1. Katharine Hepburn received four Academy Awards for Best Actress – I think this is a record but I couldn’t verify it, does anyone know?
2. She had 26-year affair with her costar Spencer Tracy which was hidden from the public.
3. The young Hepburn was a tomboy who liked to call herself Jimmy, and cut her hair short like a boy’s
4. On April 3, 1921, while visiting friends in Greenwich Village, Hepburn discovered the body of her older brother, Tom (whom she adored), dead from an apparent suicide. He had tied a sheet around a beam and hanged himself.
5. For many years she used Tom’s birthday (November 8th) as her own.
   
6. She had a philosophy degree from Bryn Mawr College.
7. She disliked the press,  would not give interviews and denied requests for autographs, which earned her the nickname “Katharine of Arrogance”.
8. Hepburn went up for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Producer David O. Selznick refused to offer her the part because he felt she had no sex appeal. He reportedly told Hepburn, “I can’t see Rhett Butler chasing you for twelve years.” Ouch!
9. Bringing Up Baby (LOVE that movie!) was the last picture Hepburn did at RKO. After its release, the Independent Theatre Owners of America included Hepburn on a list of actors considered “Box Office Poison”.
10. Hepburn’s legacy extends to fashion, where she was a pioneer for wearing trousers at a time when it was radical for a woman to do so. She contributed towards making trousers acceptable for women, as fans began to imitate her clothing. In 1986 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in recognition of the influence she played in women’s fashion.

Read more from our “10 things you didn’t know about…” series

Source and copyright: Source and copyright: This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed.