Katharine Hepburn worked as an actress.
Katharine Hepburn . In 1999 , Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema . Hepburn masterminded her own comeback , buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story , which she sold on the condition that she be the star . She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters , such as in The African Queen ( 1951 ) , a persona the public embraced . In the 1970s , she began appearing in television films , which became the focus of her career in later life .