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After a striking appearance in The Warrior’s Husband on Broadway, Katharine Hepburn landed in Hollywood in 1932 and became a star in her first film, A Bill of Divorcement. She won an Academy Award for her third picture, Morning Glory (1933), and soon gave classic performances in Little Women (1933), Holiday (1938), and Bringing Up Baby (1938). But she also appeared in a series of oddball movies—including Christopher Strong (1933) and Sylvia Scarlett (1935)—that turned audiences against her: by 1938, she was labeled “box office poison.”

 
   
     
 
     
Photograph of Katharine Hepburn and John Barrymore in "A Bill of Divorcement," RKO, 1933   Photograph of Katharine Hepburn with George Cukor and cast in "Little Women," RKO, 1933
Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn and John Barrymore in "A Bill of Divorcement," RKO, 1933
Unidentified artist, 1933
Photo reproduction
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Core Production Stills Collection, Beverly Hills, California
  Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn with George Cukor and cast in "Little Women," RKO, 1933
Unidentified artist, 1933
Photo reproduction
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, RKO Stills Collection, Beverly Hills, California
 
     
 
     
Drawing of Katharine Hepburn in "Little Women"   Drawing of Katharine Hepburn and Adolphe Menjou in "Morning Glory"
Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn in "Little Women"
Joseph Grant (1908–2005), 1933
India ink, gouache, and pencil on paper
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Carol Grubb and Jennifer Grant Castrup
  Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn and Adolphe Menjou in "Morning Glory"
Joseph Grant (1908–2005), 1933
Ink wash on illustration board
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Carol Grubb and Jennifer Grant Castrup
 
     
 
     
Photograph of Katharine Hepburn in "Christopher Strong," RKO, 1933   Photograph of Katharine Hepburn off-camera in "Sylvia Scarlett"
Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn in "Christopher Strong," RKO, 1933
Unidentified artist, 1933
Photo reproduction
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Core Production Stills Collection, Beverly Hills, California
  Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn off-camera in "Sylvia Scarlett," RKO, 1935
Unidentified artist, 1935
Photo reproduction
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, RKO Stills Collection, Beverly Hills, California
 
     
 
     
Image of "Bringing Up Baby," RKO movie poster   Photograph of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby," RKO, 1938
Click to enlarge image "Bringing Up Baby," RKO movie poster
Unidentified artist, 1938
Poster mounted on paper and linen
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, RKO Stills Collection, Beverly Hills, California
  Click to enlarge image Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby," RKO, 1938
Unidentified artist, 1938
Publicity photograph
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California
 
     
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