Katherine Hepburn May 12, 1907-June 29, 2003

Kate Hepburn. What can you really say about her that hasn’t already been said. She went from huge star with a promising future to “box-office poison” (as an ad said of her in the late 30s) to one of the biggest and greatest stars of old Hollywood and then a grand old lady who deserved every bit of respect that she got. On June 29, the movie world (and the world in general) lost one of its brightest stars. Katharine Hepburn passed away in her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was the last bastion of Hollywood Greats. There are a few still left from the period (Olivia de Havilland is one who comes to mind), but none of them have the grandeur or legend that Kate has.

She grew up in New England with a suffragette mother and a surgeon father and one brother, Tom, whom she idolized. After finding him dead of an accidental hanging when she was 14 she took his birthday as her own. Only for a little while, though.

The Hepburns instilled a sense of empowerment in their daughter, encouraging her to build up her body and her mind and to always speak up no matter what. After schooling her at home for much of her life, she went to Bryn Mawr College where she picked up and accent and a love of acting.

After a run of successes on Broadway she made the jump to film in 1932 George Cukor’s A Bill Of Divorcement where she played John Barrymore’s daughter who thought that she might follow in his tragic footsteps.

The film was a hit and so was Katharine. She was soon flooded with offers.

While her next film (1933′s Christopher Strong) was soon forgotten, her third started her phenomenal run as an Oscar contender and she won it on her first nomination. Morning Glory may not have been the greatest film ever, but it made Katharine a star.

Teaming again with Cukor (which she would do 10 times over 47 years), her next film was the smash that she needed to secure her position as one of Hollywood’s top box-office draws. Little Women (still 1933) was the biggest hit of its time and is still considered one of the most perfect literary adaptations ever and one of Kate’s best performances.

It was all downhill from there. After the disappointment of the aptly titled Spitfire (1934) and stories from the Hollywood rumor mill (she refuses to wear dresses!! Only pants for Kate!! GASP!!) Kate went back to Broadway (where Dorothy Parker said that she “ran the gamut of emotions from A to B”) and then started doing period pictures. Her audience wasn’t amused. With only two hits left in the decade (Alice Adams in 1935 and Stage Door in 1937) she was stuck with the infamous label that didn’t plague her for long.

Strangely, this period gave her two of her more enduring films, both in 1938 and both co-starring Carey Grant: the romantic comedy Holiday and screwball classic Bringing Up Baby, which was one of the biggest flops of the late 30s. Now it’s considered one of the best examples of the screwball style and one of Howard Hawks’ most memorable films.

After the disaster that was Bringing Up Baby, Hepburn went back to Broadway to star in a play that was written for her by Philip Barry called The Philadelphia Story. She loved it so much that she bought up the rights for the film version and picked her director (Cukor again) and her to co-stars (Carey Grant and Jimmy Stewart). The film was a hit and is still considered one of her signature roles. Never again would Hollywood doubt the magic of Kate.

With her professional life in order there was only one more aspect to make her happy. Unfortunately it came with strings attached.

In 1942 she was cast opposite Spencer Tracy in a film called Woman Of The Year. The two hit it off on screen and off and started a romance that would last for 25 years until his death. But, due to his staunch Catholicism, he would not divorce his wife. The two were rarely without each other and their relationship was surprisingly well known around Hollywood (and probably outside of it), but he always had to go home to his wife.

The two would be paired up in 9 movies total with Adam’s Rib (1949) often being sited as the best. Sometimes the pairing worked, but sometimes it was just a strange match of actors and film (The Sea Of Grass (1947). I’m sure they didn’t care, though. It gave them more time to be together.

With a secession of hits and misses throughout the rest of the 40s, her next enduring role would come in 1951 when she started to play spinsters. The African Queen would bring her her fifth Oscar nomination and would start her on her way to being the old lady of film.

Her next few films were sometimes great (Pat And Mike with Cukor and Tracy in 1952, Suddenly, Last Summer in 1959) and sometimes overdone (Summertime (1955) and The Rainmaker (1956)), but Kate was always amazing in them. It was one of the best runs of her career.

In 1962 she took a role in Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill’s play about his family life during childhood. She played the lead character’s morphine addicted mother. Spencer was supposed to be in this one as her husband, but, due to ill-health, he backed out. It brought Kate her ninth Oscar nomination.

For five years Kate took care of Spencer turning down many offers to come back to film. She finally did when the two of them could act together again. In 1967 the starred together in what would be Tracy’s final film, the racial tolerance message film Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. Two weeks after filming ended, Tracy died.

But Katharine went on with her life, picking up her second Oscar for Dinner and starring in one of her greatest films, The Lion In Winter (1968). Starring opposite Peter O’Toole as King Henry II (the second time he played this character–the first being in 1964′s Becket, she played Elanor of Aquitaine, his ever-suffering, ever-antagonizing wife. The two had an amazing chemistry together whether they were loving or hateful. The film gave Kate her third Oscar.

A few plays filmed for the screen came next including The Glass Menagerie (1973), which is often considered one of the best filmings of Tennessee Williams’ plays.

In 1975 she was paired again with George Cukor in his first television movie, Love Among The Ruins. She was also paired with Sir Laurence Olivier, who became a friend for the rest of his life.

A few more trifles (the True Grit sequel/African Queen remake Rooster Cogburn (1975) and the kid’s movie Olly Olly Oxen Free (1978) and Kate would make what would prove to be her last Oscar winning film: 1981′s On Golden Pond. It was her 12th nomination and, until this year, the most nominations were hers. (Meryl Streep beat her with Adaptation.)

The film paired her with Henry Fonda (in what would he his final theatrical role) as an old couple coming to terms with their aging and their family. They were perfectly cast in a very sentimental film.

Next up was the bizarre dark comedy Grace Quigley (1985) in which Nick Nolte plays a hitman hired by Quigley (Hepburn, of course) to kill her. The two end up helping one of Grace’s friends to end her suffering. The movie bombed and has sense been pretty much forgotten. (Although I hear that there’s a director’s cut that’s actually good. Who knows?)

Kate ended her career with the occasional TV movie and then one last film. Warren Beatty coaxed her out of retirement for a small role in his own Love Affair (1994). She played his rich aunt and stole the movie from him and Annette Bening.

The rest of her life was lived out the way she wanted to live it out. Alone in the hills of New England. She lived a long and full life and was still considered a Queen of the Screen at 96 years old. She was not nearly as sick as everyone thought (despite her shaking head, she did not have Parkinson’s Disease…it was a hereditary thing) and was always ready to answer questions about her life. (Which is a change from her early life when she was almost killed by an airplane when she was trying to get away from reporters.)

All of that is gone now. We still have her films, but her spirit is gone. Who can take her place in Hollywood? No one. They can only be pale imitators. There may be smart, talented, strong-willed, beautiful women in Hollywood these days, but none of them have faced the opposition that she did. And none of them have come out as far ahead as she did.

Kate Hepburn. She was Hollywood.