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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0000075
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q71275
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Filmography (Movies)
Gene Kelly - An American in Hollywood
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:02/01/2025
Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story
Character:Fr. Edward Flanagan (archive footage)
Release Date:08/10/2024
Rat Pack
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:11/01/2022
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:27/07/2018
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:29/01/2013
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:02/07/2009
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:20/07/1999
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
Character:Self (Archival Footage)
Release Date:18/11/1997
Bogart: The Untold Story
Character:Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:05/01/1997
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/04/1996
La Classe américaine
Character:The Professional Witness (archive footage)
Release Date:31/12/1993
Movie Tough Guys
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1991
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1991
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:04/06/1990
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/10/1988
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:13/03/1987
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:09/03/1986
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Character:Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:25/02/1983
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/08/1975
That's Entertainment!
Character:(archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:21/06/1974
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:10/01/1972
Brasileiros em Hollywood
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1970
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Character:Matt Drayton
Release Date:11/12/1967
The Big Parade of Comedy
Character:Haggerty in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage)
Release Date:02/09/1964
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Character:C. G. Culpepper
Release Date:07/11/1963
How the West Was Won
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:02/11/1962
Judgment at Nuremberg
Character:Dan Haywood
Release Date:18/12/1961
The Devil at 4 O'Clock
Character:Father Matthew Doonan
Release Date:18/10/1961
Inherit the Wind
Character:Henry Drummond
Release Date:07/07/1960
The Last Hurrah
Character:Mayor Frank Skeffington
Release Date:31/12/1958
The Old Man and the Sea
Character:The Old Man
Release Date:07/10/1958
Desk Set
Character:Richard Sumner
Release Date:02/08/1957
The Mountain
Character:Zachary Teller
Release Date:31/05/1956
Bad Day at Black Rock
Character:John J. Macreedy
Release Date:13/01/1955
Broken Lance
Character:Matt Devereaux
Release Date:25/09/1954
The Actress
Character:Clinton Jones
Release Date:25/09/1953
Plymouth Adventure
Character:Capt. Christopher Jones
Release Date:28/11/1952
Pat and Mike
Character:Mike Conovan
Release Date:13/06/1952
The People Against O'Hara
Character:James P. Curtayne
Release Date:01/09/1951
Father's Little Dividend
Character:Stanley Banks
Release Date:05/04/1951
Father of the Bride
Character:Stanley T. Banks
Release Date:18/05/1950
Malaya
Character:Carnaghan
Release Date:27/12/1949
Adam's Rib
Character:Adam Bonner
Release Date:18/11/1949
Edward, My Son
Character:Arnold Boult
Release Date:01/03/1949
A Guy Named Joe
Character:Pete Sandidge
Release Date:08/01/1949
State of the Union
Character:Grant Matthews
Release Date:30/04/1948
Cass Timberlane
Character:Cass Timberlane
Release Date:06/11/1947
The Sea of Grass
Character:Col. James B. Brewton
Release Date:25/04/1947
Without Love
Character:Pat Jamieson
Release Date:22/03/1945
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Character:Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
Release Date:15/11/1944
The Seventh Cross
Character:George Heisler
Release Date:24/07/1944
Twenty Years After
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1944
Keeper of the Flame
Character:Stevie O'Malley
Release Date:01/04/1943
His New World
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:24/01/1943
Tortilla Flat
Character:Pilon
Release Date:21/05/1942
Ring of Steel
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:02/04/1942
Woman of the Year
Character:Sam Craig
Release Date:05/02/1942
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Character:Dr. Henry 'Harry' Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Release Date:12/08/1941
Men of Boys Town
Character:Edward Flanagan
Release Date:11/04/1941
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Character:Self
Release Date:24/10/1940
Boom Town
Character:Square John Sand
Release Date:30/08/1940
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Character:Self
Release Date:31/07/1940
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Character:Self
Release Date:29/05/1940
Edison, the Man
Character:Thomas A. Edison
Release Date:10/05/1940
Young Tom Edison
Character:Man Admiring Portrait of Thomas A. Edison
Release Date:15/03/1940
Northwest Passage
Character:Major Robert Rogers
Release Date:23/02/1940
Northward, Ho!
Character:Himself
Release Date:10/02/1940
I Take This Woman
Character:Karl Decker
Release Date:02/02/1940
Stanley and Livingstone
Character:Henry M. Stanley
Release Date:18/08/1939
From the Ends of the Earth
Character:Self
Release Date:28/05/1939
Hollywood Hobbies
Character:Self (uncredited)
Release Date:03/05/1939
Boys Town
Character:Father Flanagan
Release Date:08/09/1938
Hollywood Goes to Town
Character:Self
Release Date:07/07/1938
Test Pilot
Character:Gunner Morse
Release Date:16/04/1938
Another Romance of Celluloid
Character:Self (uncredited)
Release Date:05/02/1938
Mannequin
Character:John Hennessey
Release Date:21/01/1938
Big City
Character:Joe Benton
Release Date:03/09/1937
The Romance of Celluloid
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:27/08/1937
Captains Courageous
Character:Manuel Fidello
Release Date:25/06/1937
They Gave Him a Gun
Character:Fred P. Willis
Release Date:07/05/1937
Libeled Lady
Character:Warren Haggerty
Release Date:09/10/1936
San Francisco
Character:Father Tim Mullin
Release Date:26/06/1936
Fury
Character:Joe Wilson
Release Date:05/06/1936
Riffraff
Character:Dutch
Release Date:03/01/1936
Whipsaw
Character:Ross 'Mac' McBride aka Danny Ross Ackerman
Release Date:18/12/1935
Dante's Inferno
Character:Jim Carter
Release Date:23/08/1935
The Murder Man
Character:Steven 'Steve' Grey
Release Date:12/07/1935
It's A Small World
Character:Bill Shevlin
Release Date:12/04/1935
Marie Galante
Character:Dr. Crawbett
Release Date:25/10/1934
Now I'll Tell
Character:Murray Golden
Release Date:07/06/1934
Bottoms Up
Character:'Smoothie' King
Release Date:12/04/1934
Looking for Trouble
Character:Joe Graham
Release Date:28/03/1934
The Show-Off
Character:J. Aubrey Piper
Release Date:09/03/1934
Man's Castle
Character:Bill
Release Date:20/11/1933
The Mad Game
Character:Edward Carson
Release Date:27/10/1933
The Power and the Glory
Character:Tom Garner
Release Date:06/10/1933
Shanghai Madness
Character:Pat Jackson
Release Date:03/08/1933
Face in the Sky
Character:Joe Buck
Release Date:15/01/1933
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Character:Tommy Connors
Release Date:24/12/1932
Me and My Gal
Character:Danny Dolan
Release Date:04/12/1932
The Painted Woman
Character:Tom Brian
Release Date:20/08/1932
Society Girl
Character:Briscoe
Release Date:29/05/1932
Young America
Character:Jack Doray
Release Date:17/04/1932
Disorderly Conduct
Character:Dick Fay
Release Date:20/03/1932
Sky Devils
Character:Wilkie
Release Date:12/03/1932
She Wanted a Millionaire
Character:William Kelley
Release Date:21/02/1932
Goldie
Character:Bill
Release Date:27/06/1931
Six Cylinder Love
Character:William Donroy
Release Date:10/05/1931
Quick Millions
Character:Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond
Release Date:17/04/1931
Up the River
Character:Saint Louis
Release Date:10/10/1930
The Hard Guy
Character:Guy
Release Date:06/09/1930
Taxi Talks
Character:Taxi Driver
Release Date:06/06/1930
Television Appearances
Images
