The Life and Times of Katherine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, CT. Her parents were Thomas Norval Hepburn (a doctor) and Katharine Martha Houghton (a suffragette). Katharine had 5 siblings, Tom, Robert, Richard, Marion, and Margaret. It was in 1921 when Katharine found her brother Tom hung from the wood shafts in their aunt's attic. It is unknown if this was suicide or just a stunt gone awry, but nonetheless, this caused Katharine to go into a depression. She even tended to use Tom's birthday as her own.

Katharine Hepburn attended Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1928. This is also when she met and married Ludlow Ogden Smith, who she later divorced 6 years later in 1934. After graduating, she moved to New York, hoping to get a start on her acting career. She got off to a rocky start, with a few successful plays, but mostly flops. Between 1935 and 1938, Katharine gained the nickname "Box Office Poison".


It was in 1940 when she starred in A Philadelphia Story, a film that became a box office hit and rid her of the nickname given to her. Katharine then appeared in Woman of the Year in 1942, co-starring with Spencer Tracy. Their relationship lasted for about 25 years, or eight more films.

In the 1950's, Katharine's roles changed to "middle aged spinster" roles. It was in the 1970's that she started acting in "made for T.V." films, one of which was The Glass Menagerie. During her career which lasted over 50 years, she was awarded 4 Oscars, 21 other awards from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and even a place on the Walk of Fame, as well as 27 nominations. Katharine Houghton Hepburn died at the age of 96 in Old Saybrook, CT on June 29, 2003.


Here is a video on Youtube that shows two scenes from the film A Philadelphia Story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH2DKZ-2m74

Sources:

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/bio
• http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/katharine-hepburn/
• http://www-scf.usc.edu/~kristena/bio.html
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/awards

This blog was posted by Robert Edwards of the English Hawks, period 2 English class. Other members of the group are Shamelle, Tish, Edward, and Nelson.