Kate Hepburn: A Laff Riot

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/07/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Perennial movie queen Katharine Hepburn and Groucho Marx's favorite foil, the august Margaret Dumont, share the title of the most represented actress in America's funniest movies. Each star appears in four of the 100 best comedies ever made, as determined by 1,800 judges on behalf of the American Film Institute. The list was unveiled last night in a TV special hosted by Drew Barrymore. Cary Grant starred in eight of the 100 movies selected, while Woody Allen (with four movies) was the most-represented director. The top two movies were cross-dressing comedies ("Some Like it Hot" and "Tootsie"). The most current comedy to make the list was 1998's "There's Something About Mary," at No. 27. The top 10:

1. Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot," 1959 (Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis).

2. Sydney Pollack's "Tootsie," 1982 (Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange).

3. Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," 1964 (Peter Sellers, George C. Scott).

4. Woody Allen's "Annie Hall," 1977 (Woody Allen, Diane Keaton).

5. Leo McCarey's "Duck Soup," 1933 (The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont).

6. Mel Brooks's "Blazing Saddles," 1974 (Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder).

7. Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H," 1970 (Elliot Gould, Donald Sutherland).

8. Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night," 1934 (Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert).

9. Mike Nichols's "The Graduate," 1967 (Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft).

10. Jim Abraham, David and Jerry Zuckers' "Airplane!," 1980 (Robert Hayes, Julie Hagerty).