Katharine Hepburn, 94, in Hospital

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/19/2001 at 11:56 AM EDT

Legendary star Katharine Hepburn, 94, is being treated at Hartford Hospital for what her brother-in-law, Ellsworth Grant, described as a minor infection. The four-time Oscar winner (whose 12 best actress nominations is still a record) was admitted at 6 p.m. Wednesday after being brought from the Shoreline Clinic in Essex, Conn. "She's doing much better today," Grant said on Thursday, adding that the family hoped she would be able to return home Saturday or Sunday. Hepburn has had various health problems in recent years, including arthritis, pneumonia and Parkinson's-like tremors. "She's up and around and speaking with her physicians," Hartford Hospital spokesman James Battaglio said. "Physically she's showing improvement in her overall appearance and her spirit." Hepburn is a Hartford native; her father Thomas Hepburn, a highly respected surgeon, was chief of staff at Hartford Hospital. (Her mother, "Kit" Hepburn, was a pioneering suffragette and birth control activist.) She now lives in Old Saybrook, Conn., at a waterfront family estate called Fenwick. Her Oscars were for "Morning Glory," 1933; "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1967; "A Lion in Winter," 1968; and "On Golden Pond," 1981 -- and as she once told PEOPLE.com, "I don't really care about the Oscars, but wouldn't you know it? I have more of the damn things than anybody."