Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) was an American actress. Her career on stage and screen spanned 67 years through eight decades (1928–1995), during which she was honored with many of the industry's top awards. Hepburn was nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards for Best Actress, and won four – the record number of wins for a performer. She received two British Academy Film Awards, one Primetime Emmy Award, and an Actor Award, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and eight Golden Globes.
International awards from the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the People's Choice Awards, and others. Hepburn was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1979. She also won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1979, and received the Kennedy Center Honors, which recognize a lifetime of accomplishments in the arts, in 1990.
She also won awards from the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and Montréal World Film Festival; the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards; the People's Choice Awards, the Laurel Awards, the Golden Apple Awards, the American Movie Awards, the American Comedy Awards, and the David di Donatello Awards. Hepburn was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1979. She also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1979, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990.
Outside of acting, Hepburn also received recognition from the American Humanist Association and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In 2000, at age 93, she was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
Academy Awards Hepburn won four Academy Awards, the record number for a performer, and received a total of 12 Oscar nominations for Best Actress — a number surpassed only by Meryl Streep. Hepburn also holds the record for the longest time span between first and last Oscar nominations, at 48 years. She won for Best Actress for her roles as an actress on her journey to stardom in Morning Glory (1933), a mother who's shocked when her daughter is engaged to a black man in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968), and an elderly woman in On Golden Pond (1981). She was Oscar-nominated for Alice Adams (1935), The Philadelphia Story (1940), 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).
Major associations Academy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1932/33 Best Actress Morning Glory 1935 Alice Adams 1940 The Philadelphia Story 1942 Woman of the Year 1951 The African Queen 1955 Summertime 1956 The Rainmaker 1959 Suddenly, Last Summer 1962 Long Day's Journey into Night 1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1968 The Lion in Winter 1981 On Golden Pond
BAFTA Awards Year Category Nominated work Result British Academy Film Awards 1953 Best Foreign Actress The African Queen 1956 Summertime 1958 The Rainmaker 1969 Best Actress in a Leading Role Guess Who's Coming to Dinner / The Lion in Winter 1983 On Golden Pond
Emmy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Primetime Emmy Awards 1974 Best Lead Actress in a Drama The Glass Menagerie 1975 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy Love Among the Ruins 1979 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special The Corn is Green 1986 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry Outstanding Informational Special The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn 1993Katharine Hepburn: All About Me
Golden Globe Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1952 Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical Pat and Mike 1956Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama The Rainmaker 1959 Suddenly, Last Summer 1962 Long Day's Journey into Night 1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1968 The Lion in Winter 1981 On Golden Pond 1992 Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film The Man Upstairs
Grammy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1988 Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording Lincoln Portrait 1992 Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album Me: Stories of My Life
Actor Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1979 Lifetime Achievement Award 1994 Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie One Christmas
Tony Awards Year Category Nominated work Result 1970 Best Actress in a Musical Coco 1982 Best Actress in a Play The West Side Waltz
Festival awards Organizations Year Category Work Result Venice Film Festival 1934 Volpi Cup for Best Actress Little Women Cannes Film Festival 1962 Best Actress Long Day's Journey into Night Montréal World Film Festival 1984 Special Prize of the Jury Grace Quigley
Critics awards Organizations Year Category Work Result New York Film Critics Circle 1940 Best Actress The Philadelphia Story Mexican Cinema Journalists 1965 Best Foreign Actress Long Day's Journey Into Night Kansas City Film Critics Circle 1973 Best Actress The Trojan Women
Miscellaneous awards Organizations Year Category Work Result American Movie Award 1982 Best Actress On Golden Pond David di Donatello Award 1968 Best Foreign Actress Guess Who's Coming to Dinner People's Choice Awards 1976 Favorite Motion Picture Actress 1983 Laurel Awards 1960 Top Female Dramatic Performance Suddenly, Last Summer 1963 Long Day's Journey into Night 1970 The Lion in Winter Top Female Star 1971 Top Female Star Golden Apple Awards 1975 Female Star of the Year 1982
Honorary awards Organizations Year Award Result Harvard University 1958 Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Hollywood Walk of Fame 1960 Motion Picture Star American Theater Hall of Fame 1979 Induction Actor Awards 1979 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award American Humanist Association 1985 Humanist Arts Award Council of Fashion Designers of America 1985 Lifetime Achievement Award American Comedy Awards 1989 Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 1990 Kennedy Center Honors
See also Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage
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