Katharine Hepburn acts.
Katharine Houghton Hepburn ( May 12 , 1907 -- June 29 , 2003 ) was an American actress . 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 . Morning Glory (1933 film) . The picture stars Katharine Hepburn , Douglas Fairbanks , Jr. , and Adolphe Menjou , was adapted by Howard J. Green from a then not yet stage produced play with the same name by Zoë Akins , and was directed by Lowell Sherman . The African Queen (film) . The film stars Humphrey Bogart ( who won the Academy Award for Best Actor -- his only Oscar ) , and Katharine Hepburn with Robert Morley , Peter Bull , Walter Gotell , Richard Marner and Theodore Bikel .