Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned more than 60 years. She won a record four Academy Awards, and in 1999 was named by the American Film Institute as Hollywood's top female legend. Hepburn began acting in college, and spent four years in the theatre before entering films in 1932. She became an instant star, but after a series of unsuccessful films was named "box office poison". The Philadelphia Story revived her career, and she subsequently formed a popular alliance with Spencer Tracy that lasted 25 years. In middle age Hepburn found a niche playing spinsters, such as in The African Queen, and became a Shakespearean stage actress. She continued to work into old age, making her final screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87. Hepburn is remembered as an important cultural figure, as she came to epitomize the "modern woman" in 20th-century America and helped change perceptions of women.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1588:
An apparently spontaneous public uprising arose in staunchly Catholic Paris against the moderate policies of Henry III. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Barricades
1926:
The Trades Union Congress, a federation of British trade unions, announced that it would end its week-long general strike "in defence of [coal] miners' wages and hours". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike
1942:
World War II: Soviet forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launched a major offensive in the eastern Ukraine, only to be encircled and destroyed by German troops two weeks later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov
1998:
Four students were shot and killed at Trisakti University in Indonesia, leading to widespread riots and eventually the fall of Suharto. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisakti_shootings
2008:
In Postville, Iowa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted the largest-ever raid of a workplace and arrested nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_Raid
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
deskfast: Breakfast eaten at work, particularly while sitting at a desk. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deskfast
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim. --L. Neil Smith https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Neil_Smith