Categotry Archives: Actors

The First Lady of Cinema died Saturday. Cause of death was not released. She was 96.
Katharine Hepburn, who was ranked the number one actress in the American Film Institute’s list of “50 Greatest Movie Legends,” acted for more than 60 years, both on stage and in film.
Her first starring role on Broadway occurred in 1932 as an Amazon princess in “A Warrior’s Husband.” Later that year, Hepburn made her film debut in “A Bill of Divorcement,” starring opposite John Barrymore. She made five more movies in the next two years, including “Morning Glory,” for which she won her first Academy Award.
At the time, Hollywood was not prepared for someone like Hepburn. She relished her privacy, skipped the interview process and chose her own wardrobe (she favored pants). Studio executives declared her to be “demanding,” and her next few movies flopped.
Undaunted, Hepburn returned to Broadway to star in “The Philadelphia Story.” It was a huge hit and Hepburn used its success to buy the film rights and return to Hollywood on her own terms. The 1940 film version, which costarred Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant, was a box office hit and earned Hepburn her third Oscar nomination.
In 1942, Hepburn worked with Spencer Tracy on the film, “Woman of the Year.” They fell in love off-screen, and began a relationship that lasted 25 years and eight more movies together. Her last film with Tracy was “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” She received her 10th Oscar nomination and her second win, though it was a movie she never actually watched. Tracy died weeks after it wrapped.
Even as she aged, Hepburn continued working. In the ’70s, she made TV movies like “The Glass Menagerie” and “Love Among the Ruins.” In the ’80s, she made “On Golden Pond” with Henry Fonda. She received her 12th Oscar nomination for the film, and her fourth win. In 1994, she appeared in the remake of “An Affair to Remember,” with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.
Until 2002, Hepburn held the record for being the actress with the most Oscar nominations and most Oscar wins. (Meryl Streep finally beat her in the nominations category with her nod for “Adaptation.”)
“I welcome death,” Hepburn once said. “In death there are no interviews!”
• IMDb Filmography
• Complete Coverage From The New York Times

Actor William Marshall, who performed for more than 40 years on Broadway, on television and in movies, died on June 11 from a heart attack. He was 78.
Marshall was best known as the title character in the cult horror film, “Blacula” (1972) and its sequel, “Scream, Blacula, Scream!” (1973).
His last role was as a riverboat poker player in the 1994 film “Maverick,” starring Mel Gibson.

British actress Laura Sadler died yesterday after falling 40 feet from the second-floor balcony of her boyfriend’s flat in London.
Sadler will continue to appear as nurse Sandy Harper in the BBC One hospital drama, “Holby City,” for the remaining eight episodes she had already filmed. She was 22.

Canadian-born stage and screen actor Hume Cronyn, who often played opposite his wife Jessica Tandy, has died. He was 91.
Known most recently for his roles in the 1980s “Cocoon” movies, the veteran actor died of prostate cancer Sunday at his home in Fairfield, Conn., according to a family spokeswoman.
Cronyn was married to Tandy for nearly 52 years. She died from ovarian cancer in September 1994.

Gregory Peck, the film actor who has died aged 87, appeared on the screen as the epitome of male virtue.
Tall, dark, handsome and romantic, he stood for goodness, decency, sobriety and sound sense — to an extent that risked appearing dull. It was true that Peck could seem wooden, while the cynical complained of his complacency, blandness and political correctness. “When I’m wrongly cast,” he himself admitted, “I sink with the ship.”

But a film had to be very bad indeed to undermine his appeal at the box office. From the 1940s to the 1980s he was the star of nearly every film he played in.