Katharine Hepburn won three of her four Best Actress Academy Awards after she turned 60 — an oversight, really, but telling that the actress, like fine wine, became only better with age. Hepburn wasn’t too concerned with film accolades. Her first love was the stage, which she had to intersperse with her screen acting work and where she starred, under an alias, in a small Broadway production.

On this day, September 12, in 1928, Katharine Hepburn starred in her first Broadway debut, playing a bit part in the Night Hostess. Hepburn’s role was “other hostess” and like her anonymous character, she herself was credited as “Katherine Burns”. (Some controversy remains about this, as Hepburn herself later claimed she took a better offer and never participated in this production.)

In her early years on stage, Hepburn’s headstrong personality (the product of her progressive upbringing) worked against her, as she clashed with playwrights and producers. Where she did play, however, her talent shined through: in 1932, her role in a Broadway update of Lysistrata earned the attention of Hollywood, and the following year her third film, Morning Glory, garnered a record 12 Oscar nominations and four wins.