Hepburn Katharine

American actress whose first screen appearance was in "A Bill of Divorcement," with John Barrymore, in 1932. In the 30s her box-office appeal was dismal, however, she went on to become a superstar with 11 Oscar nominations and three Oscar wins. The three films which netted her Oscars were "Morning Glory," 1933, "Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, " 1967 and "The Lion in Winter," 1968. A tomboy as a kid, Kate rode her bike, sailed, and hung by her toes from a trapeze 30 feet above the gravel drive. She could out swim, out dive and outrun anyone. She adored her brother Tom, the only one who could beat her. Wishing she were a boy, she shaved her head each summer from 9 to 13 and called herself Jimmy. With an unconventional, freethinking family, every topic was discussed at mealtimes, and social rebels of the day often attended dinners. Kates world turned black on 4/03/1921, when she was 13 and Tom, 15, when she found his body hanging, dead. He was a cheerful, healthy boy and there was no note; the conclusion was that it was a prank gone bad, an accident. Though the family drew close in their shared devastation, young Kate grew suspicious, even hostile, in her grief. For escape, she withdrew into the imaginary world she saw on the screen, spending afternoons in the movies. In 1924 she enrolled in Bryn Mawr, finding no head for science, opting for an English major. She told classmates that she wanted to be an actress, in spite of their disbelief that the tall, bony red-headed class oddball would set sights on such an impossible goal. Four weeks before graduation, she tried out for a stage play and got the role. She delayed her announcement to the family until graduation day, meeting with her dads fury and disapproval. Kate, as she became known at Bryn Mawr, gradually emerged from the solitude in which she had immersed herself. In 1928 she was working as an understudy in a New York play and dating a rich, handsome beau, Ludlow Ogden Smith, when she decided to give up the theater for marriage. By the time the honeymoon was over, she said "What am I doing here?" and returned to New York and the theater. Luddy went along with whatever Kate wanted, until she went to Hollywood in 1932 for her first picture and started an affair the following year with agent Leland Hayward. This spelled the end of their marriage, though Kate and Luddy remained friends. She met director John Ford the spring of 1932 when she was on Broadway in "The Warriors Husband." She had made eight pictures by the time she first worked with Ford, on "Mary of Scotland," 1936. He was entranced with her, admiring her feistiness and irreverence. Ford, married with two kids, was a profoundly unhappy man and a heavy drinker. By the time the film was completed on 4/23/1936, he was in love with Kate. They went to New York together where she discussed the stage version of "Jane Eyre" and on to visit her family. Reports declare that they did not sleep together, as Ford wanted it all - a divorce and marriage to Hepburn. Fords wife geared up for battle, holding the trump cards of Fords Roman Catholic beliefs and his love of his kids. Hepburns career was beginning its slide, and her lover, Hayward, gave a plum role and began an affair with another actress. In January 1937, lonely, Kate dated Howard Hughes. With Ford vacillating, she sailed to Nassau with Hughes when "Jane Eyre" closed in Baltimore. When they returned in May, Ford had still done nothing, so she Read less