American actress Katherine Hepburn: biography, filmography, personal life, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Katharine Hepburn, whose biography will be presented in the article, is one of the greatest actresses of classical Hollywood. She has been on stage for over sixty years and has been awarded several Oscars for her outstanding work.

Childhood and youth

Hepburn Katherine was born in a state called Connecticut in 1907. She was the second of six children in the family. Her parents worked in a hospital. Both occupied an active social and public position. In many ways, the nature of the parents and their activities left their mark on the young Katherine, who in life was also distinguished by energy and enviable independence. Actress Katharine Hepburn has always been close to her family.

As a child, Katherine was a tomboy. She gave odds to many boys from the street. I must say, her father was very responsible for the he althy lifestyle of children, so they constantly went in for sports, whether it was swimming, running, playing tennis or golf.

From early childhood, Hepburn Katharine had one great love. This movie. She dreamed of becoming an actress and withfor twelve years, put on wonderful performances at home every week.

In 1921, a terrible tragedy happened. Katherine found her brother Tom hanged. This terrible incident unsettled her. The girl suffered so much that she became afraid of people, stopped attending school and switched to home schooling.

Education

In 1924, Hepburn entered Bryn Mawr College. It was the wish of a mother who had once studied there. The first classes were given to Katherine with difficulty, because several years before that she had been a recluse. Her classmates thought she was strange and very shy.

There was a theater club in college, which you could get into only with good grades. Katherine did this too. Soon she began to get the main roles, and the girl became stronger in the idea that she should build a theatrical career.

Hepburn College Katherine graduated in 1928 (History and Philosophy).

Career start

Katherine went to B altimore. Edward Knopf, the owner of the theater company, was amazed by the girl's talent and offered her a small role in the play "Queen". The debut was highly acclaimed by critics, but Hepburn had flaws in speech. She went to New York to solve these problems of hers.

In the big city, Knopf put the girl understudy of the leading lady in the play "Big Pond". But soon Katherine herself shone on this stage, although less than a month had passed since the beginning of her theatrical career.

In 1928 she made her debut on Broadway. However, the show was not well received and was canceled soon after.

For some time she worked as an understudy for leading actresses in New York theaters, and in the spring of 1930, Catherine Hepburn joined a theater troupe in Massachusetts.

Katherine had to endure many rejections before she started getting decent jobs. But she waited. In 1932, the play "Woman Warrior" took place on the stage of Broadway, where the actress demonstrated not only her talent, but also her excellent physical fitness.

The show ran for three months, and Hepburn was hailed by critics.

Success in Hollywood

One Hollywood agent saw Katherine in a show on Broadway and was incredibly struck by her beauty and artistry. He suggested that she sign a contract with a film company. The actress requested an unprecedented price for an aspiring artist, but her request was granted and the contract was signed.

Hepburn starred in films based on second-rate novels or not very talented scripts, but despite this (apparently due to the character of the girl), the films were very popular with the audience.

Her debut was the picture "Bill of Divorce". This was followed by "Little Women", "Alice Adams", "Mary of Scotland". Everywhere Katherine was in the lead role.

By the way, the film "Little Women", for which the actress received the prize of the Venice Film Festival, remained Katherine's favorite film until the end of her career.

At the end of 1933Hepburn was a respected film actress, whose opinion everyone reckoned with. But she craved theatrical fame. In order for the producers of the film company to let her go to Broadway, Hepburn had to agree to participate in a film that she did not like.

But things didn't work out in the theater either. Production on the play was h alted and the actress returned to California.

Unexpected failure

The next four years were somewhat unsuccessful for the actress, although she was nominated for an Oscar. However, most of the films released during this period, contrary to the expectations of the film company, failed at the box office. And the critics did not leave the actress alone.

Along with a string of unpopular films, Hepburn personally had problems. She had a very difficult relationship with the press: she could be rude or sarcastic, did not give autographs and interviews, and avoided publicity. For this, she was nicknamed "Miss Pride".

Catherine felt she needed a break from the hype and headed back to the East Coast. She was to play a role in a play based on Jane Eyre. The performance was received very friendly.

In late 1936, Hepburn tried to get the part of Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. The reason for the rejection was that Katherine was not sexy enough. Katharine Hepburn, whose figure parameters were ideal, with her characteristic categoricalness did not accept any apologies from the producers, but began acting in a new film.

But neither "The Service Entrance to the Theatre" nor "The Holiday" made an impression on the audience and critics. The last straw was the wacky comedy Bringing Up Baby, where Hepburn played an eccentric heiress who tries to woo a paleontologist (Cary Grant played him). Critics responded neutrally about the picture, but the viewer did not go to it at all. The company again suffered losses. Streams of mud immediately poured on Katherine, the "yellow press" claimed that only this actress is the reason for the failures of recent films.

Katherine was almost crushed. She decided to leave the cinema forever. For the next two years, the actress turned down any job offers.

Rebirth

Katharine Hepburn, whose films have left so much hype in the press, returned to the screens in 1940. It was the picture "Philadelphia story". Instead of a fee for the role, the actress took the rights to the theatrical production of the same name. The return was a triumph. Katherine was again nominated for an Oscar.

The next film in 1942 was a turning point in the fate of the actress. The picture "Woman of the Year" introduced her to the man of her dreams - Spencer Tracy, and also turned out to be successful.

After that, the star signed a contract with Metro Goldwyn Meyer and returned to Broadway the same year. Success performances brought one name - Katharine Hepburn.

The films where Tracy played alongside her were a resounding financial success. Among them: "Without love", "RibAdam", "Pat and Mike". Together they starred in nine films.

Later career

In 1967, Katherine starred in the same film for the last time with her lover. Painting "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" became the final in the life of Spencer Tracy.

However, after the death of her civil husband, Katherine did not stop filming. She decided to extend her acting life, despite the fact that she was already sixty years old.

Katherine Hepburn, whose filmography consists of more than fifty paintings, played in films until 1994, that is, until the age of eighty-seven. Between 1967 and 1994, she performed seventeen roles and received two more Oscars in addition to the two available.

Also, the actress did not forget her love for the theater and from time to time appeared in new performances.

In the late 1970s, Catherine tried her hand at television for the first time. However, this plan was not very successful, and Hepburn left this idea.

Katherine Hepburn was in no way inferior to her young colleagues in her old age, and even many critics noted that her work in films became more soulful.

Private life

As mentioned earlier, Katherine was quite a private person to the press and the public. She did not stand out from the crowd, excessive attention was alien to her. She was very protective of her privacy and could not only be rude to a reporter, but also knock the camera out of his hands if he tried to take a picture of her.

Katherine Hepburn, whose personal life wassecret behind seven seals, became tolerant of journalists only in the 1970s. Then she gave her first big interview, from which it became known that she was married to broker Ogden Smith until 1934.

But her relationship with Spencer Tracy was not a secret. Now their romance is called legendary in Hollywood. He was married, but did not live with his wife for a long time. However, in order to maintain appearances, he and Katherine carefully concealed their relationship.

During the illness of Tracy Katharine Hepburn, personal life, for which the family was in the first place, refused to work. And after his departure, the actress did not fall in love again.

Recent years. Death

After the end of her career, the he alth of the actress deteriorated. She had pneumonia. In 2003, she was diagnosed with a tumor, but medical intervention could have killed the actress. Until her last days, she was in palliative care.

Katherine Hepburn, whose children were never born, died alone in her home in June 2003.