Page 221 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Katharine

Hepburn

7th Cousin

1 time removed

Common Ancestor

Born: Died:
Father: Isaac Sheldon
Bakewell, Derbyshire, England 12 May 1907 29 June 2003
1629 - 1708 Hartford, Connecticut Fenwick, Connecticut
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress
Mother: Mary Woodford who was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60
Hartford, Connecticut, British Colonial
years. She appeared in a range of genres,
America
1636- 1684 from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she
received a record (for any gender) four Academy
Awards for Lead Acting Performances, plus eight
further nominations. In 1999, Hepburn was named by
the American Film Institute the greatest female
star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. She was known for
her fierce independence and spirited personality.
Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents,
Hepburn began to act while studying at Bryn Mawr
College. Favorable reviews of her work
on Broadway brought her to the attention of
Hollywood. Her early years in film were marked with
success, including an Academy Award for Best
Actress for her third picture, Morning Glory (1933), but

this was followed by a series of commercial failures culminating in the critically lauded but
commercially unsuccessful comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), a pairing with Cary Grant.
Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio
Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold on the condition
that she be the star. That comedy film, again co-starring Cary Grant, was a box office success
and landed her a third Academy Award nomination, plus won her other co-star, James Stewart
th
(13 cousin), his only Academy Award. Both movies are now considered among the greatest
comedy films.
In the 1940s, she began focusing on a screen and romantic partnership with Spencer Tracy,
which spanned 26 years and nine movies, although the romance with the married Tracy was
hidden from the public. The partnership began with Woman of the Year (1942), continued
with Adam's Rib (1949), both being "battle of the sexes" romantic comedies, and concluded

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