Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut, to a suffragist mother and a doctor father, who encouraged her to develop her mind, body, and spirit. As a tomboy, she was close to her brother Tom, but was devastated when he died at 14. She became shy around girls her age and was largely homeschooled.
She attended Bryn Mawr College, where she discovered her passion for acting and appeared in many productions. After graduating, she began landing small roles on Broadway and eventually broke into stardom with her role in "A Warrior's Husband" (1932). She then transitioned to films, starring in "A Bill of Divorcement" (1932) opposite John Barrymore, and won her first Academy Award for "Morning Glory" (1933).
However, her unconventional behavior, including wearing slacks and no makeup, and her refusal to play the Hollywood game, led to negative publicity and a string of flops. She was labeled "box-office poison" and returned to Broadway to star in "The Philadelphia Story" (1938),which was a huge success. She bought the film rights and negotiated her way back to Hollywood on her own terms, starring in "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) and "Woman of the Year" (1942),opposite Spencer Tracy, with whom she had a long-lasting romance and collaborated on many films.
Throughout the 1950s, Hepburn played middle-aged spinster roles, earning numerous Oscar nominations, including for "The African Queen" (1951),"Summertime" (1955),"The Rainmaker" (1956),and "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959). Her film appearances became fewer in the 1960s as she devoted her time to Tracy's ailing health.
After Tracy's death, Hepburn continued to act, making her last film with him in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967),and then appeared in "The Lion in Winter" (1968),which earned her her third Oscar win. In the 1970s, she turned to making made-for-TV films, and continued to make occasional feature film appearances, including "Rooster Cogburn" (1975) with John Wayne and "On Golden Pond" (1981) with Henry Fonda.
She wrote her autobiography, 'Me', in 1991 and retired from public life in the mid-1990s. She died at 96 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
