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The question of who was the most talented actress of Hollywood's Golden Age is, of course, an entirely subjective one. Art does not lend itself particularly well to league tables, scorecards, or definitive rankings. Objectively, however, Katharine Hepburn is at or near the top of just about anybody's list. Indeed, in 1999, the American Film Institute named her the greatest female screen legend in American cinema.
Independent, fiercely intelligent, headstrong, and utterly unwilling to conform to expectations, she was a pioneer in more ways than one. Four Academy Awards for Best Actress attests to this. In an industry built upon image, compromise, and conformity, she stubbornly insisted upon being Katharine Hepburn. I harbour a deep respect for people who live life on their own terms and refuse to allow society to dictate who they must be. Such individuals make the rest of you uncomfortable. They challenge conventions. They are difficult, argumentative, impatient, and occasionally maddening (takes one to know one, folks). Katharine Hepburn was all of those things at various times, and so too was the great love of her life, Mr Spencer Tracy. Neither would have won many prizes for meek obedience.
History is not shaped by the obedient. Without individuals of strong character, personality, and will, no progress would ever be made in this world, and civilisation would stagnate altogether (to some extent, I see this happening in real time). At the very least, it would be a duller and less interesting world. We ought to give eternal thanks that people such as Katharine Hepburn — and Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, James Cagney, James Stewart, Norma Shearer, and I could go on and on — once graced this unworthy world with their presence.
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Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.
