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Entity admires one of the most famous women in history Katharine Hepburn

In our ongoing series #WomenThatDid, ENTITY profiles inspirational and famous women in history whose impact on our world can still be felt today. If you have a suggestion for a historical powerhouse you would like to see featured, tweet us with the hashtag #WomenThatDid. 

Name: Katharine Hepburn

Lifetime: May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003

What she’s known for: Katharine Hepburn is remembered as the greatest film actresses from the Classic Hollywood Cinema era. She was known for her independent and spirited personality and was Hollywood’s leading lady for nearly 60 years. Her style was versatile, acting in anything from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received 12 Academy Award nominations and won for a record four of them.

Why we love her: Before moving out to Hollywood, Hepburn was a stage actress on Broadway. When she was brought out to California, she demanded $1,500 pay per week, an unheard of amount for an almost unknown actress such as herself.

By her third film, “Morning Glory,” she was nominated for and won her first Academy Award for Best Actress, at just the sixth Academy Awards ceremony. In the late 1930s, Hepburn experienced several commercial failures and was dubbed “box-office poison.” Because of this she returned to New York and began stage acting again.

However she masterminded her own comeback and bought out her current contract. She then went on to star in one of the biggest Broadway shows of the year, before she took the project to MGM for a film adaptation.

Throughout her career, Hepburn famously scorned the rumor mill that was generated by the press and refused to conform to the expectations of women. She was outspoken, athletic and dressed in trousers. She became the epitome of the modern woman. In her film “Woman of the Year” she made her first on-screen appearance with Spencer Tracy and after that they would have a 25-year long relationship on and off the screen.

As he was an insomniac and alcoholic, Hepburn’s career slowed during the 1940s so that she could take care of him. When she was nearing 40, Hepburn’s career soared, while other actresses began to retreat. She came to embrace the role of the spinster and sought it out in plays and movies.

After eight movies together, Tracy and Hepburn came together for what would be their final. For this film she won her second Academy Award for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” 34 years after her first. To cope with the death of Tracy, Hepburn threw herself into her work. She took the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in “The Lion in Winter,” and won a consecutive Academy Award. She later starred as Coco Chanel in the musical “Coco” and won a Tony for her performance.

Hepburn ventured into television in the 1970s, and won an Emmy for her role in “Love Among the Ruins.” The only major award that Hepburn did not win was a Grammy, and so an EGOT evaded her resume. Hepburn made her final appearance on film in 1994, and not long afterwards her health began to decline.

Hepburn changed the face of women in Hollywood and brought about an era of strong-willed women to the screen.

Fun fact: Throughout her career Hepburn has been one of the most quotable actresses. On her “me me me” attitude from her early career she said, “I like life and I’ve been so lucky, why shouldn’t I be happy?” Hepburn married young but was shortly separated from her husband and despite her 25 year relationship with Tracy, she never felt inclined to marry him. She said, “I like the idea of being my own single self.”

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