Bringing Up Baby (1938) is now regarded as one of the greatest screwball comedies, with Katharine Hepburn as Susan Vance, a free spirit who turns a paleontologist’s life upside down.
Opposite Cary Grant as David Huxley, Hepburn played Susan with a whirlwind energy that drives the plot from a lost leopard, named Baby, to a series of gloriously absurd complications. Her comic timing was precise, and she never lost Susan’s charm even as the chaos grew.
The film was not a success on its first release, but its reputation has grown ever since. Today it is celebrated as a perfect showcase for Hepburn’s comic gifts, and for a partnership with Grant that remains one of Hollywood’s happiest.
Image: Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katharine_hepburn_woman_of_the_year_cropped.jpg