Katharine was born in 1907, to liberalist parents in Hartford, Connecticut. Her father, Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn, was a urologist who was very public regarding the danger of venereal disease, which was a subject not usually discussed during that time. Her mother, Margaret Sanger, was an advocate of birth control and was also a suffragette. She went on to help found Planned Parenthood.

Both parents were adamant about equal rights for women and made sure that Katharine was not afraid to be frank and speak her mind on any subject. As a young girl, Katharine even attended a suffrage rally with her mother. Her father also insisted that all of the Hepburn children be involved in athletics and Katharine took up swimming, golf, riding, and tennis. She went on to win several championships in golf and continued to swim near her home in Connecticut well into her eighties.

Hepburn attended Bryn Mawr College double majoring in history and philosophy and she graduated in 1928. Later that year she also debuted in her first Broadway play, Night Hostess, and got married to businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith. The outspoken Hepburn insisted that he should change his name to S. Ogden Ludlow so she would not confuse him with the musician Kate Smith. The rocky marriage ended when the couple divorced in Mexico in 1934. Ludlow followed up with a second divorce filing in the United States to make sure the divorce was legal.

Katharine’s first leading role was in the production of The Big Pond. She was quickly hired on as a replacement for the original leading lady. Hepburn was not prepared for the role and had a horrible experience with stage fright and during the performance she forgot her lines, tripped, and spoke so fast that no one could understand her. Hepburn was quickly fired and went back to work as an understudy.

Katharine’s first film was A Bill of Divorcement starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke. She never got along with Barrymore, but the director George Cukor became a lifetime friend. Immediately following her first film, Hepburn starred in two more films the following year, Little Women and Morning Glory; Hepburn won her first Oscar for her part.

Thanks to Hepburn’s persistence in achieving her dreams, she was soon a star. Years of success in both film and stage followed. She starred with the greatest in Hollywood and became a legendary figure in the celebrity world. One of her cult films was the comedy Bringing up Baby. In 1942, Hepburn starred opposite Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year. The two actors fell in love and became one of the most recognizable couples on and off the screen. They never married because Tracy was a devout Roman Catholic who had previously married, but they remained in a committed relationship together until his death. Katherine did not attend his funeral out of respect for his wife.

Prior to her relationship with Tracy, Hepburn had several other affairs with men in Hollywood. Some of her most notable was with her agent, Leland Hayward, and also with the billionaire Howard Hughes. In 2004, Martin Scorsese directed the film, Aviator, which dealt a great deal with the relationship between Hughes and Hepburn, although some of the story was fictionalized. Cate Blanchett played Hepburn, which won her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Hughes was played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Throughout her lifetime, Katharine won several humanitarian awards and was involved with many liberal social and political causes. One cause that she was particularly adamant about was family planning.

YUDDY