Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen
In that time she starred in movies such as The African Queen, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner and On Golden Pond and won four Oscars along the way.
Hepburn began acting when she attended Bryn Mawr College and her experience in The Woman in the Moon cemented her desire to become an actress.
She kicked off her acting career in the theatre and between 1928 and 1932 she starred in productions such as The Big Pond and The warrior’s Husband, which proved to be her breakthrough role.
It was with this role that she was spotted by a Hollywood agent who asked her to test for a role in a Bill of Divorcement - which saw her star alongside John Barrymore.
The movie was a hit and there was plenty of praise for Hepburn’s central performance and it kicked off a long working relationship that she had with director George Cukor.
In 1933 she starred in Morning Glory and it was to bring the young Hepburn her first Oscar win for Best Actress as she established herself as a bona fide leading lady.
Despite being a big box office success she returned to the stage as she tackled Broadway as she starred in The Lake, which was produced by Jed Harris.
But the show was not a success as Hepburn was panned and ticket sales slumped and that followed her onto the big screen throughout the middle thirties as the likes of The Little Minister, Spitfire and Break of Hearts all struggled at the box office.
The likes of Bringing Up Baby and Holiday were both received well by the critics but her movies still struggled with cinema go-ers.
Hepburn took a break from the big screen at the end of the thirties as she starred in play The Philadelphia Story which was hugely successful in New York as well as on tour.
The movie was adapted for the big screen with Hepburn in the lead role - it was to be a movie that would reunite her with George Cukor.
The movie was one of the most successful films of 1940 and it re-established Hepburn as one of the Hollywood A-listers. It also earnt her a third Oscar nomination.
Her career took another slump in the forties but all that changed a decade later when she took on roles that were more of a challenge.
In 1951 she starred in The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and it was to be the first film in Technicolor for the actress.
Despite falling ill with dysentery whilst on set in the Congo the actress delivered one of the performances of her career in a movie that has stood the test of time.
Directed by John Huston the film was set in Africa in during the First World War and followed a gin-swilling riverboat owner/captain is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship.
Hepburn’s performance earnt her a fifth Oscar nomination. She would pick up four other nods before she got her second win; 1956 for Summertime, 1957 for The Rainmaker, 1960 for Suddenly, Last Summer and 1963 for Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
It was to be 1968 and her central performance in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? When she finally got her hands on another Oscar. It went on to be the most commercially successful of her career to date as she teamed up with Spencer Tracy for the ninth time.
Just twelve months later she was being honoured by the Academy once again as she picked up another Best actress gong for The Lion In Winter.
She continued to work in the theatre during her success on the big screen but in 1980 she developed a tremor and took two years out to rest.
She returned to film in 1982 with touching drama On Golden Pond which followed an elderly couple struggling with old age.
It was a critical and commercial success and she picked up the final Oscar of her career for her role.
Towards the end of her acting career the actress focused mainly on TV work with Once Christmas in 1994 being her final small screen appearance.
Katharine Hepburn was one of the most strong willed actresses to grace the big screen during the thirties and forties and she really broke the mould for women in Hollywood at that time.
FemaleFirst - Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Humphrey Bogart Morning Glory