American actress Hepburn Catherine: biography, filmography, personal life, photo

Katharine Hepburn, whose biography will be presented in the article, is one of the greatest actresses of classical Hollywood. She has worked on the stage for over sixty years, was awarded several Oscars for her outstanding works.

Childhood and youth

Hepburn Katherine was born in the state called Connecticut in 1907. She was the second of six children in the family. Her parents worked in the hospital. Both took an active social and public position. In many ways, the nature of the parents and their activities have left an imprint on the young Catherine, who in life was also noted for her energy and enviable independence. Actress Katharine Hepburn has always been close to her family.

As a child, Catherine was still a tomboy. She gave odds to many boys from the street. I must say, her father was very responsible for the healthy lifestyle of children, so they constantly engaged in sports, whether it was swimming, running, playing tennis or golf.

From early childhood, Hepburn Kathryn had one great love. This movie. She dreamed about the career of an actress and from the age of twelve she performed wonderful performances every week at home.

In 1921 there was a terrible tragedy. Catherine found her brother Tom hanged. This terrible event knocked her out of the rut. The girl suffered so much that she began to fear people, stopped attending school and switched to home schooling.

Education

In 1924, Hepburn entered the college of Brin-Mor. It was the desire of a mother who had once studied there. The first lessons were given to Katherine with difficulty, because several years before that, she had been a recluse. Classmates considered her strange and very shy.

In college, there was a theater group, which could only be accessed with good grades. Catherine did this too. Soon she began to get the main roles, and the girl strengthened her thoughts that she should build a theatrical career.

College Hepburn Catherine graduated in 1928 (Faculty of History and Philosophy).

Carier start

Catherine went to Baltimore. Edward Knopf, the owner of the theater company, was impressed by the talent of the girl and offered her a small role in the play "The Queen". The debut was rated by critics rather high, but Hepburn had flaws in his speech. She went to New York to solve these problems.

In the big city Knopf put the girl in the lead role in the play "The Great Pond". But soon Kathryn herself shone on this scene, although a month has not passed since the beginning of her theatrical career.

In 1928, she made her debut on Broadway. However, the show was not rated very high, and soon it was closed.

For some time she worked as a double for the leading actresses of New York's theaters, and in the spring of 1930, Hepburn Catherine joined the theatrical company in Massachusetts.

Catherine had to go through a lot of failures before she began to get decent work. But she waited. In 1932, on the Broadway stage, the play "Woman Warrior" was held, where the actress demonstrated not only her talent, but also excellent physical training.

The show was shown for three months, critics took Hepburn to the Olympian glory.

Success in Hollywood

One Hollywood agent saw Catherine on a Broadway show and was incredibly impressed with her beauty and artistry. He invited her to sign a contract with a film company. The actress asked for an unprecedented price for a novice artist, but her request was granted, and the contract was concluded.

Hepburn acted in films based on second-rate novels or not very talented scenarios, but despite this (apparently due to the nature of the girl), the films enjoyed great success with the audience.

Her debut was the painting "The Bill of Divorce." Then came the "Little Women", "Alice Adams", "Maria of Scotland". Everywhere Catherine was in the lead role.

By the way, the film "Little Women", for which the actress received the prize of the Venice Festival, remained the favorite with Catherine until the end of her career.

At the end of 1933 Hepburn was a respected film actress, with the opinion of which all were considered. But she craved theatrical fame. To the producers of the film company let her go to Broadway, Hepburn had to agree to participate in the film, which she did not like.

But even in the theater everything went wrong. Production of the play was stopped, and the actress returned to California.

Unexpected failure

The next four years in some ways were unsuccessful for the actress, although she was nominated for an Oscar. However, most of the films released during this period, contrary to the expectations of the film company, failed at the box office. And the critics did not leave the actress alone.

Along with a string of unpopular films, problems arose also in Hepburn himself. She had a very difficult relationship with the press: she could rude or sarcastically respond, did not give autographs and interviews, avoided publicity. For this, she was nicknamed "Miss Pride."

Catherine felt that she needed to rest from the hype, and again went to the east coast. She was to play a role in the play based on the novel "Jane Eyre." The performance was met very friendly.

At the end of 1936, Hepburn tried to get the role of Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. The motive for the refusal was that Katherine was not sexy enough. Katharine Hepburn, whose figure was ideal parameters, categorically categorically did not accept any apologies from the producers, and began to appear in the new film.

But neither the "official entrance to the theater" nor the "Holiday" made any impression on viewers and critics. The last straw was the eccentric comedy "Parenting Crumbs", where Hepburn played an erratic heiress, who tries to achieve the paleontologist's position (his role was played by Cary Grant). Critics responded neutrally to the picture, but the viewer did not go at all. The company again suffered losses. Catherine immediately streamed mud, "yellow press" claimed that only this actress is the cause of the failures of the latest films.

Catherine was practically crushed. She decided to leave the cinema forever. The next two years, the actress refused any job offers.

Revival

Catherine Hepburn, whose films left so much hype in the press, returned to the screens in the 1940s. It was a picture of the "Philadelphia story". Instead of a fee for the role of the actress took the rights to the theatrical production of the same name. The return was triumphant. Catherine was once again nominated for an Oscar.

The next film in 1942 became a turning point in the fate of the actress. Painting "Woman of the Year" introduced her to the man of dreams - Spencer Tracy, and also proved to be successful.

After that, the star signed a contract with "Metro Goldwyn Meier" and in the same year returned to Broadway. Success in the performances brought one name - Katharine Hepburn.

The films, where Tracy played along with her, had a deafening financial success. Among them: "Without Love", "Adam's Edge", "Pat and Mike". Together they took part in nine scenes.

The subsequent career

In 1967, Catherine was last shot in one movie with her lover. Painting "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Was the final in the life of Spencer Tracy.

However, after the death of her civil consort, Catherine did not stop filming. She decided to extend her acting age, despite the fact that she was already sixty years old.

Catherine Hepburn, whose filmography consists of more than fifty paintings, played in the movies until 1994, that is, to eighty-seven years. In the period from 1967 to 1994 she performed seventeen roles and received two more "Oscars" to the two available ones.

Also, the actress did not forget her love for the theater and from time to time appeared in new performances.

In the late 1970s, Catherine first tested herself on television. However, this idea was not very successful, and Hepburn abandoned this venture.

Katherine Hepburn in old age did not concede to her young colleagues, and even many critics noted that her work in the cinema became more spiritual.

Personal life

As mentioned earlier, Catherine was a fairly private person for the press and the public. She did not stand out from the crowd, she was strangers to excessive attention. She defended her private life with all her might and could not only rude the reporter, but also knock the camera out of his hands if he tried to photograph it.

Catherine Hepburn, whose personal life was a secret with seven seals, became tolerant of journalists only in the 1970s. Then she gave her first big interview, from which it became known that she was married to broker Ogden Smith until 1934.

But her relationship with Spencer Tracy was not a secret. Now their novel is called legendary in Hollywood. He was married, but he had not lived with his wife for a long time. However, in order to maintain decency, he and Catherine carefully concealed their relationship.

During Tracy's illness, Catherine Hepburn, personal life, whose family was in first place, refused to work. And after his departure, the actress did not fall in love again.

Last years. Death

After the completion of his career, the actress's health deteriorated. She had pneumonia. In 2003, she was diagnosed with a tumor, but medical intervention could kill the actress. Until the last days she was on palliative care.

Catherine Hepburn, whose children never came into being, died alone in her home in June 2003.