Katharine Hepburn, that stunning American icon of feminist strength and determination, and whose phenomenal 60-year career earned her a record-setting four Academy Awards for such notable films as Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), A Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981), died on June 29 at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She had suffered various health problems in recent years including arthritis, pneumonia and involuntary tremors. She was 96.

She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 12, 1907, the second of six children to Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, a noted urologist, and Katharine Houghton Hepburn, a suffragette who worked for women's voting rights and was an outspoken advocate for birth control. She was educated by tutors and at private schools before entering Bryn Mawr University in 1924. After earning her B.A. in drama in 1928, she joined a stock company in Baltimore and married socialite Ludlow Ogden. Although she divorced him six years later, she credited "Luddy" for opening doors in New York that allowed her to find some work. She eventually landed a role on Broadway, Warrior's Husband which led to a movie offer from RKO. She went to Hollywood at $1,500 a week to star opposite John Barrymore in George Cukor's A Bill of Divorcement (1932).

Immediately, Hepburn cut a figure no actress could match: her lean angularity, well-bred exterior, sharp wit, and precise diction shot her to stardom. She scored a commercial triumph with just her third film, Lowell Sherman's Morning Glory (1933, Oscar winner); and a string of rich parts followed: Jo in Cukor's fine adaptation of Little Women (1933); a young social climber in George Stevens' brooding, romantic tale Alice Adams (1935, a second Oscar nomination), the wealthy, aspiring actress in Gregory La Cava's Stage Door (1937, one of her few hits in this period); a headstrong stage star in George Stevens' delightful comedy of errors Quality Street (1937); and as the deliriously eccentric socialite who romances Cary Grant in Howard Hawk's classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938).

Despite these rich and varied roles that displayed her capabilities in both drama and comedy, they rarely proved to be commercial hits. The Independent Theatre Owners of America officially labeled Hepburn as "Box-Office Poison" and she soon left RKO to revive her fortunes on the stage. She returned to Broadway in late 1938 to star in The Philadelphia Story. Her performance as Tracy Lord, the spoiled socialite who develops an understanding heart when she must choose between two suitors, drew critical raves from the New York press. Ever savvy, she purchased the screen rights to the play and was able to parley her way back to Hollywood on her own terms, including her choice of director (George Cukor) and co-stars (James Stewart and Cary Grant). The film version in 1940 was a box office smash, earned Hepburn her third Oscar nomination, garnered her a contact with MGM, and made her a bankable film star again.

Her next film, Stevens' lovely romantic comedy Woman of the Year (1942, another Oscar nomination), would kick off a 25-year partnership (on and off the screen) with Spencer Tracy. Few critics, let alone moviegoers, were expecting the chemistry and comic brio that these two stars would create when they were first paired. Hepburn's biggest box office hits of the '40s were films co-starring Tracy: Cukor's Keeper of the Flame (1942); Harold Bucquet's underrated Without Love (1945); Elia Kazan's soapy melodrama Sea of Grass (1947); Frank Capra's political satire State of the Union (1948), and of course, Cukor's superb battle-of-the-sexes farce Adam's Rib (1949).

By the '50s, Hepburn stood alone when it came to infusing roles with elegance, dignity and emotional resonance: Rose Sayer, the tough missionary in John Huston's The African Queen (1951, Oscar nomination) opposite Humphrey Bogart; the lithe athlete in Cukor's charming light comedy Pat and Mike (1952), again with Tracy; the lonely spinster who finds love for the first time while vacationing in Venice in David Lean's Summertime (1955, Oscar nomination); as Lizzie Curry, the plain looking woman who yearns for a fruitful life in Joseph Anthony's The Rainmaker (1956, Oscar nomination) with Burt Lancaster; the office manager who falls in love with efficiency expert Spencer Tracy in Walter Lang's slight farce Desk Set (1957); and as the delusional Mrs. Venable in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly Last Summer (1959) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

Her output slowed considerably by the '60s, but she still offered some fine performances in the few films she made: her astoundingly tortured take as the drug-addicted Mary Tyrone in Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962, Oscar nomination); the liberal, wealthy mother in Stanley Kramer's interracial comedy Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967, Oscar winner) which would be her ninth and final film with Tracy; and as Eleanor of Aquitaine in Anthony Harvey's medieval saga The Lion in Winter (1968, Oscar winner). She returned to Broadway in 1969 where she earned critical praise for Coco, a musical version of the life of Coco Chanel.

Toward the end of her career, Hepburn made a few appearances that continued to entertain her fans: a fine Amanda Wingfield in Harvey's television adaptation of The Glass Menagerie (1973, Emmy nomination); an aging actress who falls in live with her barrister, Laurence Olivier in Cukor's telefilm Love Among the Ruins (1975, Emmy winner); Mark Rydell's homey On Golden Pond (1981, her record setting fourth Oscar for lead actress); an old woman who assists hit man Nick Nolte in the odd black comedy Grace Quigley (1984); and her last theatrical film appearance, playing Warren Beatty's aunt in Glenn Gordon Caron's Love Affair (1994). With her declining health, she retired from public life in the mid-'90s. As one final, fitting tribute, the American Film Institute recently ranked her as the greatest actress of all time. Hepburn is survived by a sister, Margaret Hepburn Perry; a brother, Dr. Robert Hepburn; and 13 nieces and nephews.

by Michael T. Toole