Broadway pays tribute to Hepburn

Fans in Hollywood paid their own respects to the actress

Lights were dimmed on Broadway on Tuesday evening to pay tribute to actress Katharine Hepburn, who died on Sunday aged 96.

The lights on New York's famous street of theatre, where Hepburn began her career, were dimmed shortly before curtain up at 2000 local time (0100GMT) as a mark of respect.

"It's a lovely tribute, she deserves it," said Monty Arnold, waiting outside the Shubert Theatre on 44th Street to see the musical Gypsy.

"She was probably the most graceful lady that was ever around," said another theatregoer.

The tribute comes after fans and celebrities paid respects to the Oscar-winning actress in Hollywood on Monday.

Flowers were placed on the intersection of Hollywood and Vine at the end of the Walk of Fame and fans left their own tributes.

Hepburn won four Oscars in her career

One card read: "A real lady, a true star, you will be missed."

Another said: "They simply don't make 'em like this anymore."

Fans also laid flowers on the road leading to her house in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

"You can see from the coverage of her death what an enormous impact she had on the world, not just as an actress but as a person," US movie critic Leonard Maltin said on Monday.

"I don't think it's going too far to call her an American icon."

A QUOTABLE ACTRESS

Hepburn on her life, love and work

In pictures

President George W Bush led the tributes, saying: "Katharine Hepburn delighted audiences with her unique talent for more than six decades."

Hepburn had suffered various health problems in recent years, including Parkinson's disease.

One of the last survivors of Hollywood's Golden Era, she began her career in Broadway in the 1920s.

Hepburn made her mark in The African Queen

She made her stage debut in New York in 1928 in the play These Days, and married socialite Ludlow Ogden in the same year.

The couple divorced in 1934.

In her private life, Hepburn was romantically linked to millionaire Howard Hughes, with whom she had a four-year affair.

But the love of her life was fellow actor Spencer Tracy, with whom she spent 27 years and made nine films.

Their relationship only ended with his death in 1967.

Iconic

Hepburn won her first Oscar for her third movie, Morning Glory, in 1933.

In all, she appeared in more than 50 films, but it was her role in The African Queen, in which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, which brought her iconic status.

Her first book - The Making of The African Queen: Or, How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind - made her a best-selling author at the age of 77.

She appeared in her last film, This Can't Be Love, in 1994.