that fronted her bayfront Connecticut home, generally believing that "the bitterer the medicine, the better it was for you." She continued her brisk swims well into her 80's. Hepburn would come to be recognized for her athletic physicality — she fearlessly performed her own pratfalls in films such as Bringing Up Baby, which is now held up as an exemplar of screwball comedy.

Related Topics:
Swimming - Riding - Golf - Tennis - Madison Square Garden - Connecticut - Bringing Up Baby - Screwball comedy

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When Hepburn was young, she found her older brother, whom she idolized, hanging from the rafters by a rope, dead of an apparent suicide. Her family denied that it was self-inflicted, arguing that he had been a happy boy; rather, they insisted that it must have been an experimentation gone awry. Hepburn was devastated by his death, and for years used his birthday as her own. It was not until she wrote her autobiography, ', that Hepburn revealed her true birth date.

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She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, receiving a degree in history and philosophy in

Related Topics:
Bryn Mawr College - Degree - History - Philosophy - 1928 - Broadway - Night Hostess

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A banner year for Hepburn, 1928 also marked her nuptials to socialite businessman Ludlow ("Luddy") Ogden Smith, whom she had met while attending Bryn Mawr and married after a short engagement. Hepburn and Smith's marriage was rocky from the start — she insisted he change his name to S. Ogden Ludlow so she would not be called "Kate Smith." They were divorced in Mexico in 1934. Fearing that the Mexican divorce was not legal, Ludlow got a second divorce in the United States in 1942 and a few days later remarried. Although the marriage was a failure, Hepburn often expressed her gratitude toward Ludlow for his financial and moral support in the early days of her career.

Related Topics:
Socialite - Ludlow ("Luddy") Ogden Smith - Mexico - 1934 - 1942

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