Katharine Hepburn Timeline

Katharine Hepburn 30

1921 Her brother Tom dies Hepburn, thirteen, found him in New York For years afterwards she gave his birthday, 8 November, as her own.
1928 Hepburn graduates from Bryn Mawr And goes straight into the theatre against her father's wishes He thought acting was no profession for a Hepburn. She took a job in Baltimore that week.
1928 Hepburn marries Ludlow Ogden Smith A Philadelphia businessman They separated within years. She kept the independence and never married again.
1932 A Bill of Divorcement Her first film, opposite John Barrymore RKO signed her at 1,500 dollars a week after a screen test her agent thought was terrible.
1933 George Cukor's Little Women Katharine Hepburn as Jo RKO's version, directed by George Cukor with Katharine Hepburn as Jo, is a Depression-era hit and wins the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
1934 The first Academy Award Best Actress for Morning Glory She did not attend, and never attended a ceremony to collect any of the four.
1935 Alice Adams A second nomination, and her own favourite performance The small-town girl pretending to a status she does not have.
1938 Bringing Up Baby A leopard, a dinosaur bone and Cary Grant It lost money on release and is now considered the finest screwball comedy ever made.
1938 Box office poison An exhibitors' advertisement names her in a list of stars who cannot sell tickets She bought out her RKO contract and went back to the stage rather than take the parts offered.
1939 The Philadelphia Story opens on Broadway Philip Barry wrote Tracy Lord for her She took no salary and a share of the profits, then bought the film rights outright.
1940 The Philadelphia Story She owned the rights and chose Grant, Stewart and Cukor One of the great comebacks in Hollywood history, engineered entirely by the actress herself.
1942 – 1967 Hepburn and Tracy begin a 26-year relationship Never acknowledged in public while he lived Tracy was Catholic and never divorced. They made nine films together.
1942 Woman of the Year Her first film with Spencer Tracy She was told he might not like her being taller. She said she would cut herself down to size.
1947 Hepburn speaks against the blacklist At Gilmore Stadium, in a red dress, for Henry Wallace She was named in the press for it and did not work in Hollywood for a year.
1951 The African Queen Four months in the Congo with Bogart and Huston Almost everyone got dysentery. Bogart and Huston drank whisky instead of the water and stayed well.
1955 Summertime Shot in Venice, and the cause of a lifelong eye infection She insisted on falling into a Venetian canal herself rather than use a double.
1957 Desk Set Tracy, Hepburn and an early computer A comedy about automation, thirty years before anyone worried about it.
1959 Suddenly, Last Summer Tennessee Williams, and a famous row with Mankiewicz On the last day she asked the director if she was finished, then spat on the floor.
1962 Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Tyrone - the performance critics call her greatest Shared the acting prize at Cannes. She then made no film for five years.
1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner A second Academy Award, thirty-three years after the first Tracy was too ill to be insured. Hepburn and the director put up their own salaries as security.
1967 Spencer Tracy dies Seventeen days after finishing their last film together She never watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and did not go to the funeral.
1968 The Lion in Winter Eleanor of Aquitaine, opposite Peter O'Toole A third Oscar, in a tie with Barbra Streisand - the only tie in the category's history.
1969 Coco opens on Broadway Hepburn sings, at 62, as Coco Chanel She could not really sing. The show ran anyway, on the strength of her alone.
1975 Rooster Cogburn With John Wayne, twenty-four years after The African Queen Two old stars enjoying themselves in a film neither pretended was good.
1981 On Golden Pond A fourth Academy Award, at 74 Still the record for acting Oscars. Henry Fonda won his only one for the same film.
1986 The tremor becomes public A hereditary condition she had lived with for years She refused to hide it, and kept working for another decade.
1991 Me: Stories of My Life Her memoir, written in her own clipped voice A best-seller. She was frank about Tracy for the first time.
1994 Love Affair Her last film, at 87 Four lines of dialogue, and the only reason most people remember the remake.
2003 Katharine Hepburn dies Aged 96, at Fenwick in Old Saybrook Four Oscars, twelve nominations, and sixty-two years between the first and the last.
2004 The Kate Hepburn stamp and the Bryn Mawr archive Her papers and costumes go to the Smithsonian and Bryn Mawr The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center opened at Old Saybrook in 2009.