1938 film by Howard Hawks
Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine in April 1937.
The script was written specifically for Hepburn, and tailored to her personality. Filming began in September 1937 and wrapped in January 1938, behind schedule and over budget. Production was frequently delayed by Hepburn and Grant's uncontrollable laughing fits. Hepburn struggled with her comedic performance and was coached by another cast member, vaudeville veteran Walter Catlett. A tame leopard named Nissa was used during the shooting and played two roles in the film; Nissa's trainer stood off-screen with a whip for all of its scenes.
Bringing Up Baby had the reputation of a flop upon its release, although it eventually made a small profit after its re-release in the early 1940s. Labeled "box office poison" by the Independent Theatre Owners of America, Hepburn saw her career wane until The Philadelphia Story two years later. Bringing Up Baby's reputation began to grow during the 1950s when it was shown on television gaining acclaim for its perfectly timed over-the-top screwball comedy. In 1990 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and has appeared on a number of greatest-films rankings, including the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies list.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.