Katharine Houghton

Katharine Houghton (born 10 March 1945) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Joanna "Joey" Drayton, the European-American ingenue, who brings home an African-American fiancé to meet her parents, in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Houghton has had an extensive career onstage and in films. In 2004, she portrayed Mrs. Spaulding, one of the trustees of Indiana University, in the feature film Kinsey.

Houghton is rumored to be playing the role of Gran-Gran in The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan's film adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Early life

Houghton was born as Katharine Houghton Grant in Hartford, Connecticut. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and majored in philosophy. Houghton was named after her aunt, Katharine Hepburn; both women's names came from family matriarch Katharine Houghton, grandmother and mother, respectively. Hepburn was instrumental in helping Houghton launch her career. The acting torch was further passed along in the family to actress Schuyler Grant, Houghton's niece.

Writing

Houghton is also a playwright and has translated the works of others for the stage, as well as writing her own plays.^[1]

In 1975, Houghton wrote a children's story, "The Wizard's Daughter," which is collected in the book, Two Beastly Tales, illustrated by Joan Patchen.

Family

On 1 January 1970, Houghton married actor Ken Jenkins. They have three sons, one of them, Daniel H. Jenkins, is also an actor.

See also

• Houghton family

References

External links

• Katharine Houghton at the Internet Movie Database
• Katharine Houghton at the Internet Broadway Database