Spencer Tracy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor, noted for his natural style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy won two Academy Awards for Best Actor from nine nominations, sharing the record for nominations in that category with Laurence Olivier. Tracy first discovered his talent for acting while attending Ripon College, and he later received a scholarship for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He spent seven years in the theatre, working in a succession of stock companies and intermittently on Broadway. Tracy's breakthrough came in 1930, when his lead performance in The Last Mile caught the attention of Hollywood. After a successful film debut in John Ford's Up the River starring Tracy and Humphrey Bogart, he was signed to a contract with Fox Film Corporation. His five years with Fox featured one acting tour de force after another that were usually ignored at the box office, and he remained largely unknown to audiences after 25 films, almost all of them starring Tracy as the leading man. None of them were hits although The Power and the Glory (1933) features arguably his most acclaimed performance in retrospect. In 1935, Tracy joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at the time Hollywood's most prestigious studio. His career flourished with a series of hit films, and in 1937 and 1938 he won consecutive Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. He made three smash hit films supporting Clark Gable, the studio's principal leading man, firmly fixing the notion of Gable and Tracy as a team in the public imagination. By the 1940s, Tracy was one of the studio's top stars. In 1942, he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, beginning another popular partnership that produced nine movies over 25 years. Tracy left MGM in 1955, and continued to work regularly as a freelance star, despite an increasing weariness as he aged. His personal life was troubled, with a lifelong struggle against severe alcoholism and guilt over his son's deafness. Tracy became estranged from his wife in the 1930s, but never divorced, conducting a long-term relationship with Katharine Hepburn in private. Towards the end of his life, Tracy worked almost exclusively for director Stanley Kramer. It was for Kramer that he made his last film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in 1967, completed just 17 days before his death. During his career, Tracy appeared in 75 films and developed a reputation among his peers as one of the screen's greatest actors. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Tracy as the 9th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story as Fr. Edward Flanagan (archive footage)
- 2022 · Rat Pack as Self (archive footage)
- 2018 · Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- 2014 · And the Oscar Goes To... as Self (archive footage)
- 2013 · Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored as Self (archive footage)
- 2009 · 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year as Self (archive footage)
- 1997 · Bogart: The Untold Story as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1996 · Ingrid Bergman Remembered as Self (archive footage)
- 1993 · La Classe américaine as The Professional Witness (archive footage)
- 1993 · Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell as Self (archive footage)
- 1991 · Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World' as Self (archive footage)
- 1991 · Movie Tough Guys as Self (archive footage)
- 1990 · Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To as (archive footage)
- 1988 · James Stewart: A Wonderful Life as Self (archive footage)
- 1988 · The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind as Self (archive footage)
- 1986 · The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn as Self (archive footage)
- 1985 · George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey as Self (archive footage)
- 1983 · Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1976 · That's Entertainment, Part II as (archive footage)
- 1975 · Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? as Self (archive footage)
- 1974 · That's Entertainment! as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1972 · Hollywood: The Dream Factory as Self (archive footage)
- 1967 · Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Matt Drayton
- 1964 · The Big Parade of Comedy as Haggerty in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage)
- 1963 · It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as C. G. Culpepper
- 1962 · How the West Was Won as Narrator (voice)
- 1961 · Hollywood: The Selznick Years as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1961 · Judgment at Nuremberg as Dan Haywood
- 1961 · The Devil at 4 O'Clock as Father Matthew Doonan
- 1960 · Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
- 1958 · The Last Hurrah as Mayor Frank Skeffington
- 1958 · The Old Man and the Sea as The Old Man
- 1957 · Desk Set as Richard Sumner
- 1956 · The Mountain as Zachary Teller
- 1955 · Bad Day at Black Rock as John J. Macreedy
- 1954 · Broken Lance as Matt Devereaux
- 1953 · The Actress as Clinton Jones
- 1952 · Plymouth Adventure as Capt. Christopher Jones
- 1952 · Pat and Mike as Mike Conovan
- 1951 · The People Against O'Hara as James P. Curtayne
- 1951 · Father's Little Dividend as Stanley Banks
- 1950 · Father of the Bride as Stanley T. Banks
- 1949 · Malaya as Carnaghan
- 1949 · Adam's Rib as Adam Bonner
- 1949 · Edward, My Son as Arnold Boult
- 1948 · State of the Union as Grant Matthews
- 1947 · Cass Timberlane as Cass Timberlane
- 1947 · The Sea of Grass as Col. James B. Brewton
- 1945 · Without Love as Pat Jamieson
- 1944 · Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo as Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
- 1944 · The Seventh Cross as George Heisler
- 1944 · Twenty Years After as (archive footage)
- 1943 · A Guy Named Joe as Pete Sandidge
- 1943 · Keeper of the Flame as Stevie O'Malley
- 1943 · His New World as Narrator (voice)
- 1942 · Tortilla Flat as Pilon
- 1942 · Ring of Steel as Narrator (voice)
- 1942 · Woman of the Year as Sam Craig
- 1941 · Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as Dr. Henry 'Harry' Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
- 1941 · Men of Boys Town as Edward Flanagan
- 1940 · A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound as Self
- 1940 · Boom Town as Square John Sand
- 1940 · Cavalcade of the Academy Awards as Self
- 1940 · Hollywood: Style Center of the World as Self
- 1940 · Edison, the Man as Thomas A. Edison
- 1940 · Young Tom Edison as Man Admiring Portrait of Thomas A. Edison
- 1940 · Northwest Passage as Major Robert Rogers
- 1940 · Northward, Ho! as Himself
- 1940 · I Take This Woman as Karl Decker
- 1939 · Stanley and Livingstone as Henry M. Stanley
- 1939 · From the Ends of the Earth as Self
- 1939 · Hollywood Hobbies as Self (uncredited)
- 1938 · Boys Town as Father Flanagan
- 1938 · Hollywood Goes to Town as Self
- 1938 · Test Pilot as Gunner Morse
- 1938 · Another Romance of Celluloid as Self (uncredited)
- 1938 · Mannequin as John Hennessey
- 1937 · Big City as Joe Benton
- 1937 · The Romance of Celluloid as Self (archive footage)
- 1937 · Captains Courageous as Manuel Fidello
- 1937 · They Gave Him a Gun as Fred P. Willis
- 1936 · Libeled Lady as Warren Haggerty
- 1936 · San Francisco as Father Tim Mullin
- 1936 · Fury as Joe Wilson
- 1936 · Riffraff as Dutch
- 1935 · Whipsaw as Ross 'Mac' McBride aka Danny Ross Ackerman
- 1935 · Dante's Inferno as Jim Carter
- 1935 · The Murder Man as Steven 'Steve' Grey
- 1935 · It's A Small World as Bill Shevlin
- 1934 · Marie Galante as Dr. Crawbett
- 1934 · Now I'll Tell as Murray Golden
- 1934 · Bottoms Up as 'Smoothie' King
- 1934 · Looking for Trouble as Joe Graham
- 1934 · The Show-Off as J. Aubrey Piper
- 1933 · Man's Castle as Bill
- 1933 · The Mad Game as Edward Carson
- 1933 · The Power and the Glory as Tom Garner
- 1933 · Shanghai Madness as Pat Jackson
- 1933 · Face in the Sky as Joe Buck
- 1932 · 20,000 Years in Sing Sing as Tommy Connors
- 1932 · Me and My Gal as Danny Dolan
- 1932 · The Painted Woman as Tom Brian
- 1932 · Society Girl as Briscoe
- 1932 · Young America as Jack Doray
- 1932 · Disorderly Conduct as Dick Fay
- 1932 · Sky Devils as Wilkie
- 1932 · She Wanted a Millionaire as William Kelley
- 1931 · Goldie as Bill
- 1931 · Six Cylinder Love as William Donroy
- 1931 · Quick Millions as Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond
- 1930 · Up the River as Saint Louis
- 1930 · The Hard Guy as Guy
- 1930 · Taxi Talks as Taxi Driver