The audiences, who at first bought up tickets, soon deserted her. When she returned to Hollywood things did not get much better. From the period 1935 to 1938, she had only two hits: Alice Adams and Stage Door. The many flops included Break of Hearts in 1935, Sylvia Scarlet in 1936, Mary of Scotland in 1936, Quality Street in 1937, and .
Katharine Hepburn 4.
Bringing Up Baby in 1938. With so many flops, she came to be labeled "box-office poison." She decided to go back to Broadway to star in The Philadelphia Story, and was rewarded with a smash. She quickly bought the film rights, and so was able to negotiate her way back to Hollywood on her own terms. The film version of Philadelphia Story, was a box-office hit, and Hepburn, was bankable again. For her next film, Woman of the Year, she was paired with Spencer Tracy, and the chemistry between them lasted for eight more films, spanning the course of 25 years, and a romance that lasted that long off-screen. Their films included the very successful Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike, and Desk Set. .
Hepburn moved into middle-aged spinster roles, receiving her fifth Oscar nomination for the film. She played more of these types of roles throughout the 50's, and won more Oscar nominations for many of them, including her roles in Summertime, Rainmaker, and Last Summer. Her film roles became fewer and farther between in the sixties, as she devoted her time to her partner Spencer Tracy. After a five-year absence from films, she then made Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, her last film with Tracy and the last .
Katharine Hepburn 5.
film Tracy ever made; he died just weeks after finishing it. The next year, she did Lion in Winter. In the seventies, she turned to making made for TV films, with Glass Menagerie, Love Among the Ruins and Corn Is Green. She still continued to make an occasional appearance in feature films, such as Rooster Cogburn, with John Wayne, and On Golden Pond, with Henry Fonda.