Tracy in the 1930s.
Spencer Tracy (1900–1967) was an American actor. His film career began in 1930 with Up the River (directed by John Ford and co-starring Humphrey Bogart ); and ended in 1967, with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner alongside Sidney Poitier and his longtime screen partner, Katharine Hepburn . Within this 37-year career, Tracy starred in 75 feature films and several short films .
He earned nine Academy Award for Best Actor nominations (tied for the most in that category with Laurence Olivier ) throughout his career, and was the first male actor to win two consecutively , for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938) (directed by Victor Fleming and Norman Taurog , respectively). He set this record just one year after Luise Rainer became the first female, and actress in general, to win "bookend Oscars".
The other seven films he was nominated for Academy Awards were San Francisco (1936) (directed by W. S. Van Dyke ); Father of the Bride (1950) (directed by Vincente Minnelli ); Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and The Old Man and the Sea (1958) (both directed by John Sturges ); Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and posthumously for his final film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). (The second actor in this category to be nominated posthumously after James Dean 's two consecutive posthumous nominations one decade earlier.) The latter three films were all directed by Stanley Kramer , with whom Tracy had developed a partnership .
Other films which earned Tracy accolades include The Actress (1953) (directed by George Cukor —for which he won his only Golden Globe Award ); The Mountain (1956) (directed by Edward Dmytryk ); and The Last Hurrah (1958) (also directed by Ford). One of Tracy's biggest box office hits was his penultimate film (and the third of four working with Kramer), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). He received the Cannes Best Actor award for Bad Day at Black Rock and a posthumous BAFTA for "Dinner ".
Hepburn & Tracy also became a legendary screen team . Their first pairing was in the film Woman of the Year (1942) (directed by George Stevens ), which earned Hepburn her third Oscar nom. Subsequent Hepburn/Tracy films included Keeper of the Flame (1942) (once again, directed by Cukor), Without Love (1945) (directed by Harold S. Bucquet ), Sea of Grass (1947) (directed by Elia Kazan ), State of the Union (1948) (directed by Frank Capra ); Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952) (both also directed by Cukor); Desk Set (1957) (directed by Walter Lang ); and finally culminating with the aforementioned "Dinner ", prior to Tracy's fatal heart attack in 1967 at the age of 67.
Filmography [ edit ]
Year
Title
Role
Studio
Notes
1930
Taxi Talks
Taxi Driver
Warner Bros.
Short subject
The Hard Guy
Guy
Warner Bros.
Short subject
Up the River
Saint Louis
Fox
With Humphrey Bogart
1931
Quick Millions
Daniel J. "Bugs" Raymond
Fox
With George Raft in key supporting role
Six Cylinder Love
William Donroy
Fox
With Edward Everett Horton
Goldie
Bill
Fox
With Jean Harlow
1932
She Wanted a Millionaire
William Kelley
Fox
With Joan Bennett
Sky Devils
Wilkie
United Artists
Co-written by Robert Benchley
Disorderly Conduct
Dick Fay
Fox
Young America
Jack Doray
Fox
Directed by Frank Borzage
Society Girl
Briscoe
Fox
The Painted Woman
Tom Brian
Fox
Me and My Gal
Danny Dolan
Fox
With Joan Bennett
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Tommy Connors
Warner Bros.
With Bette Davis
1933
Face in the Sky
Joe Buck
Fox
With Stuart Erwin
Shanghai Madness
Pat Jackson
Fox
With Fay Wray
The Power and the Glory
Tom Garner
Fox
Written by Preston Sturges
The Mad Game
Edward Carson
Fox
With Claire Trevor
Man's Castle
Bill
Columbia
With Loretta Young
1934
The Show-Off
J. Aubrey Piper
MGM
Tracy's first MGM film
Looking for Trouble
Joe Graham
20th Century Pictures with United Artists
With Jack Oakie
Bottoms Up
"Smoothie" King
Fox
Now I'll Tell
Murray Golden
Fox
With Helen Twelvetrees
Marie Galante
Dr. Crawbett
Fox
1935
It's a Small World
Bill Shevlin
Fox
With Wendy Barrie
The Murder Man
Steven "Steve" Grey
MGM
First credited screen role of James Stewart
Dante's Inferno
Jim Carter
Fox
With Claire Trevor and dancer Rita Hayworth (billed as Rita Cansino)
Whipsaw
Ross "Mac" McBride
MGM
With Myrna Loy
1936
Riffraff
Dutch Muller
MGM
With Jean Harlow and Mickey Rooney
Fury
Joe Wilson
MGM
With Sylvia Sidney
San Francisco
Father Tim Mullin
MGM
With Clark Gable Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
Libeled Lady
Warren Haggerty
MGM
The film was nominated for Best Picture, but lost out to The Great Ziegfeld . With William Powell , Jean Harlow , and Myrna Loy
1937
They Gave Him a Gun
Fred P. Willis
MGM
With Gladys George
Captains Courageous
Manuel Fidello
MGM
With Lionel Barrymore , John Carradine , Melvyn Douglas , Mickey Rooney , and Freddie Bartholomew Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
Big City
Joe Benton
MGM
With Luise Rainer
Mannequin
John L. Hennessey
MGM
With Joan Crawford
1938
Test Pilot
Gunner Morris
MGM
With Clark Gable and Myrna Loy
Boys Town
Father Flanagan
MGM
With Mickey Rooney Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
Another Romance of Celluloid
Himself
MGM
Behind-the-scenes short film, includes filming of Test Pilot , and shows Tracy accepting his Academy Award for Boys Town
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 9
Himself
Columbia
Short subject showing Tracy accepting his Academy Award for Boys Town
Hollywood Goes to Town
Himself
MGM
Short subject, showing notable Hollywood performers preparing for the world premiere of Marie Antoinette
1939
Stanley and Livingstone
Henry M. Stanley
20th Century Fox
With Nancy Kelly
For Auld Lang Syne
Himself
Will Rogers Memorial Commission
Fund-raising short film in which several actors, including Tracy, appeal for funds for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital
Hollywood Hobbies
Himself
MGM
Behind-the-scenes short film
1940
I Take This Woman
Dr. Karl Decker
MGM
With Hedy Lamarr
Young Tom Edison
Man Admiring Portrait of Thomas A. Edison
MGM
With Mickey Rooney Tracy appears as a man admiring a portrait of Edison; he plays the older Edison in Edison, the Man in the same year Uncredited
Northwest Passage
Major Rogers
MGM
With Walter Brennan
Edison, the Man
Thomas Edison
MGM
Boom Town
Jonathan Sand
MGM
With Clark Gable , Claudette Colbert , and Hedy Lamarr
Northward, Ho!
Himself
MGM
Behind-the-scenes short film about the filming of Northwest Passage
1941
Men of Boys Town
Father Flanagan
MGM
With Mickey Rooney
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr Edward Hyde
MGM
With Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner
1942
Woman of the Year
Sam Craig
MGM
First film with Katharine Hepburn
Tortilla Flat
Pilon
MGM
With John Garfield
Ring of Steel
Narrator
Warner Brothers
Military documentary for U.S. Office for Emergency Management
1943
Keeper of the Flame
Steven "Stevie" O'Malley
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
His New World
Narrator
MGM
War documentary
A Guy Named Joe
Pete Sandidge
MGM
With Van Johnson
1944
The Seventh Cross
George Heisler
MGM
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle
MGM
With Van Johnson and Robert Walker
1945
Without Love
Pat Jamieson
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
1947
The Sea of Grass
Col. James B. "Jim" Brewton
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
Cass Timberlane
Cass Timberlane
MGM
With Lana Turner
1948
State of the Union
Grant Matthews
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
1949
Edward, My Son
Arnold Boult
MGM
With Deborah Kerr
Adam's Rib
Adam Bonner
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
Malaya
Canaghan
MGM
With James Stewart and Lionel Barrymore
Some of the Best
Himself
MGM
Retrospective of MGM 's history
1950
Father of the Bride
Stanley T. Banks
MGM
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor . With Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor
1951
Father's Little Dividend
Stanley T. Banks
MGM
With Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor
The People Against O'Hara
James P. Curtayne
MGM
With Pat O'Brien
For Defense for Freedom for Humanity
Himself
MGM
Short film in which Tracy urges support for Red Cross fund-raising
1952
Pat and Mike
Mike Conovan
MGM
With Katharine Hepburn
Plymouth Adventure
Captain Christopher Jones
MGM
With Gene Tierney
1953
The Actress
Clinton Jones
MGM
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ] With Jean Simmons
1954
Broken Lance
Matt Devereaux
20th Century Fox
With Robert Wagner
1955
Bad Day at Black Rock
John J. Macreedy
MGM
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival) Prix d'interprétation masculine Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
1956
The Mountain
Zachary Teller
Paramount
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor
1957
Desk Set
Richard Sumner
20th Century Fox
With Katharine Hepburn , and Tracy's last film with Zanck and Schneck and Fox
1958
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man / Narrator
Warner Bros.
NBR Award for Best Actor (also for The Last Hurrah ) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
The Last Hurrah
Mayor Frank Skeffington
Columbia
NBR Award for Best Actor (also for The Old Man and the Sea ) Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor [citation needed ]
1960
Inherit the Wind
Henry Drummond
United Artists
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1961
The Devil at 4 O'Clock
Father Matthew Doonan
Columbia
With Frank Sinatra
Judgment at Nuremberg
Chief Judge Dan Haywood
United Artists
Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor - With Burt Lancaster , Marlene Dietrich , Richard Widmark , Judy Garland , Montgomery Clift
1962
How the West Was Won
Narrator (voice)
MGM
1963
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Captain T. G. Culpeper
United Artists
With Milton Berle , Sid Caesar , Ethel Merman , Jonathan Winters , Mickey Rooney , Buddy Hackett , many more
1967
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Matt Drayton
Columbia
With Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (post-humous) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor (post-humous) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (post-humous) Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (post-humous)[citation needed ] (final film role)
Box office ranking [ edit ]
For several years, exhibitors voted Tracy among the most popular film stars in the country:
1937 - 18th (US)
1938 - 5th (US), 3rd (UK)
1939 - 3rd (US), 6th (UK)
1940 - 2nd (US), 3rd (UK)
1941 - 5th (US), 3rd (UK)
1942 - 10th (US), 3rd (UK)
1943 - 19th (US)
1944 - 5th (US), 9th (UK)
1945 - 5th (US), 7th (UK)
1946 - 21st (US)
1947 - 14th (US)
1948 - 9th (US)
1949 - 24th (US)[1]
1950 - 9th (US)
1951 - 10th (US)
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
^ Hope Tops Crosby At the Boxoffice
By Richard L. Coe. The Washington Post (1923-1954) [Washington, D. C] 30 Dec 1949: 19.