Katharine Hepburn Movies

Want to know the best Katharine Hepburn movies?  How about the worst Katharine Hepburn movies?  Curious about Katharine Hepburn box office grosses or which Katharine Hepburn movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Katharine Hepburn movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place, because we have all of that information and a lot more!

Katharine Hepburn’s movie career was one heck of a roller coaster ride. The ride started on a high note with an Oscar® win for 1933’s Morning Glory and a blockbuster hit in 1934’s Little Women. She was unable to maintain her early success. The rest of the 1930s did not go very well for her. Hepburn made eleven more movies in the 1930s, and with a couple of exceptions (Alice Adams & Stage Door), they were all box office bombs. After being labeled “box office poison” she returned to the stage.

In 1940 Hepburn returned to Hollywood to make the film version of The Philadelphia Story. The film was one of the biggest hits of the year and earned Hepburn her third Oscar® nomination. After that success she appeared for the first time with Spencer Tracy in 1942’s Woman of the Year. Tracy and Hepburn would make nine films together over the next twenty-five years and become one the greatest screen couples ever. Their final appearance together would be 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, which was a blockbuster hit and earned Hepburn her 2nd Oscar® win. The following year she appeared in The Lion in Winter. She amazingly won her 3rd Oscar® win for Best Actress. Following her back to back Oscar® wins, Hepburn’s movie career took another downward spiral.

For the next twenty-five years, she would appear in only eight more movies. Most of those movies died at the box office, but she had one more major role left in her. In 1981 she appeared in On Golden Pond opposite Henry Fonda. On Golden Pond was her second biggest box office hit and earned her a record fourth Academy Award® for Best Actress. Her last role was in 1994’s Love Affair. Katharine Hepburn passed away June 29th 2003 at the age of 96.

Her IMDb page shows 52 acting credits from 1932-1994. This page will rank Katharine Hepburn movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings.

Katharine Hepburn in 1968's The Lion In Winter
Katharine Hepburn in 1968’s The Lion in Winter

Katharine Hepburn Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Katharine Hepburn Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Katharine Hepburn movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Katharine Hepburn movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Katharine Hepburn movies by domestic box office rank
  • Sort Katharine Hepburn movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Katharine Hepburn movie received.
  • Sort Katharine Hepburn movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Use the sort and search button to make this a very interactive page.
 
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in 1967's Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner

Check out Katharine Hepburn‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Wait! Want more Katharine Hepburn stats?  Well we have adjusted worldwide grosses on 24 of her movies.

  1. Dragon Seed (1944) $393.70 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  2. The Sea of Grass (1947) $288.00 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  3. The Philadelphia Story (1940) $280.20 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  4. Undercurrent (1946) $276.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  5. Song of Love (1947) $268.90 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  6. Keeper of the Flame (1942) $267.90 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  7. State of the Union (1948) $261.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  8. Without Love (1945) $260.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  9. Stage Door (1937) $229.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  10. Woman of the Year (1942) $224.70 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  11. Little Women (1933) $223.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  12. Adam’s Rib (1949) $214.80 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  13. Bringing Up Baby (1938) $158.30 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  14. Mary of Scotland (1936) $143.90 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  15. Pat and Mike (1952) $117.40 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  16. The Little Minister (1934) $115.70 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  17. Alice Adams (1935) $76.60 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  18. Break of Hearts (1935) $72.00 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  19. A Woman Rebels (1936) $65.00 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  20. Spitfire (1934) $64.90 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  21. The Iron Petticoat (1957) $60.60 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  22. A Bill of Divorcement (1932) $57.90 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  23. Sylvia Scarlett (1935) $51.10 million in worldwide adjusted gross
  24. Quality Street (1937) $42.60 million in worldwide adjusted gross

Check out Steve’s Katharine Hepburn You Tube Video

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

(Visited 4 times)

88 thoughts on “Katharine Hepburn Movies”

  1. Really like this site. One thing I noticed. Hatharine Hepburn was nominated for best actress for “Long Days Journey Into Night” (1962) you list 0 noms and 0 wins.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bill, great catch. I failed to include that nomination into Long Day’s Journey Into Night totals. The end result was a few additional points…but enough to move Journey past Summertime for 21st spot. I greatly appreciate you helping me out. Thanks for stopping by and for the compliment.

      Reply

  2. Well, I have to fix this. I can’t not comment on Kate.

    I have a smaller percentage of films I’ve seen of her films than of other actresses. This is partly because I’m not a big comedy fan, and partly due to when her films tend to air on TCM-b&w films during the day. No no no.

    I have seen many, but not all of Tracy/Hepburn pairings (eg. not Sea of Grass). My favourite Tracy/Hepburn film is (no surprise with my above comment) Guess who’s Coming to Dinner. It is also my favourite Hepburn film, period.

    I have seen only 5 of her 10 box office hits: 1,2,3, 4, and 7. Suddenly last summer is excellent but very difficult to watch. I think I have seen it only twice.

    A bit better with the top ten critics hits: I’ve seen 7. I have not seen Holiday, The lion in Winter (on the top of my to-see list of O’Toole films), and long Day’s Journey Into Night.

    Overall, I have seen only 15 of her films. That is 34%.

    On top of my list of to-see K.H. films co-star Cary Grant (hmmm. wonder why?): Holiday and sylvia Scarlett.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora…well it is about time you got to my Katharine Hepburn hub….lol. We are actually tied with 15 movies a piece in total number of Hepburn movies watched. I agree 100% about Suddenly Last Summer….a movie that is easily…”once is enough”….as I do not think I will ever watch that movie again. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner is a classic…although dated you have to love the performances by Tracy, Hepburn and Poitier.

      The Lion in Winter is a very good movie…and you get a very young Anthony Hopkins and a very young Timothy Dalton in supporting roles as well.

      Holiday and Sylvia Scarlett are both closer to dramas than comedies..I have seen Sylvia Scarlett…but can barely remember the movie as it has been almost 25 years since I saw the movie.

      More female classic actresses coming soon. Thanks for checking out my Great Kate page…it is greatly appreciated.

      Reply

  3. I love this lady. I love her at all stages of her career. I can see why her career was such a rollercoaster though. She was a head of her time and sometimes people can’t take that in big doses.

    Reply

    1. Hey leann2800….you could be correct …that she was ahead of her time…lots of her movies that got her labeled box office poison in the 1930s….are now considered classics…like Bringing Up Baby, Holiday and even Sylvia Scarlett. This hub has become one of my most visited hubs….it started slowly but never stopped getting hits…and recently crossed the 1200 hit mark….thanks for checking her hub out…glad you liked it.

      Reply

  4. Mr. Cogerson I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your tribute to the Great Kate. I have over my years seen almost every movie she performed in. Thank you for taking me down memory lane. Little Kate.

    Reply

    1. Hey LovesKateMovies….I am glad you were able to find this page…..so was one of the great actresses of all-time…thanks for stopping by

      Reply

  5. I’m so glad you did one on K Hepburn. Although I most admire Katharine as a style icon (making Menswear for women fashionable), I loved Bringing up Baby; (Hilarious) and The Philadelphia Story of course is amazing

    Reply

    1. Hey yenajeon….she was an awesome style icon…..Bringing Up Baby and Philadelphia Story are classics that get better each year…..Hepburn and Grant made a great screen couple…..glad you enjoyed the page…..and thank you for commenting.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.