Spencer Tracy

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.

Personal info

Gender

Male

Birthday

1900-04-05

Place of birth

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Images

Cast

Taxi Talks

Taxi Talks

1930

0.00

Desk Set

Desk Set

1957

7.00

Without Love

Without Love

1945

6.80

Libeled Lady

Libeled Lady

1936

7.30

Adam's Rib

Adam's Rib

1949

7.09

Mannequin

Mannequin

1938

5.90

Pat and Mike

Pat and Mike

1952

6.30

Broken Lance

Broken Lance

1954

6.40

Boys Town

Boys Town

1938

6.70

Fury

Fury

1936

7.42

Test Pilot

Test Pilot

1938

6.50

Whipsaw

Whipsaw

1935

6.20

Malaya

Malaya

1949

6.50

Big City

Big City

1937

7.40

Up the River

Up the River

1930

5.80

Boom Town

Boom Town

1940

6.90

The Mountain

The Mountain

1956

6.90

The Actress

The Actress

1953

6.20

Riffraff

Riffraff

1936

5.00

Man's Castle

Man's Castle

1933

6.80

The Hard Guy

The Hard Guy

1930

6.10

Bottoms Up

Bottoms Up

1934

4.75

Sky Devils

Sky Devils

1932

5.50

The Show-Off

The Show-Off

1934

5.70

Goldie

Goldie

1931

4.00

Society Girl

Society Girl

1932

6.00

The Mad Game

The Mad Game

1933

0.00

Rat Pack

Rat Pack

2022

9.00