Editing Katharine Hepburn (section)

=== Mid-career and Shakespeare (1953–1962) ===
[[File:Hepburn Summertime.jpg|thumb|alt=Hepburn, middle-aged, smiling.|upright|In [[David Lean]]'s romantic drama ''[[Summertime (1955 film)|Summertime]]'' (1955). Jane Hudson is one of the roles Hepburn played in the 1950s.]]

''[[Pat and Mike]]'' was the last film Hepburn completed on her MGM contract, making her free to select her own projects.{{sfn|Dickens|1990|p=22}} She spent two years resting and traveling, before committing to [[David Lean]]'s romantic drama ''[[Summertime (1955 film)|Summertime]]'' (1955). The movie was filmed in Venice, with Hepburn playing an unmarried woman who has a passionate love affair. She described it as "a very emotional part" and found it fascinating to work with Lean.{{sfn|Hepburn|1991|p=253}} At her own insistence, Hepburn performed a fall into a canal and developed a chronic eye infection as a result.{{sfn|Edwards|1985|pp=291–292}} The role earned her another Academy Award nomination and has been cited as some of her finest work.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=202}}<ref>{{cite web|title=''Summertime'' Film Review |url=http://www.film4.com/reviews/1955/summertime |publisher=Film4 |access-date=August 27, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201092144/http://www.film4.com/reviews/1955/summertime |archive-date=December 1, 2011}}</ref> Lean later said it was his personal favorite of the films he made, and Hepburn his favorite actress.{{sfn|Chandler|2011|p=204}} The following year, Hepburn spent six months touring Australia with the [[Old Vic]] theatre company, playing [[Portia (Merchant of Venice)|Portia]] in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', [[Kate (The Taming of the Shrew)|Kate]] in ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', and Isabella in ''[[Measure for Measure]]''. The tour was successful and Hepburn earned significant plaudits for the effort.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=203}}

Hepburn received an Academy Award nomination for the second year running for her work opposite [[Burt Lancaster]] in ''[[The Rainmaker (1956 film)|The Rainmaker]]'' (1956). Again she played a lonely woman empowered by a love affair, and it became apparent that Hepburn had found a niche in playing mature, unmarried women.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=204}} Hepburn said of playing such roles, "With Lizzie Curry [''The Rainmaker''] and Jane Hudson [''Summertime''] and Rosie Sayer [''The African Queen'']—I was playing me. It wasn't difficult for me to play those women, because I'm the maiden aunt."{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=204}} Less success that year came from ''[[The Iron Petticoat]]'' (1956), a reworking of the classic [[Greta Garbo]] comedy ''[[Ninotchka]]''. Starring opposite [[Bob Hope]], Hepburn played a cold-hearted Soviet pilot, in a performance [[Bosley Crowther]] called "horrible".{{sfn|Dickens|1990|p=166}} The film was a critical and commercial failure, and Hepburn considered it the worst movie of her career.{{sfnm|1a1=Berg|1y=2004|1p=104|2a1=Dickens|2y=1990|2p=166}}

Tracy and Hepburn reunited on screen for the first time in five years for the office-based comedy ''[[Desk Set]]'' (1957). Berg notes that it worked as a hybrid of their earlier romantic-comedy successes,{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=206}} but it performed poorly at the box-office.{{sfn|Curtis|2011|p=738}} That summer, Hepburn returned to Shakespeare. Appearing in [[Stratford, Connecticut]], at the [[American Shakespeare Theatre]], she repeated her Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice'' and played Beatrice in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''. The shows were positively received.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=206}}

[[File:Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer.jpg|thumb|left|From the trailer for ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959), based on [[Suddenly, Last Summer|the play]] by [[Tennessee Williams]]]]

After two years away from the screen, Hepburn starred in a film adaptation of [[Tennessee Williams]]' controversial play ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959) with [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Montgomery Clift]]. The movie was shot in London and was "a completely miserable experience" for Hepburn.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=209}} She clashed with director [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] during filming, which culminated with her spitting at him in disgust.{{sfn|Kanin|1971|pp=218–219}} The picture was a financial success, and her work as creepy aunt Violet Venable gave Hepburn her eighth Oscar nomination.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=210}} Williams was pleased with the performance, writing, "Kate is a playwright's dream-actress. She makes dialogue sound better than it is by a matchless beauty and clarity of diction".{{sfn|Kanin|1971|p=219}} He wrote ''[[The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1961) with Hepburn in mind, but the actress, although flattered, felt the play was wrong for her and declined the part, which went to [[Deborah Kerr]].{{sfn|Kanin|1971|p=220}}

Hepburn returned to Stratford in the summer of 1960 to play [[Viola (Twelfth Night)|Viola]] in ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', and Cleopatra in ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''. The ''[[New York Post]]'' wrote of her Cleopatra, "Hepburn offers a highly versatile performance ... once or twice going in for her famous mannerisms and always being fascinating to watch."{{sfn|Dickens|1990|p=239}} Hepburn herself was proud of the role.{{sfn|Hepburn|1991|p=270}} Her repertoire was further improved when she appeared in [[Sidney Lumet]]'s film version of [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night (1962 film)|Long Day's Journey Into Night]]'' (1962). It was a low-budget production, and she appeared in the film for a tenth of her established salary.{{sfn|Kanin|1971|p=242}} She called it "the greatest [play] this country has ever produced" and the role of morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone "the most challenging female role in American drama", and felt her performance was the best screen work of her career.{{sfn|Berg|2004|p=212}} ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' earned Hepburn an Oscar nomination and the [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress Award]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]]. It remains one of her most praised performances.<ref name="lat obit">{{cite news|last=Baum |first=Geraldine |title=Classy Film Feminist Had Brains, Beauty, That Voice |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-30-me-hepburn30-story.html |access-date=October 2, 2011 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 30, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113051328/http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jun/30/local/me-hepburn30 |archive-date=January 13, 2012}}</ref>