Her performance as "Tracy Lord" in The Philadelphia Story (1940) is ranked #54 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Holds the Guiness World Record as the only movie star to win four Academy Awards, all for her leading roles in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).
In The Lion in Winter (1968) she plays the mother of Richard the Lionheart, who is played by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins later said that Hepburn's voice was, in part, the basis for Hannibal Lecter's voice.
In 2010, Jason Bateman, who was in one of Hepburn's last movies, This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV), told New York Magazine that Hepburn only ever wore white Reebok high-top sneakers on and off the set. If a scene called for her to be wearing something fancier, all she would do is wear black socks over the white sneakers.
In a letter to Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Gregory Peck, she claimed that sentiment for the death of her long-time lover and co-star, Spencer Tracy, had been part of the reason she won her second Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). She told also Peck that she modeled her award-winning characterization of "Christina Drayton" on her mother.
In her book "Me: Stories of My Life", she admitted to posing for nude photos when she was in her 20s. The pictures were later lost.
In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Wanda Tettoni and in the sixties by Anna Miserocchi. She was occasionally dubbed by Lidia Simoneschi, Andreina Pagnani and once by Rina Morelli in Desk Set (1957).
Is in the Guinness World Records-book for "Most 'Best Actress' Oscars Won".
Is one of only five thespians to be nominated for acting honors by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences over five decades: (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s). Only Laurence Olivier (1930s-1970s), Paul Newman (1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s) and Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine(1960s-2000s) have turned the trick.
Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue"
Katharine Hepburn is caricaturized in the Walt Disney 1938 animated short, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood which featured parodies of Mother Goose nursery rhymes and caricatures of Hollywood celebrities from the 1930s. In it, Hepburn as Little Bo Peep, claims she "really lost her sheep, really I have".
Made nine films with Spencer Tracy, the first of which was Woman of the Year (1942).
Measurements: 34B-22-33 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
On American Film Institute's list of "Top 100 U.S. Love Stories," compiled in June 2002, Hepburn led all actresses with six of her films on the list. (Actor Cary Grant, co-star with her in two of them, led the male field, also with six films on list). The duo's The Philadelphia Story (1940) was ranked #44 and their Bringing Up Baby (1938) ranked #51. Hepburn's four other movies on AFI Top "100 Love Movies list" are: - #14 The African Queen (1951) - #22 On Golden Pond (1981) - #58 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - #74 Woman of the Year (1942)
On June 2004 Sotheby's auction house hosted a two-day estate of Katharine Hepburn, auctioning of personal belongings of the legendary actress to collectors. The auction included her furniture, jewelry (which included the platinum, diamond and sapphire given to her by then-boyfriend Howard Hughes which fetched $120,000, six times its estimated price), paperwork (such as personal checks, telegrams, birth certificates, letters, film contracts, movie scripts), and nomination certificates from the Academy Awards. Among other items were casual clothes, and gowns that included her unusual wedding dress to Ludlow Ogden Smith in 1928, made of crushed white velvet with antiqued gold embroidery, sold for $27,000. Also consisted in the lot were house decorations drawings and paintings done by the actress herself, glamour portraits, and a glass bronze sculpture entitled "Angel on a Wave" sold for $90,000 while a self-portrait entitled "Breakfast in Bed and a Self-Portrait in Brisbane, Australia", fetched $33,000, some 40 times the estimated price. Movie memorabilia comprised of a ring from her 1968 film The Lion in Winter (1968), Gertrud (1964), the canoe from the film On Go
One of her closest friends, Canadian portrait artist Myfanwy Pavelic died on May 11, 2007, one day short of Hepburn's 100th birthday anniversary.
One of Hollywood's early tall leading ladies, standing over 5' 7" in an era when most actresses were only a little over 5' 0".
Pictured on a 44¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 12 May 2010.
Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999]
Ranked #1 woman in the AFI's "50 Greatest Movie Legends." [June 1999]