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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 334259" data-attributes="member: 5079">And there, I think, is the important distinction.&nbsp; Hepburn&#039;s greatest successes came after the Golden Age was over; she won three of her four Oscars after the Studio System collapsed.&nbsp; In retrospect, I can understand some thinking she was the greatest female star of the era but she wasn&#039;t during the era.&nbsp; Truth is, Hepburn spent much of the 30s and 40s barely one step above being a second tier actress.&nbsp; It&#039;s worth noting that she was nearly always paired with a major male star (Grant; Tracy; Bogart; etc) because she wasn&#039;t considered a strong enough box office draw.&nbsp; Davis, on the other hand, was nearly always the Star of her films.In terms of versatility, likewise there&#039;s really no comparison.&nbsp; Irene Dunne (who I adore) may have made a wider range of film types than Davis -- who starred almost exclusively in soapy melodramas in her prime -- but she was still Irene Dunne in every role.&nbsp; Davis didn&#039;t exactly disappear into her parts, as her own personality was too strong for that, but she played a far wider range of characters than was typical of stars of the time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 334259, member: 5079"] And there, I think, is the important distinction. Hepburn's greatest successes came after the Golden Age was over; she won three of her four Oscars after the Studio System collapsed. In retrospect, I can understand some thinking she was the greatest female star of the era but she wasn't during the era. Truth is, Hepburn spent much of the 30s and 40s barely one step above being a second tier actress. It's worth noting that she was nearly always paired with a major male star (Grant; Tracy; Bogart; etc) because she wasn't considered a strong enough box office draw. Davis, on the other hand, was nearly always the Star of her films. In terms of versatility, likewise there's really no comparison. Irene Dunne (who I adore) may have made a wider range of film types than Davis -- who starred almost exclusively in soapy melodramas in her prime -- but she was still Irene Dunne in every role. Davis didn't exactly disappear into her parts, as her own personality was too strong for that, but she played a far wider range of characters than was typical of stars of the time. [/QUOTE]

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