- Zach Laws, Chris Beachum
- Film
AP/REX/Shutterstock
With four Oscars victories in Best Actress, Katharine Hepburn holds the record for the most wins by any performer, but how many of her titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 20 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1907, Hepburn got her start on the stage before setting her sights on Hollywood, winning her first Oscar for playing an aspiring Broadway star in “Morning Glory” (1933). Despite this early success, Hepburn found herself labeled “box office poison” after a series of flops throughout the decade. She returned to theater with “The Philadelphia Story,” and the 1940 film version provided her with a big screen comeback from which she never faltered.
It took 34 years before Hepburn won her second Oscar for the interracial marriage message movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” (1967), the last film she made with frequent leading man Spencer Tracy, who died shortly after filming. Just one year later, she clenched a third Best Actress prize for the royal drama “The Lion in Winter” (1968), famously tying with Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”). Another 13 years passed before Hepburn won her fourth and final Best Actress prize for the sentimental weepy “On Golden Pond” (1981), which also brought Henry Fonda his long overdue prize in Best Actor.
Hepburn earned additional Oscar nominations in Best Actress throughout her career for “Alice Adams” (1935), “The Philadelphia Story,” “Woman of the Year” (1942), “The African Queen” (1951), “Summertime” (1955), “The Rainmaker” (1956), “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959), and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (1962). Although she never attended when she was in contention, she did appear at the 1974 ceremony to present the Irving G. Thalberg award to Lawrence Weingarten.
As well, Hepburn won an Emmy as Best Movie/Mini Actress for “Love Among the Ruins” in 1975 and BAFTAs for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?,” “The Lion in Winter” (doubly rewarded in 1968) and “On Golden Pond.” She received the SAG Life Achievement award in 1980 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990.
Tour our photo gallery of Hepburn’s 20 greatest films, including the titles listed above, as well as “Little Women” (1933), “Bringing Up Baby” (1938), “Adam’s Rib” (1949) and more.
20. MORNING GLORY (1933)
Directed by Lowell Sherman. Screenplay by Howard J. Green, based on the play by Zoe Akins. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Adolphe Menjou, Mary Duncan, C. Aubrey Smith.
Hepburn won the first of four Best Actress Oscars for this creaky, badly-dated backstage Broadway drama. She plays Eva Lovelace, a wide-eyed, optimistic actress who leaves her small town to strike it big on the New York stage. She impresses many prominent people, including a producer (Adolph Menjou), an actor (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), and a playwright (C. Aubrey Smith), although they might like her more for her looks than her talent. Stagey and melodramatic, there’s not much glory to this one aside from Hepburn’s performance.
19. THE RAINMAKER (1956)
Directed by Joseph Anthony. Screenplay by N. Richard Nash, based on his play. Starring Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Earl Holliman, Cameron Prud’Homme, Wallace Ford, Yvonne Lime.
Though it struggles to escape its stage roots, this adaptation of N. Richard Nash’s hit play finds Hepburn and Burt Lancaster in top form. “The Rainmaker” centers on Bill Starbuck (Lancaster), a con man who’s been kicked out of town after town for promising to make it rain. He arrives in drought-ridden Kansas to find a spinster (Hepburn) living with her crotchety father (Cameron Prud’Homme) and younger brothers (Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman). Desperate for a place to stay, Lancaster promises to revive not just their dying crops, but Hepburn’s marriage prospects as well. The role brought her an Oscar nomination in Best Actress, which she lost to Ingrid Bergman (“Anastasia”).
18. STATE OF THE UNION (1948)
Directed by Frank Capra. Screenplay by Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller, based on the play by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Adolphe Menjou, Lewis Stone.
Viewed through today’s political landscape, the idea of a wealthy businessman seeking the Republican presidential nomination would make for a terrifying horror movie. But in Frank Capra’s capable hands, it becomes a charming piece of Americana, and a perfect vehicle for Hepburn and her frequent leading man, Spencer Tracy. Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who decides to make a run for the White House. His campaign manager (Van Johnson) encourages him to reunite with his estranged wife (Hepburn) for appearance’s sake, but her confidence in him is shaken when he begins to compromise his values for political gain (proving that little has changed when it comes to Washington).
17. SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1959)
Directed by Joesph L. Mankiewicz. Screenplay by Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams, based on the play by Williams. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge.
“Suddenly, Last Summer” is the kind of lurid blending of homosexuality and cannibalism that only Tennessee Williams could conceive. Montgomery Clift plays a psychiatrist summoned by the wealthy Mrs. Venable (Hepburn) to lobotomize her niece (Elizabeth Taylor), who harbors a terrible secret about the death of her cousin. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz shoots this disturbing material as explicitly as the censors would allow, though most of the runtime is devoted to long dialogue scenes between its three leads. Hepburn and Taylor were both nominated at the Oscars as Best Actress, possibly cancelling each other out and swinging the prize to Simone Signoret (“Room at the Top”).
16. PAT AND MIKE (1952)
Directed by George Cukor. Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, William Ching, Aldo Ray, Jim Backus, Sammy White, Charles Bronson.
After the success of “Adam’s Rib,” Hepburn and Spencer Tracy reunited with director George Cukor and writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin for another hilarious battle of the sexes. “Pat and Mike” casts Hepburn as a talented athlete (a role that perfectly fits the famously sporty actress) fighting back against the ignorant men around her, particularly her husband (William Ching). Tracy plays the gruff yet lovable coach who separates her from her spouse so she can excel at sports, developing feelings for her in the meantime. As always, Tracy and Hepburn’s chemistry lights up the screen, thanks in part to Cukor’s expert direction and Garson and Kanin’s Oscar-nominated script. Aldo Ray is a standout as a dense sports sensation.
15. STAGE DOOR (1937)
Directed by Gregory La Cava. Screenplay by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller, based on the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolph Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds, Lucille Ball, Eve Ardin, Ann Miller.
Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman’s Broadway smash translates beautifully to the big screen thanks to first-rate performances from a female-led cast. Directed by Gregory La Cava, “Stage Door” centers on the inhabitants of a New York boarding house for aspiring actresses. Hepburn stars as Terry Randall, a refined socialite who wants to succeed on the stage without her family connections. She frequently spars with her roommate, Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers), a cynical, hard-edged dancer. Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, and Eve Ardin show up in early supporting roles. The film earned Oscar nominations in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Andrea Leeds as a fellow tenant.
14. ALICE ADAMS (1935)
Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner, and Jane Murfin, based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone, Evelyn Venable.
“Alice Adams” was a comeback of sorts for Hepburn: following her back-to-back 1933 triumphs of “Morning Glory” (for which she won the Oscar) and “Little Women,” she found herself out of favor after a series of box office flops the next year. But fortunes change quickly in Hollywood, and by 1935, she was back on top with this acclaimed adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel about a small town girl who hopes to climb her way up the societal ladder. Director George Stevens walks a nimble tightrope between comedy and pathos, and his subtle touch is a perfect match for Hepburn’s theatricality. The film earned Oscar nominations in Best Picture and Best Actress (Hepburn lost to Bette Davis in “Dangerous”).
13. DESK SET (1957)
Directed by Walter Lang. Screenplay by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, based on the play by William Marchant. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young, Joan Blondell.
William Marchant’s hit play proves to be a perfect vehicle for Tracy and Hepburn, an office romance about the perils of modern technology. Directed by Walter Lang, “Desk Set” casts Hepburn as the head of a TV network’s research department. Tracy is the efficiency expert who arrives to install a new computer that could render Hepburn and her fellow employees obsolete. As expected, the two start off hating each other before falling in love, but not without a few witty exchanges. Of special note: the screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, the parents of future Oscar-nominated writer/director Nora Ephron.
12. HOLIDAY (1938)
Directed by George Cukor. Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman, based on the play by Philip Barry. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, Henry Kolker, Edward Everett Horton, Jean Dixon, Binnie Barnes, Henry Daniell.
Though she’s best remembered for her collaborations with Spencer Tracy, Hepburn also had a fruitful partnership with Cary Grant, co-starring in four films with him. Though “Holiday” is less talked about than “Bringing Up Baby” (which came out the same year) and “The Philadelphia Story” (which was also based on a Philip Barry play), it’s still one of the best entires in their respective filmographies. Directed by George Cukor, it casts Grant as a free-thinking, self-made man who’s engaged to a woman (Doris Nolan) from a wealthy family. But he finds himself drawn instead to her vivacious sister (Hepburn) who supports his plans to take an extended holiday to find himself before settling down. Incidentally, Hepburn understudied her role in the original Broadway production.
11. GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER? (1967)
Directed by Stanley Kramer. Written by William Rose. Starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy E. Glenn, Isabel Sanford.
Stanley Kramer intended “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” to be a daring indictment of racism, presenting a positive view of interracial marriage at a time when it was still illegal in 17 states. (The “Loving v. Virginia” Supreme Court case struck down anti-miscegenation laws the year it came out.) Yet it misses its mark by casting Sidney Poitier as a man of such upstanding integrity that his fiancee’s (Katharine Houghton) liberal parents (Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) could have no possible objection to him aside from his race. His character is so saintly as to be almost neutered, which sets the tone for the rest of this high-gloss fluff. Yet its message is heartfelt, and it holds a special place in cinema history for being the last screen pairing of one of Hollywood’s favorite duos (Tracy died shortly after shooting wrapped). The film brought Hepburn her second Oscar as Best Actress (her first since 1933’s “Morning Glory”).
10. LITTLE WOMEN (1933)
Directed by George Cukor. Screenplay by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas, Jean Parker, Frances Dee, Spring Byington, Edna May Oliver, Douglass Montgomery, Henry Stephenson.
Though she won the Oscar for 1933’s “Morning Glory,” Hepburn gave an even better performance that same year in George Cukor’s loving adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel. The oft-told story of “Little Women” centers on four New England sisters — Jo (Hepburn), Amy (Joan Bennett), Beth (Jean Parker), and Meg (Frances Dee) — coming of age during the Civil War. The tomboyish Jo, who dreams of leaving her hometown to become an author, is a perfect fit for Hepburn. A shimmering example of old Hollywood filmmaking at its very best, from the period costumes and sets to the melodic, sentimental score. The film earned Oscar nominations in Best Picture and Best Director, winning for its screenplay.
9. SUMMERTIME (1955)
Directed by David Lean. Screenplay by H.E. Bates and David Lean, based on the play by Arthur Laurents. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Darren McGavin, Isa Miranda.
“Summertime” kicked off David Lean’s cinematic trips abroad after more than a decade of directing in his native England, pointing the way towards his more epic, exotic features. It’s narrative is deceptively simple: a lonely American school secretary (Hepburn) falls in love with a handsome Italian man (Rossano Brazzi) while vacationing in Vienna, only to have her heart broken when she discovers he’s married. Jack Hildyard’s gorgeous Technicolor cinematography captures the locale in all its visual splendor, while Hepburn gives a performance that is devastating in its restraint. The role brought her yet another Oscar nomination in Best Actress, which she lost to Anna Magnani (“The Rose Tattoo”).
8. WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942)
Directed by George Stevens. Screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owens.
“Woman of the Year” was the first of nine films Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy, and their dynamic was quickly established: she worldly and outgoing, he world-weary and slyly playful. Under George Stevens’s smart direction, the pair are allowed to shine, kicking off a professional and personal relationship that would last until Tracy’s death in 1967. The film centers on rival newspaper reporters who fall in love, only to find themselves at each others throats when they tie the knot and realize their careers aren’t compatible. Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr.’s witty screenplay won the Oscar, while Hepburn earned a Best Actress nomination for her performance (she lost to Greer Garson in “Mrs. Miniver”).
7. ON GOLDEN POND (1981)
Directed by Mark Rydell. Screenplay by Ernest Thompson, based on his play. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman, William Lanteau.
With “On Golden Pond,” Hepburn cemented her record as the most honored thespian in Oscar history with a fourth win for Best Actress, more than any other actor. This sweet, sentimental adaptation of Ernest Thompson’s play centers on retired professor Norman Thayer (Henry Fonda in his final performance) and his wife, Ethel (Hepburn), who make a yearly pilgrimage to their lakeside New England cottage. Their estranged daughter (Jane Fonda in a role that mirrors her own relationship with her father) arrives to celebrate her dad’s birthday, bringing along her fiancee (Dabney Coleman) and his son (Doug McKeon). As Norman bonds with the kid, his strained relationship with his own child begins to change. The film won additional Oscars in Best Actor for the elder Fonda and Best Adapted Screenplay for Thompson.
6. ADAM’S RIB (1949)
Directed by George Cukor. Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne, Jean Hagen.
The high watermark of Hepburn’s collaborations with Spencer Tracy, this effervescent courtroom comedy casts the pair as married lawyers who find themselves at odds professionally and domestically when a woman (Judy Holliday) is put on trial for shooting her husband. Hepburn is representing Holliday, while Tracy represents her wounded spouse. Working from a witty, Oscar-nominated script by married writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, director George Cukor brings out the very best in his actors by playing on their unique star personas. Hepburn encouraged Holliday to make her screen debut in this film, which helped convince Columbia to let her reprise her Broadway role in the movie version of “Born Yesterday,” for which she won Best Actress.
5. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by John Huston and James Agee, based on the novel by C.S. Forester. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Theodore Bikel, Walter Gotell.
John Huston’s rousing safari adventure is best remembered as the film that clinched Humphrey Bogart his long overdue Best Actor Oscar. He plays Charlie Allnutt, a booze-swilling riverboat captain transporting a spinster missionary (Hepburn) downriver during WWI. Despite their differences, the two team up to take down a German warship. The slovenly Bogart and the prim-and-proper Hepburn make for a perfect odd couple, and both are able to shine under Huston’s tight, sharp direction. Equally enjoyable for Jack Cardiff’s cinematography, which turns the lush, gorgeous African jungle into a character all its own. Hepburn once again competed in Best Actress, losing to Vivien Leigh (“A Streetcar Named Desire”).
4. LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1962)
Directed by Sidney Lumet. Based on the play by Eugene O’Neill. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards, Dean Stockwell.
Rather than hiring a screenwriter to “open up” the text, Sidney Lumet simply took Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play and translated it word-for-word to the screen, allowing his actors and cinematographer (Boris Kaufman) to make it cinematic. The results are electrifying, a three-hour epic about the decline of an upper-class New England family during one summer night in 1912. Hepburn gives one of her greatest performances as Mary Tyrone, the drug-addicted matriarch, who lives with her pompous, former actor husband James (Ralph Richardson), alcoholic eldest son Jamie (Jason Robards), and sickly youngest son Edmund (Dean Stockwell). All four actors won prizes at Cannes, while Hepburn competed at the Oscars as Best Actress (losing to Anne Bancroft in “The Miracle Worker”).
3. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde, based on the short story by Wilde. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett, May Robson, Fritz Feld, Barry Fitzgerald, Virginia Walker.
Though it’s now considered the gold standard for screwball comedies, Howard Hawks’s “Bringing Up Baby” was a massive flop when it was first released. Yet time, as always, is the ultimate judge of quality. The film finds the usually suave, debonaire Cary Grant going nerdy to play a befuddled paleontologist desperate to secure a $1 million grant to his museum. Though he’s engaged to a humorless fiancee (Virginia Walker), he finds himself pursued by a flighty, free-spirited heiress (Hepburn) and her pet leopard, Baby. There are far too many absurd moments and characters to list, but needless to say, there’s not a gag that falls flat here. Though it’s extremely wacky, there’s an effortlessness to the way Hawks directs and the way Hepburn and Grant play their cartoonish characters that keeps it all from falling apart.
2. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
Directed by George Cukor. Screenplay by David Ogden Stewart, based on the play by Philip Barry. Starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weilder.
After being labeled “box office poison” in the late 1930s, Hepburn returned to the stage and found great success in Philip Barry’s play “The Philadelphia Story.” Her then-partner, Howard Hughes, helped her acquire the film rights, leading to her triumphant big screen comeback. She plays Tracy Lord, a wealthy socialite whose plans to remarry are interrupted by the arrival of her ex-husband (Cary Grant) and a tabloid reporter (James Stewart). Smartly written by David Ogden Stewart and nimbly directed by George Cukor (both of whom Hepburn hand picked for the project), this is a glimmering, sparkling example of high-brow Hollywood entertainment. The film won Oscars for Stewart in Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, competing in four other categories including Best Picture and Best Actress for Hepburn (she lost to Ginger Rogers in “Kitty Foyle”).
1. THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
Directed by Anthony Harvey. Screenplay by James Goldman, based on his play. Starring Peter O’Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry, Timothy Dalton.
Just one year after winning her second Oscar for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?,” Hepburn collected a third Best Actress trophy for Anthony Harvey’s exquisite historical drama. Adapted by James Goldman from his own play, “The Lion in Winter” centers on King Henry II’s (Peter O’Toole) struggle to choose an heir. While he has his eyes set on the youngest son, John (Nigel Terry), his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Hepburn), prefers the eldest, Richard (Anthony Hopkins). Meanwhile, middle-child Geoffrey (John Castle) has ideas of his own. Goldman won an Oscar for his literate script, which provides its actors with juicy, scenery-chewing roles. Watching O’Toole spar with his costar as husband and wife is more exciting than any fistfight. Hepburn famously tied Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”) for the prize, although only Streisand was on-hand to accept (Harvey accepted for Hepburn).
