Katharine Hepburn leaves the stage at 96

In a career that spanned nearly six decades, Katharine Hepburn set the bar for smart, sophisticated roles that seemed to echo the woman that she was— and, in doing so, won four Academy Awards for Best Actress, still a record for any performer. A member of the Junior League of Hartford, she shunned the Hollywood publicity machine and refused to try to live up to societal expectations of what a woman should be. In 1999, she was named by the American Film Institute as the top female Hollywood legend.