Known For
Acting
Born
Apr 05, 1900
Died
Jun 10, 1967
Place of Birth
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Credits
119 titles
Spencer Tracy
Biography
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
Filmography
Gene Kelly - An American in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story
Fr. Edward Flanagan (archive footage)
DEVO
Henry Drummond (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Self (archive footage)
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
(archive footage)
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
Self (Archival Footage)
Bogart: The Untold Story
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Self (archive footage)
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Self (archive footage)
La Classe américaine
The Professional Witness (archive footage)
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Movie Tough Guys
Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
(archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
Brasileiros em Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Matt Drayton
The Big Parade of Comedy
Haggerty in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
C. G. Culpepper
How the West Was Won
Narrator (voice)
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Judgment at Nuremberg
Dan Haywood
The Devil at 4 O'Clock
Father Matthew Doonan
Inherit the Wind
Henry Drummond
The Last Hurrah
Mayor Frank Skeffington
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man
Desk Set
Richard Sumner
The Mountain
Zachary Teller
MGM Parade
Bad Day at Black Rock
John J. Macreedy
Broken Lance
Matt Devereaux
The Actress
Clinton Jones
Plymouth Adventure
Capt. Christopher Jones
Pat and Mike
Mike Conovan
The People Against O'Hara
James P. Curtayne
Father's Little Dividend
Stanley Banks
Father of the Bride
Stanley T. Banks
Malaya
Carnaghan
Adam's Rib
Adam Bonner