The African Queen
1951 USA Color 103 minutes
Release date: December 23, 1951
The movie was shot in Zaire, Uganda, Los Angeles and London.
Oscar:
Best Actor in a Leading Role -> Humphrey Bogart: “I’m not going to thank anybody; I’m just going to say I damn well deserve it” Source / More (Book)
Oscar nominations:
Best Actress in a Leading Role -> Katharine Hepburn
Best director -> John Huston
Best writing, screenplay -> James Agee and John Huston.
The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
Katharine Hepburn penned a book about the events called: The making of the African queen, or how I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. Source / More (Book)
Clint Eastwood made a movie with John Huston’s adventures: White hunter, black heart
Nearly everyone in the cast and crew, got dysentery (except for Huston and Bogart who drank whisky the whole time) Source / More (Book)
The first choices for the lead roles were John Mills and Bette Davis.
John Huston:“The way Hepburn and Bogart climbed inside of the people they were supposed to be, made this movie better than we had written i”
The book The African Queen (1935) was written by Cecil Scott Forester (1899–1966) an English novelist who was best known for his novels of the royal navy in the days of sail, including the series about Capt. Horatio Hornblower. Source / More (Book)
The African Queen was first published in 1935; however, the publisher did not like the end of the book and removed the last two chapters. In 1940, The African Queen was reissued in the form the author intended. Source / More (Book)
Katharine was nominated 12 times for the Best Actress Oscar.
May 12, 1907
Katharine Houghton Hepburn
June 29, 2003
Hepburn spent a privileged childhood in the wealthy town of Hartford in complete spiritual freedom and Spartan physical discipline. In 1928 she was playing on Broadway in in 1932 in Hollywood. Her screen debut Bill of divorcement (1932) was an unqualified hit but stories were beginning to leak out of her haughty behavior off- screen and her refusal to play the Hollywood Game, never posing for pictures or giving interviews.
In 1938 she made the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938) and the comedy-drama Holiday (1938) and her film career was on the skids. In the same year Katharine collaborated with screenwriter Philip Barry to create the play The Philadelphia Story . The broadway production became a hit and two years later, she reprised the role in the film adaptation, which costarred Cary Grant and James Stewart.
Her next film Woman of the year (1942) brought Spencer Tracy into her life, who was to become a lifelong friend. They would star opposite each other in eight more films. With The African Queen (1951) Hepburn moved into middle-aged roles. And in 1981, the 74-year-old actress earned an unprecedented fourth Academy Award for her performance in On Golden Pond.
1982 Won Best Actress for: On golden pond (1981)
1969 Won Best Actress for: The lion in winter (1968)
1968 Won Best Actress for: Guess who's coming to dinner (1967)
1963 Nominated Best Actress for: Long day's journey into night (1962)
1960 Nominated Best Actress for: Suddenly, Last summer (1959)
1957 Nominated Best Actress for: The rainmaker (1956)
1956 Nominated Best Actress for: Summertime (1955)
1952 Nominated Best Actress for: The African Queen (1951)
1943 Nominated Best Actress for: Woman of the year (1942)
1941 Nominated Best Actress for: The Philadelphia story (1940)
1936 Nominated Best Actress for: Alice Adams (1935)
1934 Won Oscar Best Actress for: Morning glory (1933)
Homer Dickens -> The Films of Katharine Hepburn (1990)
Gary Carey -> Katharine Hepburn: A Biography (1975)
Barbara Leaming -> Katharine Hepburn (1995/2000)