Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, (more)
- Director(s):
- Howard Hawks
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR
- Format(s):
- DVD
| Digital SD
View All Versions to rent and buy
Synopsis of Bringing Up Baby
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. David Huxley (Grant) is the stuffy paleontologist who needs to finish an exhibit on dinosaurs and thus land a $1 million grant for his museum. At a golf outing with his potential benefactors, Huxley is spotted by Susan Vance (Hepburn) who decides that she must have the reserved scientist at all costs. She uses her pet leopard, Baby, to trick him into driving to her Connecticut home, where a dog wanders into Huxley's room and steals the vital last bone that he needs to complete his project. The real trouble begins when another leopard escapes from the local zoo and Baby is mistaken for it, leading Huxley and Susan into a series of harebrained and increasingly more insane schemes to save the cat from the authorities. Inevitably, the two end up in the local jail, where things get even more out of hand: Susan pretends to be the gun moll to David's diabolical, supposedly wanted criminal. Naturally, the mismatched pair falls in love through all the lunacy. Director Howard Hawks delivers a funny, fast-paced, and offbeat story, enlivened by animated performances from the two leads, in what has become a definitive screwball comedy. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 102 mins
Complete Cast of Bringing Up Baby
- Katharine Hepburn - Susan Vance
- Charlie Ruggles - Maj. Horace Applegate
- May Robson - Aunt Elizabeth
- Walter Catlett - Constable Slocum
- Leona Roberts - Hannah Gogarty
- Tala Birell - Mrs. Lehman
- William Benedict - Caddy
- Frank Marlowe - Joe
- Buster Slaven - Caddy
- John Kelly - Elmer
- Frank M. Thomas - Circus Barker
- Nissa - Baby the Leopard
- Vernon Walker - Alice Swallow
- Judith Ford
- Geraldine Hall - Maid
- D'Arcy Corrigan - Professor La Touche
- Stanley Blystone - Doorman
- Cary Grant - David Huxley
- Barry Fitzgerald - Mr. Gogarty
- Ward Bond - Motorcycle Cop
- Fritz Feld - Dr. Lehman
- George Irving - Alexander Peabody
- Asta the Dog - George the Dog
- Jonathan Hale
- Ruth Alder - Dancer
- Richard Lane - Circus Manager
- Pat West - Mac
- Pat O'Malley - Deputy
- Jeanne Martel - Cigarette Girl
- Buck Mack - Zoo Officials
- George Humbert - Louis, Headwaiter
- Edward Gargan - Zoo Official
- Jack Carson - Roustabout
- Billy Bevan - Bartender
- Director(s):
- Howard Hawks
- Writer(s):
- Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
- Producer(s):
- Howard Hawks
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- NR(Suitable for Children)
- 1998 - American Film Institute - 100 Greatest American Movies
- 1989 - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
- Looking for special editions of Bringing Up Baby?
- See All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions









