Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, television and stage.

Acclaimed throughout her 73-year career, Hepburn holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four, from 12 nominations. Hepburn won an Emmy Award in 1976 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins, and was nominated for four other Emmys, two Tony Awards and eight Golden Globes. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Hepburn as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema.

Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut. the daughter of suffragist Katharine Martha Houghton (1878 – 1951) (an heiress to the Corning Glass fortune and cofounder of Planned Parenthood) and Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn (1879 – 1962), who was a successful urologist from Virginia with Maryland roots. She was of Scottish and English ancestry. Her siblings were Thomas Houghton Hepburn (1905 – 1921), Richard Houghton Hepburn (1911-2000), Robert Houghton Hepburn (1913 – 2007), Marion Houghton Hepburn Grant (1918 – 1986), and Margaret Houghton Hepburn Perry (1920 – 2006).