Hepburn, Katharine (Houghton)

Hepburn, Katharine [Houghton] (1907–2003), actress. A lithe, horsey beauty with a haughty voice, she enjoyed a long, distinguished career as much by dint of glamour and dedication as by acting abilities. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, educated at Bryn Mawr, and made her acting debut in 1928 with the Edwin Knopf Stock Company in Baltimore in The Czarina. Under the stage name of Katherine Burns she made her New York bow in Night Hostess. Recognition came when she portrayed the determined Amazon Antiope in The Warrior's Husband (1932), but a certain ignominy followed when she attempted the part of Stella Surrege in The Lake (1933). It was of this performance that Dorothy Parker complained Hepburn's gamut of emotions ranged from “A to B.” Although she subsequently toured in the title role of Jane Eyre in 1937, she did not return to Broadway until after she had become a celebrated film star. Her vehicle was The Philadelphia Story (1939), written expressly for her by Philip Barry. The play was a tremendous success, but another Barry play, Without Love (1942), failed. She did not again play Broadway until she essayed Shakespeare's Rosalind in 1950. Moving from Shakespeare to Shaw, Hepburn was the Lady in The Millionairess (1952). In 1957 and 1960 she appeared at the American Shakespeare Festival as Portia, Beatrice, Viola, and Cleopatra. Three later appearances were in lightweight vehicles that ran largely on the strength of her attraction: the famous designer Chanel in the musical Coco (1969), the slightly eccentric Mrs. Basil in A Matter of Gravity (1976), and the old curmudgeon Margaret Mary Elderdice in West Side Waltz (1981). Autobiography: Me, 1991. Biographies: Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Leaming, 1995; Kate Remembered, A. Scott Berg, 2003.