Known not only for her strong spirit but for her famous relationship with fellow actor Spencer Tracy another legend of the silver screen. She has portrayed some fantastic characters and in every film she made the Katharine Hepburn persona has shone through. She was nothing short of remarkable, she just wanted to act and that she did. Here is the list of my favourite Katharine Hepburn Films.
Running Time: 1 Hour 35 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy
Pat and Mike was one of 9 films that Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy. Written by their friends Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin this film was written to show off Hepburn's athletic skills (she was an avid tennis and golf player). Her Pat could be a great sports star, says her new slightly shady manager Mike (Tracy) but the problem is her fiance, she never plays her best when he is watching. Mike's dominating character helps Pat overcome her problems as they become mutually attracted to each other and Mike tries to go straight for Pat and quit his dodgy dealings.
09 - Woman of the Year (1942)
Running Time: 1 Hour 55 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: George Stevens
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy
The Tracy Hepburn team in one of their best and their first film together. Hepburn had the rights and wanted Tracy and she got him. She plays Tess Harding a brilliant reporter, Tracy plays Sam Craig a sports writer, they meet don't hit it off at first but eventually fall in love. They get married but Sam struggles to get used to Tess' hectic lifestyle, she is very active and is neglectful of her new husband, can she have the career and the husband?
Running Time: 1 Hour 40 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Holliday
My personal favourite of the Tracy Hepburn pairing and I believe they are at their best here as two lawyers working against each other in a murder case where a woman shot her husband. This would normal enough if the two were not a married couple, which they most certainly are. Tensions begin at home and hilarity ensues as they begin to come apart at the seams both behind closed doors and eventually at work. Both comedically at their best in this film Adam's Rib is the best film to show the great chemistry the leads had with each other. Classic.
Running Time: 1 Hour 55 mins
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift
A strange star filled film, full of tension and an underlying edge that isn't revealed until the final scenes. Taylor and Clift are superb in the film and Hepburn is on finest form.Taylor is a young woman who saw her cousin killed whilst on holiday with him, what she saw has driven her mad. Hepburn plays Violet Venable the boys mother who hires Clift's doctor to lobotomise her to cover up the truth.
Hepburn is ruthless and emotionless as the overbearing mother who tries to bribe the doctor into performing the surgery so her beloved son's memory is not defiled by Catherine who has been babbling about it since it happened the year before. Unfortunately for Violet the truth eventually comes out as the young doctor presses Catherine for details.
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Running Time: 1 Hour 50 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart
Hepburn bought the rights to The Philadelphia Story with help from the aviator Howard Hughes. She wanted Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy for Co-Stars but got Cary Grant and James Stewart. What a different film it would have been, Hepburn plays a rich woman remarrying, everything is running smoothly until her ex (Grant) shows up and a reporter (Stewart) aiming to get a good story. With both men hanging around Hepburn's Tracy Lord begins to admit her true feelings to herself. A classic comedy for the ages.
Running Time: 1 Hour 45 mins
Genre: Western
Director: Stuart Millar
Stars: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn
Perhaps a surprising choice, Hepburn was not exactly know for westerns but her performance opposite John Wayne was hilarious. The chemistry between the tough old cowboy reprising his role from True Grit (1969) and the feisty old broad Eula Goodnight was contagious. They oddly made a fantastic pairing, she tagging along with the cantankerous marshall to hunt down her fathers killers. Rooster is unwilling at first but he soon has a lot of respect for this determined woman who can be just as tough as he is.
Running Time: 1 Hour 40 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Barry Fitzgerald
A comedy classic this was the first pairing of Hepburn and Cary Grant and they proved they made an excellent team. Grant plays a palaeontologist who finds himself mixed up with an enthusiastic heiress who is looking for his affections and her pet leopard - baby. Irritating in the most hilarious and endearing way Hepburn showed her comedic talent at its highest.
Running Time: 1 Hour 45 mins
Genre: Drama
Director: Stanley Kramer
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier
A moving performance in a moving film, this was the last pairing of Tracy and Hepburn and the last film for Tracy, he died 3 weeks after filming ended. The pair play an old couple in the 60's who get a surprise when there daughter comes home and announces she is getting married, to an African American. The film was an important message for the changing times and acceptance of all races. With a caring deep performance from Hepburn who as in life showed her adoration of Tracy.
Running Time: 1 Hour 50 mins
Genre: Drama
Director: Mark Rydell
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda
A very personal film for the Fonda family this story of an elderly couple holidaying for perhaps the last time together and strained father daughter relationship that is aching to be fixed won Henry Fonda his only Oscar and Hepburn her fourth for Best Actress. Hepburn's Ethel is the caring, sensitive soul, constantly supporting her husband and picking up his spirits. It is a moving performance to watch.
Running Time: 1 Hour 45 mins
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Director: John Huston
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart
Taking her chances with John Huston and Humphrey Bogart Hepburn braved Africa for her performance as Rose Sayer the religious woman living in Africa with her reverend brother (Robert Morley) teaching the natives. Their lives are shattered when the Germans destroy their village, Rose's brother dies with the shock. As WW1 is beginning Rose employs the help of Bogart's unwilling mail deliverer on his small boat The African Queen. They sweep down the African rapids and encounter other untold difficulties to seek revenge on the Germans.
The chemistry between Bogart and Hepburn is fantastic screenplay is one of the best delivered in Hollywood.
So there it is my list of Katharine Hepburn films, a mixture of genre films and amazing performances. If your a fan of old Hollywood and the classic golden age you will appreciate every film on this list.
What do you think of my list ? Do you agree with the films, what are your favourite Hepburn films?
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