The Indomitable Miss Hepburn: A Complete Biography of Katharine Hepburn

The Unlikeliest Star
She was too tall, too gawky, too freckled, too opinionated, and far too fond of wearing trousers in an era when women were expected to be demure and glamorous. By every conventional measure of Hollywood stardom, Katharine Hepburn should have failed. Instead, she became the greatest female screen legend in American cinema history, collecting a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress from twelve nominations over a career that spanned an astonishing sixty-two years. She starred in classics ranging from The Philadelphia Story to The African Queen to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and she did it all on her own terms, refusing to play the studio system's games, refusing to marry for convenience, and refusing to be anything other than herself. This is the story of how a defiant Connecticut tomboy became an icon of independence and excellence.