Earlier this week, we talked about the biggest female stars of the Golden Age of romantic comedies—Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Molly Ringwald, to name a few—and what they've taught us over 30 years. But if we look even farther back into movie history, one woman in particular stands out for transitioning from roles in the early screwball comedies to perfecting the battle of the sexes genre in later years. That fierce, smart woman is Katharine Hepburn, the original role model for thinking women everywhere.
Hepburn's work in the romantic comedies of yesteryear charted a course that clearly illustrated a world where rom com heroines could be desirable and strong. And perhaps the best way to understand her embodiment of independent female characters is to look at the kind of woman Hepburn was. Born in 1907, she joined her suffragette mother at "Votes for Women" rallies as a child—her parents encouraged her education and social responsibility. It was that exact blueprint that led her to finish college at Bryn Mawr and head straight to the stage. But her start in Broadway theater was a rough one—she landed only understudy roles at first and was even fired after one performance in a play—however, she stayed self-assured and eventually found success. Her breakout role in the play The Warrior's Husband had Hollywood knocking on her door and Hepburn did a screen test with RKO pictures. Director George Cukor was eager to hire her, but the yet-unproven actress demanded $1,500 a week (unheard of for an unknown actress at the time). The studio was hesitant, but Cukor said she'd be worth it. And as hindsight has proven, she was.
Initially, Hepburn's work focused in the dramatic roles. But soon her first rom com, Sylvia Scarlett, paired her with a male rom com icon: Cary Grant. Hepburn portrayed a con artist who hid from the police by dressing up as a man. The film was unsuccessful, but it's worth noting that its 1935 release was ahead of its time.
Her next major rom com, Bringing Up Baby, was also a box office flop—yet today it lives on the Library of Congress U.S. National Film Registry as culturally significant. The story of a socialite (Hepburn) who gets a shy paleontologist (Cary Grant) wrapped up in her shenanigans focuses on another strong heroine. In the film, she's driven, smart, drives her own car, and does not worry about society's opinions of her. Her character is not a meek object of the male gaze, who is there to be chased. She is the one doing the chasing. In a time when women had only gained the right to vote 18 years earlier, this role alone is quite a statement.
After the initial failure of Bringing Up Baby, Hepburn was labeled "box office poison." But instead of letting studios label her, she bought out her contract and returned to the stage, where she bought the film rights to a hit play in which she was starring and negotiated herself into the film version's lead role. That play? The famous rom com The Philadelphia Story. The exact genre that led to her nasty nickname is the same genre she used to develop her comeback. Studios, men, roles—those wouldn't be dictated to Hepburn. She would create and work the way she wanted. Everything would be on her terms.
And it was with the love of her life, Spencer Tracy—whom she famously carried on an affair with for 25 years—where she really perfected a new kind of rom com: the battle of the sexes. In films like Adam's Rib and Desk Set, they battled wits, were formidable opponents, and, of course, their characters had an undeniable chemistry that led to love.
In many ways, Hepburn's own passion and personality opened doors for other women to push beyond the establishment and do the kind of work they want. Modern women like Jennifer Lawrence go from winning an Oscar in the romantic dramedy Silver Linings Playbook to calling out Hollywood's wage gap. Amy Schumer and Mindy Kaling are writing smart rom coms for film and TV that are recharging the genre. Hepburn opened the doors and proved that women can be smart, independent, and find love—all without changing themselves along the way.
