One of a kind.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Through a 60-plus-year stage, film and television career, Katharine Hepburn defined the term "sophisticated woman" and put her unique stamp on a wide variety of memorable roles.

Hepburn, who died Sunday at age 96, was one of the last links to Hollywood's golden era. Virtually all of the screen giants from that era - Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Vivian Leigh, Rosalind Russell and the great love of Hepburn's life, Spencer Tracy - are gone now. But each, in his or her own way, left a special artistic imprint on the world they inhabited. None of them is more impressive than the imprint left by Hepburn.

She appeared in 43 films and dozens of stage and television plays. Her talent won her 12 Academy Award nominations - the most of anyone until Meryl Streep received her 13th nomination for the 2002 film, "Adaptation." Jack Nicholson also has been nominated 12 times for an Oscar. Hepburn won four Oscars - the most any individual actor has won - for "Morning Glory" in 1933 (only her third movie), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967, "A Lion in Winter" in 1968 and "On Golden Pond" in 1981.

The range of Hepburn's talent was as impressive as its depth. From an uptight spinster in "The African Queen" opposite Bogart to Eleanor Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter" opposite Peter O'Toole, or from the high-spirited Tracy Lord in "The Philadelphia Story" opposite Grant and Stewart to the feisty elderly wife in "On Golden Pond" opposite Fonda, Hepburn managed to bring her characters to life to a degree that made a lasting impression on viewers. And her spunky roles opposite Tracy in nine films they made together - including "Woman of the Year," "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike" - showed her comedic side in grand fashion.

Katharine Hepburn was more, much more, than a movie star with a unique speaking voice and an independent streak. She was, first and foremost, a fine actress.