Breaking into theatre (1928–1932) Hepburn left college determined to become an actress. The day after graduating, she traveled to
Baltimore to meet
Edwin H. Knopf, who ran a successful
repertory theatre company. Impressed by her eagerness, Knopf cast Hepburn in
The Czarina. She received good reviews for her small role and the
Printed Word described her performance as "arresting". She was given a part in the following week's show, but in that performance Hepburn was criticized for her shrill voice. She left Baltimore to study with
Frances Robinson-Duff, a renowned
voice teacher in New York City. Knopf decided to produce
The Big Pond in New York and appointed Hepburn as understudy to the leading lady. A week before opening, the lead was fired and replaced with Hepburn, which gave her a starring role only four weeks into her theatre career. On opening night, she turned up late, mixed her lines, tripped over her feet, and spoke too quickly to be understood. She was immediately fired, and the original leading lady rehired. Undeterred, Hepburn joined forces with the producer
Arthur Hopkins and accepted the role of a schoolgirl in
These Days. Her Broadway debut came on November 12, 1928, at the
Cort Theatre, but reviews for the show were poor, and it closed after eight nights. Hopkins promptly hired Hepburn as the lead understudy in
Philip Barry's play
Holiday. In early December, after only two weeks, she quit to marry Ludlow Ogden Smith, a college acquaintance. She planned to leave the theatre behind but began to miss the work and quickly resumed the understudy role in
Holiday, which she held for six months. In 1929, Hepburn turned down a role with the
Theatre Guild to play the lead in
Death Takes a Holiday. She felt the role was perfect, but again, she was fired. She went back to the Guild and took an understudy role for minimum pay in
A Month in the Country. In the spring of 1930, Hepburn joined the
Berkshire Playhouse theater company in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She left halfway through the summer season and continued studying with a drama tutor. In early 1931, she was cast in the Broadway production of
Art and Mrs. Bottle. She was released from the role after the playwright took a dislike to her, saying "She looks a fright, her manner is objectionable, and she has no talent", but Hepburn was re-hired when no other actress could be found. It went on to be a small success. Hepburn appeared in a number of plays with a
summer stock company in
Ivoryton, Connecticut, and she proved to be a hit. During the summer of 1931, Philip Barry asked her to appear in his new play,
The Animal Kingdom, alongside
Leslie Howard. They began rehearsals in November, Hepburn feeling sure the role would make her a star, but Howard disliked the actress and again she was fired. When she asked Barry why she had been let go, he responded, "Well, to be brutally frank, you weren't very good." This unsettled the self-assured Hepburn, but she continued to look for work. She took a small role in an upcoming play, but as rehearsals began, she was asked to read for the lead in the Greek fable ''The Warrior's Husband''. ''The Warrior's Husband'' proved to be Hepburn's breakout performance. Biographer
Charles Higham states that the role was ideal for the actress, requiring an aggressive energy and athleticism, and she enthusiastically involved herself with its production. The play opened March 11, 1932, at the
Morosco Theatre on Broadway. Hepburn's first entrance called for her to leap down a narrow stairway with a stag over her shoulder, wearing a short silver tunic. The show ran for three months, and Hepburn received positive reviews. Richard Garland of the
New York World-Telegram wrote, "It's been many a night since so glowing a performance has brightened the Broadway scene."
Hollywood success (1932–1934) '' (1932). Critics praised her performance, and she became an instant star. A scout for the Hollywood agent
Leland Hayward spotted Hepburn's appearance in ''The Warrior's Husband
, and asked her to test for the part of Sydney Fairfield in the upcoming RKO film A Bill of Divorcement''. Director
George Cukor was impressed by what he saw: "There was this odd creature", he recalled, "she was unlike anybody I'd ever heard." He particularly liked the manner in which she picked up a glass: "I thought she was very talented in that action." Offered the role, Hepburn demanded $1,500 a week, a large amount for an unknown actress. Cukor encouraged the studio to accept her demands and they signed Hepburn to a temporary contract with a three-week guarantee. The
Variety review declared, "Standout here is the smash impression made by Katharine Hepburn in her first picture assignment. She has a vital something that sets her apart from the picture galaxy." On the strength of
A Bill of Divorcement, RKO signed her to a long-term contract. George Cukor became a lifetime friend and colleague—he and Hepburn made ten films together. in
Little Women (1933), which was one of the most popular movies of its day Hepburn's second film was
Christopher Strong (1933), the story of an aviator and her affair with a married man. The picture was not commercially successful, but Hepburn's reviews were good. Regina Crewe wrote in the
Journal-American that although her mannerisms were grating, "they compel attention, and they fascinate an audience. She is a distinct, definite, positive personality." Hepburn's third picture confirmed her as a major actress in Hollywood. For playing aspiring actress Eva Lovelace—a role intended for
Constance Bennett—in
Morning Glory, she won an
Academy Award for Best Actress. She had seen the script on the desk of producer
Pandro S. Berman and, convinced that she was born to play the part, insisted that the role be hers. Hepburn chose not to attend the awards ceremony—as she would not for the duration of her career—but was thrilled with the win. Her success continued with the role of Jo in the film
Little Women (1933). The picture was a hit, one of the film industry's biggest successes to date, and Hepburn won the Best Actress prize at the
Venice Film Festival.
Little Women was one of Hepburn's personal favorites and she was proud of her performance, later saying, "I defy anyone to be as good [as Jo] as I was". By the end of 1933, Hepburn was a respected film actress, but she yearned to prove herself on Broadway.
Jed Harris, one of the most successful theatre producers of the 1920s, was going through a career slump. He asked Hepburn to appear in the play
The Lake, which she agreed to do for a low salary. Before she was given leave, RKO asked that she film
Spitfire (1934). Hepburn's role in the movie was Trigger Hicks, an uneducated mountain girl. Though it did well at the box office,
Spitfire is widely considered one of Hepburn's worst films, and she received poor reviews for the effort. Hepburn kept a photo of herself as Hicks in her bedroom throughout her life to "[keep] me humble".
The Lake previewed in Washington, D.C., where there was a large advance sale. Harris' poor direction had eroded Hepburn's confidence, and she struggled with the performance. Despite this, Harris moved the play to New York without further rehearsal. It opened at the
Martin Beck Theatre on December 26, 1933, and Hepburn was roundly panned by the critics.
Dorothy Parker quipped, "She runs the gamut of emotions all the way from A to B." Already tied to a ten-week contract, she had to endure the embarrassment of rapidly declining box office sales. Harris decided to take the show to Chicago, saying to Hepburn, "My dear, the only interest I have in you is the money I can make out of you." Hepburn did not want to continue in a failing show, so she paid Harris $14,000, most of her life savings, to close the production instead. She later referred to Harris as "hands-down the most diabolical person I have ever met", and claimed this experience was important in teaching her to take responsibility for her career.
Career setbacks (1934–1938) '' (1936), one of a series of unsuccessful films Hepburn made in this period After the failure of
Spitfire and
The Lake, RKO cast Hepburn in
The Little Minister (1934), based on a Victorian novel by
James Barrie, in an attempt to repeat the success of
Little Women. There was no such recurrence, and the picture was a commercial failure. The romantic drama
Break of Hearts (1935) with
Charles Boyer was poorly reviewed and also lost money. After three forgettable films, success returned to Hepburn with
Alice Adams (1935), the story of a girl's desperation to climb the social ladder. Hepburn loved
the book and was delighted to be offered the role. The film was a hit, one of Hepburn's personal favorites, and gave the actress her second Oscar nomination. She received the second most votes, after winner
Bette Davis. Given the choice of her next feature, Hepburn decided to star in George Cukor's new project,
Sylvia Scarlett (1935), which paired her for the first time with
Cary Grant. Her hair was cut short for the part, as her character masquerades as a boy for much of the film. Critics disliked
Sylvia Scarlett and it was unpopular with the public. She next played
Mary Stuart in
John Ford's
Mary of Scotland (1936), which met with a similarly poor reception.
A Woman Rebels (1936) followed, a Victorian-era drama where Hepburn's character defied convention by having a child out of wedlock.
Quality Street (1937) also had a period setting, this time a comedy. Neither movie was popular with the public, which meant she had made four unsuccessful pictures in a row. Alongside a series of unpopular films, problems arose from Hepburn's attitude. She had a difficult relationship with the press, with whom she could be rude and provocative. Hepburn sensed that she needed to leave Hollywood, so she returned east to star in a theatrical adaptation of
Jane Eyre. It had a successful tour, but, uncertain about the script and unwilling to risk failure after the disaster of
The Lake, Hepburn decided against taking the show to Broadway. Towards the end of 1936, Hepburn vied for the role of
Scarlett O'Hara in
Gone with the Wind. Producer David O. Selznick refused to offer her the part because he felt she had no sex appeal. He reportedly told Hepburn, "I can't see
Rhett Butler chasing you for twelve years." . They are seen here in
Bringing Up Baby (1938), which flopped on release, but has since become renowned as a classic
screwball comedy. Hepburn's next feature,
Stage Door (1937), paired her with
Ginger Rogers in a role that mirrored her own life—that of a wealthy society girl trying to make it as an actress. Hepburn was praised for her work at early previews, which gave her top billing over Rogers. The film was nominated for
Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it was not the box-office hit RKO had hoped for. Industry pundits blamed Hepburn for the small profit, but the studio continued its commitment to resurrecting her popularity. She was cast in
Howard Hawks'
screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), where she played a flighty heiress who loses a leopard while trying to woo a palaeontologist (Cary Grant). She approached the physical comedy of the film with confidence, and took tips on comedic timing from her co-star
Walter Catlett.
Bringing Up Baby was acclaimed by critics, but it was nevertheless unsuccessful at the box office. With the genre and Grant both hugely popular at the time, biographer
A. Scott Berg believes the blame lay with moviegoers' rejection of Hepburn. After the release of
Bringing Up Baby, the Independent Theatre Owners of America included Hepburn on a list of actors considered "
box office poison". Her reputation at a low, the next film RKO offered her was ''
Mother Carey's Chickens'', a
B movie with poor prospects. Hepburn turned it down, and instead opted to buy out her contract for $75,000. Many actors were afraid to leave the stability of the
studio system at the time, but Hepburn's personal wealth meant she could afford to be independent. She signed on for the film version of
Holiday (1938) with
Columbia Pictures, pairing her for the third time with Grant, to play a stifled society girl who finds joy with her sister's fiancé. The comedy was positively reviewed, but it failed to draw much of an audience, and the next script offered to Hepburn came with a salary of $10,000—less than she had received at the start of her film career. Reflecting on this change in fortunes, Andrew Britton writes of Hepburn, "No other star has emerged with greater rapidity or with more ecstatic acclaim. No other star, either, has become so unpopular so quickly for so long a time."
Revival (1939–1942) Following this decline in her career, Hepburn took action to create her own comeback vehicle. She left Hollywood to look for a stage project, and signed on to star in Philip Barry's new play,
The Philadelphia Story. It was tailored to showcase the actress, with the character of socialite Tracy Lord incorporating a mixture of humor, aggression, nervousness, and vulnerability.
Howard Hughes, Hepburn's partner at the time, sensed that the play could be her ticket back to Hollywood stardom and bought her the
film rights before it even debuted on stage.
The Philadelphia Story first toured the United States, to positive reviews, and then opened in New York at the
Shubert Theatre on March 28, 1939. It was a big hit, critically and financially, running for 417 performances and then going on a second successful tour. Herb Golden of
Variety stated, "It's Katharine Hepburn's picture ... The perfect conception of all flighty, but characterful, Main Line socialite gals rolled into one, the story without her is almost inconceivable." Hepburn was nominated for her third Academy Award for Best Actress, and won the
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress while Stewart won his only
Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. Hepburn was also responsible for the development of her next project, the romantic comedy
Woman of the Year about a political columnist and a sports reporter whose relationship is threatened by her self-centered independence. The idea for the film was proposed to her in 1941 by
Garson Kanin, who recalled how Hepburn contributed to the script. She presented the finished product to MGM and demanded $250,000—half for her, half for the authors. Her terms accepted, Hepburn was also given the director and co-star of her choice,
George Stevens and
Spencer Tracy. On Hepburn and Tracy's first day on set together, she allegedly told Tracy "I'm afraid I'm too tall for you" to which Tracy replied, "Don't worry Miss Hepburn, I'll soon cut you down to my size." It started a relationship on screen and off that lasted until Tracy's death in 1967 with them appearing in another eight films together. Released in 1942,
Woman of the Year was another success. Critics praised the chemistry between the stars, and, says Higham, noted Hepburn's "increasing maturity and polish". The
World-Telegram commended two "brilliant performances", and Hepburn received a fourth Academy Award nomination. During the course of the movie, Hepburn signed a star contract with MGM.
Slowing in the 1940s (1942–1949) In 1942, Hepburn returned to Broadway to appear in another Philip Barry play,
Without Love, which was also written with the actress in mind. Critics were unenthusiastic about the production, but with Hepburn's popularity at a high, it ran for 16 sold-out weeks. MGM was eager to reunite Tracy and Hepburn for a new picture and settled on
Keeper of the Flame (1942). A dark mystery with a propaganda message on the dangers of fascism, the film was seen by Hepburn as an opportunity to make a worthy political statement. It received poor notices, but was a financial success, confirming the popularity of the Tracy–Hepburn pairing. . She later said the partnership did much to advance her career, as he was the more popular star at the time. Seen here in ''
Adam's Rib'' (1949). Since
Woman of the Year, Hepburn had committed to
a romantic relationship with Tracy and dedicated herself to helping the star, who suffered from alcoholism and insomnia. Her career slowed as a result, and she worked less for the remainder of the decade than she had done in the 1930s—notably by not appearing on stage again until 1950. Her only appearance in 1943 was a cameo in the morale-building wartime film
Stage Door Canteen, playing herself. She took an atypical role in 1944, playing a Chinese peasant in the high-budget drama
Dragon Seed. Hepburn was enthusiastic about the film, but it met with a tepid response and she was described as miscast. She then reunited with Tracy for the film version of
Without Love (1945), after which she turned down a role in ''
The Razor's Edge to support Tracy through his return to Broadway. Without Love'' received poor reviews, but a new Tracy–Hepburn picture was a big event and it was popular on release, selling a record number of tickets over the Easter weekend in 1945. Hepburn's next film was
Undercurrent (1946), a
film noir with
Robert Taylor and
Robert Mitchum that was poorly received. A fourth film with Tracy came in 1947: a drama set in the
American Old West entitled
The Sea of Grass. Similarly to
Keeper of the Flame and
Without Love, a lukewarm response from critics did not stop it from being a financial success both at home and abroad. The same year, Hepburn portrayed
Clara Wieck Schumann in
Song of Love. She trained intensively with a pianist for the role. By the time of its release in October, Hepburn's career had been significantly affected by her public opposition to the growing
anti-communist movement in Hollywood. Viewed by some as dangerously progressive, she was not offered work for nine months and people reportedly threw things at screenings of
Song of Love. Her next film role came unexpectedly, as she agreed to replace
Claudette Colbert only days before shooting began on
Frank Capra's political drama
State of the Union (1948). Tracy had long been signed to play the male lead, and so Hepburn was already familiar with the script and stepped up for the fifth Tracy–Hepburn picture. Critics responded positively to the film and it performed well at the box-office. Tracy and Hepburn appeared onscreen together for a third consecutive year in the 1949 film ''
Adam's Rib. Like Woman of the Year
, it was a "battle of the sexes" comedy and was written specifically for the duo by their friends Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. A story of married lawyers who oppose each other in court, Hepburn described it as "perfect for [Tracy] and me". Although her political views still prompted scattered picketing at theatres around the country, Adam's Rib
was a hit, favorably reviewed and the most profitable Tracy–Hepburn picture to date. The New York Times'' critic
Bosley Crowther was full of praise for the film and hailed the duo's "perfect compatibility".
Professional expansion (1950–1952) '' with co-star
Humphrey Bogart. The 1950s saw Hepburn take on a series of professional challenges, and stretch herself further than at any other point in her life at an age when most other actresses began to retreat. Berg describes the decade as "the heart of her vast legacy" and "the period in which she truly came into her own". In January 1950, Hepburn ventured into Shakespeare, playing
Rosalind on stage in
As You Like It. She hoped to prove that she could play already established material, The movie was released at the end of 1951 to popular support and critical acclaim, and gave Hepburn her fifth Best Actress nomination at the Academy Awards while garnering Bogart his only
Academy Award for Best Actor. The first successful film she had made without Tracy since
The Philadelphia Story a decade earlier, it proved that she could be a hit without him and fully reestablished her popularity. Hepburn went on to make the sports comedy
Pat and Mike (1952), the second film written specifically as a Tracy–Hepburn vehicle by Kanin and Gordon. She was a keen athlete, and Kanin later described this as his inspiration for the film: "As I watched Kate playing tennis one day ... it occurred to me that her audience was missing a treat." Hepburn was under pressure to perform several sports to a high standard, many of which did not end up in the film.
Pat and Mike was one of the team's most popular and critically acclaimed films, and it was also Hepburn's personal favorite of the nine films she made with Tracy. The performance brought her a nomination for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In the summer of 1952, Hepburn appeared in London's West End for a ten-week run of
George Bernard Shaw's
The Millionairess. Her parents had read Shaw to her when she was a child, which made the play a special experience for the actress. Two years of intense work had left her exhausted, however, and her friend
Constance Collier wrote that Hepburn was "on the verge of a nervous breakdown". Widely acclaimed,
The Millionairess was taken to Broadway. In October 1952 it opened at the
Shubert Theatre, where despite a lukewarm critical response it sold out its ten-week run. Hepburn subsequently tried to get the play adapted into a film: a script was written by
Preston Sturges, and she offered to work for nothing and pay the director herself, but no studio picked up the project. She later referred to this as the biggest disappointment of her career.
Mid-career and Shakespeare (1953–1962) 's romantic drama
Summertime (1955), one of several "spinster" roles Hepburn played in the 1950s.
Pat and Mike was the last film Hepburn completed on her MGM contract, making her free to select her own projects. She spent two years resting and traveling, before committing to
David Lean's romantic drama
Summertime (1955). The movie was filmed in Venice, with Hepburn playing an unmarried woman who has a passionate love affair. She described it as "a very emotional part" and found it fascinating to work with Lean. At her own insistence, Hepburn performed a fall into a canal and developed a chronic eye infection as a result. The role earned her another Academy Award nomination and has been cited as some of her finest work. Lean later said it was his personal favorite of the films he made, and Hepburn his favorite actress. The following year, Hepburn spent six months touring Australia with the
Old Vic theatre company, playing
Portia in
The Merchant of Venice,
Kate in
The Taming of the Shrew, and Isabella in
Measure for Measure. The tour was successful and Hepburn earned significant plaudits for the effort. Hepburn received an Academy Award nomination for the second year running for her work opposite
Burt Lancaster in
The Rainmaker (1956). Hepburn further solidified a screen persona centered on mature, independent, and often unmarried women who found agency through romance, an archetype that earned public favor during this period. Hepburn said of playing such roles, "With Lizzie Curry [
The Rainmaker] and Jane Hudson [
Summertime] and Rosie Sayer [
The African Queen]—I was playing me. It wasn't difficult for me to play those women, because I'm the maiden aunt." Less success that year came from
The Iron Petticoat (1956), a reworking of the classic
Greta Garbo comedy
Ninotchka. Starring opposite
Bob Hope, Hepburn played a cold-hearted Soviet pilot, in a performance
Bosley Crowther called "horrible". The film was a critical and commercial failure, and Hepburn considered it the worst movie of her career. Tracy and Hepburn reunited on screen for the first time in five years for the office-based comedy
Desk Set (1957). Berg notes that it worked as a hybrid of their earlier romantic-comedy successes, but it performed poorly at the box-office. That summer, Hepburn returned to Shakespeare. Appearing in
Stratford, Connecticut, at the
American Shakespeare Theatre, she repeated her Portia in
The Merchant of Venice and played Beatrice in
Much Ado About Nothing. The shows were positively received. '' (1959), based on
the play by
Tennessee Williams After two years away from the screen, Hepburn starred in a film adaptation of
Tennessee Williams' controversial play
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with
Elizabeth Taylor and
Montgomery Clift. The movie was shot in London and was "a completely miserable experience" for Hepburn. She clashed with director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz during filming, which culminated with her spitting at him in disgust. The picture was a financial success, and her work as creepy aunt Violet Venable gave Hepburn her eighth Oscar nomination. Williams was pleased with the performance, writing, "Kate is a playwright's dream-actress. She makes dialogue sound better than it is by a matchless beauty and clarity of diction". He wrote
The Night of the Iguana (1961) with Hepburn in mind, but the actress, although flattered, felt the play was wrong for her and declined the part, which went to
Deborah Kerr. Hepburn returned to Stratford in the summer of 1960 to play
Viola in
Twelfth Night, and Cleopatra in
Antony and Cleopatra. The
New York Post wrote of her Cleopatra, "Hepburn offers a highly versatile performance ... once or twice going in for her famous mannerisms and always being fascinating to watch." Hepburn herself was proud of the role. Her repertoire was further improved when she appeared in
Sidney Lumet's film version of
Eugene O'Neill's ''
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). It was a low-budget production, and she appeared in the film for a tenth of her established salary. She called it "the greatest [play] this country has ever produced" and the role of morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone "the most challenging female role in American drama", and felt her performance was the best screen work of her career. Long Day's Journey Into Night'' earned Hepburn an Oscar nomination and the
Best Actress Award at the
Cannes Film Festival. It remains one of her most praised performances.
Success in later years (1963–1970) '' (1967), which won Hepburn her second of four Academy Awards Following the completion of ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'', Hepburn took a break in her career to care for ailing Spencer Tracy. She did not work again until 1967's ''
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', her ninth and final film with Tracy. The movie dealt with the subject of interracial marriage, with Hepburn's niece,
Katharine Houghton, playing her daughter. Tracy was dying by this point, suffering the effects of diabetes and heart disease, and Houghton later commented that her aunt was "extremely tense" during the production. Tracy died 17 days after filming his last scene. ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' was a triumphant return for Hepburn and her most commercially successful picture to that point. She won her second Best Actress Award at the Oscars, 34 years after winning her first. Hepburn felt the award was not just for her but was also given to honor Tracy. , her third of four Academy Awards in
The Lion in Winter (1968) Hepburn quickly returned to acting after Tracy's death, choosing to occupy herself as a remedy against grief. She received numerous scripts and chose to play
Eleanor of Aquitaine in
The Lion in Winter (1968), a part she called "fascinating". She read extensively in preparation for the role, in which she starred opposite
Peter O'Toole. Filming took place in
Montmajour Abbey in the
south of France, an experience she loved despite being—according to director
Anthony Harvey—"enormously vulnerable" throughout. John Russell Taylor of
The Times suggested that Eleanor was "the performance of her ... career", and proved that she was "a growing, developing, still surprising actress". The movie was nominated in all the major categories at the
41st Academy Awards, and for the second year running Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress (shared with
Barbra Streisand for
Funny Girl). The role, combined with her performance in ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', also received a British Academy Film Award (
BAFTA) for
Best Actress. Hepburn's next appearance was in
The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), which she filmed in
Nice immediately after completing
The Lion in Winter. The picture was a failure critically and financially, and reviews targeted Hepburn for giving a misguided performance. By the end of 1969, she was voted the most popular female star in America by
Quigley's
Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, making a rare occurrence of an actress over 50 and 60 to achieve such a position. From December 1969 to August 1970, Hepburn starred in the Broadway musical
Coco, about the life of
Coco Chanel. She admitted that before the show, she had never sat through a theatrical musical. She was not a strong singer, but found the offer irresistible and, as Berg puts it, "what she lacked in euphony she made up for in guts". The actress took vocal lessons six times a week in preparation for the show. She was nervous about every performance and recalled "wondering what the hell I was doing there". Reviews for the production were mediocre, but Hepburn herself was praised, and
Coco was popular with the public—with its run twice extended. She later said
Coco marked the first time she accepted that the public was not against her, but actually seemed to love her. During the summer of 1976, Hepburn starred in the low-budget family film
Olly Olly Oxen Free. The feature failed to find a major-studio distributor and was finally released independently in 1978. Because of its poor distribution, it played in relatively few theaters, resulting in one of the biggest misfires of Hepburn's career. The screenwriter
James Prideaux, who worked with Hepburn, later wrote that it "died at the moment of release" and referred to it as her "lost film". Hepburn claimed the main reason she had done it was the opportunity to ride in a hot-air balloon. The television movie
The Corn Is Green (1979), which was filmed in Wales, followed. It was the last of ten films Hepburn made with
George Cukor, and gained her a third Emmy nomination. By the 1980s, Hepburn had developed a noticeable
tremor, giving her a permanently shaking head. She did not work for two years, saying in a television interview, "I've had my day—let the kids scramble and sweat it out." During this period she saw the Broadway production
On Golden Pond, and was impressed by its depiction of an elderly married couple coping with the difficulties of old age.
Jane Fonda had purchased the screen rights for her father, actor
Henry Fonda, and Hepburn sought to play opposite him in the role of quirky Ethel Thayer.
On Golden Pond was a success, the second-highest-grossing film of 1981. It demonstrated how energetic the 74-year-old Hepburn was, as she dived fully clothed into
Squam Lake and gave a lively singing performance. The film won her a second BAFTA and a record fourth Academy Award. Homer Dickens, in his book on Hepburn, notes that it was widely considered a sentimental win, "a tribute to her enduring career". Hepburn also returned to the stage in 1981. She received a second
Tony nomination for her portrayal in
The West Side Waltz of a septuagenarian widow with a zest for life.
Variety observed that the role was "an obvious and entirely acceptable version of [Hepburn's] own public image". Walter Kerr of
The New York Times wrote of Hepburn and her performance, "One mysterious thing she has learned to do is breathe unchallengeable life into lifeless lines." She hoped to make a film out of the production, but nobody purchased the rights. Hepburn's reputation as one of America's best loved actors was firmly established by this point, as she was named favorite movie actress in a survey by
People magazine and again won the popularity award from People's Choice.
Focus on television (1984–1994) In 1984, Hepburn starred in the dark-comedy
Grace Quigley, the story of an elderly woman who enlists a hitman (
Nick Nolte) to kill her. Hepburn found humor in the morbid theme, but reviews were negative and the box-office was poor. In 1985, she presented a television documentary about the life and career of Spencer Tracy. The majority of Hepburn's roles from this point were in television movies, which did not receive the critical praise of her earlier work in the medium, but remained popular with audiences. With each release, Hepburn would declare it her final screen appearance, but she continued to take on new roles. She received an Emmy nomination for 1986's
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry, then two years later returned for the comedy
Laura Lansing Slept Here, which allowed her to act with her grandniece,
Schuyler Grant. '' (1994). Critics commented that the 87-year-old had lost none of her powerful screen presence. In 1991, Hepburn released her autobiography,
Me: Stories of My Life, which topped best-seller lists for over a year. She returned to television screens in 1992 for
The Man Upstairs, co-starring
Ryan O'Neal, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1994, she worked opposite
Anthony Quinn in ''
This Can't Be Love'', which was largely based on Hepburn's own life, with numerous references to her personality and career. These later roles have been described as "a fictional version of the typically feisty Kate Hepburn character" and critics have remarked that Hepburn was essentially playing herself. A writer for
The New York Times reflected on the actress's final big-screen appearance: "If she moved more slowly than before, in demeanor, she was as game and modern as she had ever been." == Personal life ==