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Presented by
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Associated Person
Katharine Hepburn, 12 May 1907 - 29 Jun 2003
Date
1933
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Britannium alloy (92% tin, 6% antimony, 2% copper), electroplated copper, nickel, silver, and 24k gold, lacquer on marble base
Dimensions
With Base: 29.8 x 13.7 x 13.7cm (11 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 3/8")
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Estate of Katharine Hepburn
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
AD/NPG.2009.2
Exhibition Label
Over the course of her acting career, Katharine Hepburn won four Best Actress Academy Awards, and she was honored first for her role in Morning Glory. This statuette is a legend in itself. Although the origin of the term “Oscar” is debatable, one of its earliest uses if from an article by entertain- ment columnist Sidney Skolsky. Reporting on the ceremony and stumped on the spelling of “statu- ette,” the term that was commonly used to refer to the award, Skolsky instead wrote that hepburn “won the Oscar for her performance as Eva Lovelace in Morning Glory.”