50 Fun Facts About Katharine Hepburn

How many Academy Awards for Best Actress did Katharine Hepburn win, a record that still stands?

She won for Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond.

In which Connecticut city was Katharine Hepburn born in 1907?

Her father was a urologist at the city hospital and her mother a feminist campaigner; she was buried there in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

At which college did Hepburn begin acting?

She went mainly to satisfy her mother, who had studied there, and found the experience unfulfilling.

What daily habit did young Hepburn keep, believing "the bitterer the medicine, the better"?

Her father taught the children to swim, dive, ride, wrestle and play golf and tennis.

In which sport did the teenage Hepburn reach the semi-final of a Connecticut young women's championship?

She took daily lessons, and her athleticism later inspired Garson Kanin to write Pat and Mike.

What tragedy did the 13-year-old Hepburn discover in New York in March 1921?

The family always denied it was suicide, and for years she used his birthday as her own.

In which book did Hepburn finally reveal her true birth date?

Her 1991 autobiography also settled decades of confusion caused by her using her late brother's birthday.

Whom did Hepburn marry in December 1928 after quitting a play only two weeks in?

They divorced in Mérida, Yucatán, in 1934, and she never married again.

For which studio did Hepburn make her first film, A Bill of Divorcement, in 1932?

She demanded $1,500 a week as an unknown, and director George Cukor persuaded the studio to pay it.

Which star played opposite Hepburn in her screen debut, A Bill of Divorcement?

She showed no sign of intimidation, and RKO signed her to a long-term contract on the strength of the film.

For which 1933 film, only her third, did Hepburn win her first Academy Award?

She played aspiring actress Eva Lovelace, a role originally intended for Constance Bennett.

Which of the March sisters did Hepburn play in Little Women (1933)?

She later said, "I defy anyone to be as good [as Jo] as I was."

How many films did Hepburn make with director George Cukor?

The last was the 1979 television movie The Corn Is Green, filmed in Wales.

Which 1935 film paired Hepburn with Cary Grant for the first time?

Critics disliked it and the public stayed away, one of four flops in a row.

What animal does Hepburn's flighty heiress lose in Bringing Up Baby (1938)?

Howard Hawks's screwball comedy was acclaimed by critics but flopped at the box office.

What label did the Independent Theatre Owners of America attach to Hepburn in 1938?

RKO then offered her a B movie called Mother Carey's Chickens, and she left Hollywood for the stage.

Which partner bought Hepburn the film rights to The Philadelphia Story before the play had even opened?

She sold them to MGM on condition that she starred, and chose Cukor, James Stewart and Cary Grant.

Which playwright wrote The Philadelphia Story, Holiday and Without Love, all associated with Hepburn?

He had once bluntly told her she "weren't very good" after firing her from The Animal Kingdom.

Which co-star won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story?

Hepburn ceded top billing to Grant and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award herself.

Which 1942 film was the first of nine that Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy?

On their first day she said she was too tall for him; he promised to cut her down to his size.

How many films did Hepburn and Spencer Tracy make together?

Their relationship on and off screen lasted until his death in 1967.

Which writing couple created Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike specifically for Tracy and Hepburn?

Kanin got the idea for Pat and Mike watching Hepburn play tennis one day.

Which was Hepburn's own favourite of her nine films with Tracy?

The 1952 sports comedy was also the last film she completed on her MGM contract.

Whom did Hepburn replace at the last minute in Frank Capra's State of the Union (1948)?

She agreed only days before shooting began, and appeared with Tracy for a third consecutive year the following year in Adam's Rib.

The African Queen (1951) was Hepburn's first film in what?

It was shot mostly on location in the Belgian Congo, and Bogart won his only Oscar for it.

Where was The African Queen mostly filmed?

Co-star Humphrey Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for the film.

Which David Lean romantic drama, set in Venice, earned Hepburn an Oscar nomination in 1955?

She said her Jane Hudson, like Rosie Sayer and Lizzie Curry, was really herself.

In which Tennessee Williams adaptation did Hepburn play Violet Venable opposite Elizabeth Taylor?

Williams later wrote The Night of the Iguana with her in mind, but she turned it down.

For which Eugene O'Neill adaptation did Hepburn win the Best Actress award at Cannes?

She called morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone the most challenging female role in American drama and her own best screen work.

How many days after filming his last scene in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner did Spencer Tracy die?

Hepburn had taken years off to care for him, and the film brought her second Oscar, 34 years after her first.

Which historical queen did Hepburn play in The Lion in Winter (1968)?

She called the part fascinating and won a second Oscar in a row, shared with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.

With whom did Hepburn share the 1968 Best Actress Oscar in a tie?

Streisand won for Funny Girl in the same year Hepburn won for The Lion in Winter.

Which fashion designer did Hepburn play in a 1969 Broadway musical?

She said the show was the first time she accepted the public actually seemed to love her.

For which 1975 television film with Laurence Olivier did Hepburn win her only Emmy?

It was a London-set Edwardian drama that drew high ratings.

How many times did Hepburn attend the Academy Awards ceremony?

She went to present the Irving G. Thalberg award, got a standing ovation and joked that nobody had shouted "It's about time".

With which star did Hepburn appear in the 1975 western Rooster Cogburn?

It was a sequel to his Oscar-winning True Grit.

Who bought the screen rights to On Golden Pond so that her father could star opposite Hepburn?

Hepburn played quirky Ethel Thayer opposite Henry Fonda and won her record fourth Oscar.

What was On Golden Pond's box-office ranking for 1981?

It also won Hepburn a second BAFTA.

What was Hepburn's final theatrically released film, made in 1994 at the age of 87?

She played a supporting role alongside Annette Bening and Warren Beatty.

How old was Katharine Hepburn when she died in 2003?

She died of cardiac arrest at the family home in Fenwick, Connecticut, and Broadway dimmed its lights.

What is the record time span between Hepburn's first and last Oscar nominations?

They ran from Morning Glory in 1933 to On Golden Pond in 1981.

How many feature films did Hepburn appear in over her 66-year career?

She also made 8 television movies and appeared in 33 plays.

Which organisation named Hepburn the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999?

Adam's Rib and Woman of the Year also made its list of the greatest American comedies.

Which actress won an Oscar for playing Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator?

The film covers Hepburn's late-1930s relationship with Howard Hughes.

What item of clothing did Hepburn famously wear before it was fashionable for women?

Off screen she usually wore slacks and sandals, even for formal occasions and television interviews.

Why did Hepburn have her husband Ludlow rearrange his name to S. Ogden Ludlow?

They married in December 1928 when she was 21; she never fully committed to the marriage.

Hepburn made her only Oscar-night appearance in 1974 to present the Thalberg Award to whom?

She got a standing ovation and joked she was glad nobody shouted 'It's about time'.

Which low-budget 1976 family film became one of Hepburn's biggest misfires through poor distribution?

It could not find a major-studio distributor and was released independently in 1978 to very few theatres.

In which country did Hepburn film Euripides' The Trojan Women (1971) with Vanessa Redgrave?

Critic Andrew Britton said her 1970s roles were 'either a devouring mother or a batty old lady living alone'.

In which Connecticut town did Hepburn's summer-stock success in 1931 first make her a hit?

That summer Philip Barry asked her to appear in The Animal Kingdom with Leslie Howard.