Katherine Hepburn is one of the most famous leading ladies in Hollywood history. Born in 1907, she began her acting career in 1928, and didn't stop working for decades. Hepburn didn't stick to one genre, starring in both historical dramas and screwball comedies alike. She received four Academy Awards for Lead Acting Performance, as well as a further eight nominations, a true feat.
Hepburn moved into television work during her later years. Her last role was in the television film One Christmas, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination at age 87. She died in 2003. Let's take a look at 10 of her most iconic roles, ranked by popularity, according to IMDB.
Bringing Up Baby (7.9/10)
Bringing Up Baby is the most popular of Katherine Hepburn's screwball comedy films, according to IMDB. Released in 1938, this film stars Hepburn alongside Cary Grant. Grant plays a paleontologist who gets caught up in the misadventures of Hepburn's life as an heiress, as well as those of a leopard named Baby.
The role was curated specifically for Hepburn, through a script adapted from a Hagar Wilde short story in Collier's Weekly magazine. Though this film was a flop on its initial release, the subsequent release on television grew its popularity.
The Philadelphia Story (7.9/10)
The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and James Stewart, along with Hepburn herself. Based on the play of the same name by Philip Barry, it tells the story of a Philadelphia socialite whose wedding plans become complicated by the arrival of her ex-husband and a magazine journalist.
The Philadelphia Story was famous as a popular example of the remarriage comedy genre, which was popular in the 1930s and 1940s as it just skirted the rules of the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code. Hepburn plays the socialite, which proved to be a hit role for her.
The Lion in Winter (7.9/10)
The Lion in Winter showcases the tempestuous relationship between Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine during Christmas of 1183. Politics and the succession dominate as topics as Eleanor, temporarily released from prison, tries to turn the tables on Henry. Hepburn reportedly found this history, and Eleanor herself, "fascinating" and researched extensively for the role.
She stars as Eleanor alongside Peter O'Toole as Henry in this 1968 historical drama. The Lion in Winter was one of the highest-grossing pictures that year, and also led to Hepburn winning and sharing the Best Actress Oscar with Barbra Streisand for her performance in Funny Girl.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (7.8/10)
This 1967 comedy-drama is about a white woman (Katherine Houghton) introducing her parents (Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn) to her African-American fiance, played by Sidney Poitier. It is one of the first films to show interracial marriage positively. The same year, anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia.
RELATED: The Oscars Best Actress Winners of the 2010s, Ranked According to IMDB
This was Spencer Tracy's last film and is the ninth film in which Hepburn and Tracy costarred. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is one of Hepburn's most popular films, and marked a career highlight after Hepburn took a five-year-long career break to care for Tracy.
The African Queen (7.7/10)
Katherine Hepburn stars as a British Methodist missionary, Rose, alongside Humphrey Bogart, who plays spy Charlie Allnut. Working in German East Africa at the start of World War I, Rose and her brother Samuel are quickly warned about the war, though it overtakes them and Rose must flee with Charlie on his supply boat, the African Queen.
Rose and Charlie must make a daring escape along the river away from the German gunboat Konigin Luise. This film won Bogart his only Oscar, and both his and Hepburn's performances were praised.
On Golden Pond (7.6/10)
On Golden Pond is a 1981 drama starring Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, in his final role. An aging couple, Norman and Ethel, with an estranged daughter, Chelsea (Jane Fonda), must care for their daughter's fiance's 13-year-old son Billy (Doug McKeon) when the couple take some time for themselves. Hepburn skillfully navigates between her character's family members throughout the film, acting as a peacemaker and listener between both Henry and Jane Fonda, whose characters are at odds. This film is both about growing older and working to understand the people around us.
Suddenly, Last Summer (7.6/10)
Oh, look, our first mystery! 1959's Suddenly, Last Summer (based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name) is a Southern Gothic mystery starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift. Catherine Holly (Taylor) is being pressed into psychological evaluation by her wealthy aunt (Hepburn) after the sudden and mysterious death of her cousin Sebastian while they were on holiday in Spain the previous summer.
RELATED: The Oscars: 10 Lowest-Rated Best Picture Nominees, According To Rotten Tomatoes
Catherine would like to remember what happened to Sebastian, though it might be better if she didn't... Reviews were mixed due to certain adaptational issues, though Taylor and Hepburn's performances were applauded.
Adam's Rib (7.5/10)
Adam's Rib is a classic Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy romantic comedy. Released in 1949, and directed by George Cukor, whom Hepburn worked with throughout her life, the film depicts two married lawyers who come against each other as opposing counsel in a court case involving both adultery and potential intention to commit murder.
The film's leads were praised for their performances. This was their sixth picture together, and this film was written specifically for them. Adam's Rib was also applauded for its comedy, even though a major theme was the battle between the sexes.
Little Women (7.2/10)
Katherine Hepburn starred as Jo March in the 1933 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, along with Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, and Jean Parker.
This is the third screen adaptation of the novel, and the first to have sound. The four March sisters are living in Concord, Massachusetts, during the Civil War, and are doing their best to keep their spirits up while their father is away. The film was praised for translating Alcott's simplicity and charm to the screen. Hepburn's performance was also heavily praised for her range as an actress.
Rooster Cogburn (6.9/10)
Rooster Cogburn is a 1975 American Western starring Katherine Hepburn and John Wayne, in his penultimate film role. It is a sequel to the 1969 film True Grit. Wayne plays an aging, one-eyed lawman in the Indian Territory (later Oklahoma), whose badge was recently revoked due to his questionable use of firearms.
Together with a spinster set on revenge for her father's murder (Hepburn), he must take down a number of bank robbers to get his badge back. Wayne and Hepburn's performances were both praised, with Hepburn's positively compared to her performance in The African Queen.