Spencer Tracy
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Series
MGM Parade
1955
Series
MGM Parade
Self
1955
Series
MGM Parade
self
1955
Film
How the West Was Won
Narrator (voice)
1962
Film
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
C. G. Culpepper
1963
Film
Judgment at Nuremberg
Dan Haywood
1961
Film
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Matt Drayton
1967
Film
Inherit the Wind
Henry Drummond
1960
Film
Bad Day at Black Rock
John J. Macreedy
1955
Film
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man
1958
Film
Adam's Rib
Adam Bonner
1949
Film
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Henry 'Harry' Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
1941
Film
Father of the Bride
Stanley T. Banks
1950
Film
Libeled Lady
Haggerty
1936
Film
Broken Lance
Matt Devereaux
1954
Film
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
1944
Film
Fury
Joe Wilson
1936
Film
The Last Hurrah
Mayor Frank Skeffington
1958
Film
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Film
Captains Courageous
Manuel Fidello
1937
Film
Desk Set
Richard Sumner
1957
Film
Father's Little Dividend
Stanley Banks
1951
Film
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976
Film
La Classe américaine
The Professional Witness (archive footage)
1993
Film
Malaya
Carnaghan
1949
Film
San Francisco
Father Tim Mullin
1936
Film
Rat Pack
Self (archive footage)
2022
Film
The Actress
Clinton Jones
1953
Film
State of the Union
Grant Matthews
1948
Film
Northwest Passage
Major Robert Rogers
1940
Film
Boys Town
Father Flanagan
1938
Film
Woman of the Year
Sam Craig
1942
Film
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
2013
Film
The Mountain
Zachary Teller
1956
Film
Pat and Mike
Mike Conovan
1952
Film
Boom Town
Square John Sand
1940
Film
Cass Timberlane
Cass Timberlane
1947
Film
Edison, the Man
Thomas A. Edison
1940
Film
Society Girl
Briscoe
1932
Film
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2018
Film
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Film
A Guy Named Joe
Pete Sandidge
1944
Film
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Tommy Connors
1932
Film
Young Tom Edison
Man Admiring Portrait of Thomas A. Edison
1940
Film
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Film
Tortilla Flat
Pilon
1942
Film
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
1987
Film
The People Against O'Hara
James P. Curtayne
1951
Film
The Sea of Grass
Col. James B. Brewton
1947
Film
Test Pilot
Gunner Morse
1938
Film
Keeper of the Flame
Stevie O'Malley
1943
Film
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
2009
Film
The Seventh Cross
George Heisler
1944
Film
The Devil at 4 O'Clock
Father Matthew Doonan
1961
Film
Brasileiros em Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
1970
Film
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
1995
Film
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
1940
Film
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
1944
Film
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
1988
Film
Goldie
Bill
1931
Film
Gene Kelly - An American in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2025
Film
The Romance of Celluloid
Self (archive footage)
1937
Film
Plymouth Adventure
Capt. Christopher Jones
1952
Taxi Talks
Taxi Driver
1930
Film
Men of Boys Town
Edward Flanagan
1941
Film
They Gave Him a Gun
Fred P. Willis
1937
Film
The Murder Man
Steven 'Steve' Grey
1935
Film
The Big Parade of Comedy
Haggerty in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage)
1964
Film
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
1972
Film
Stanley and Livingstone
Henry M. Stanley
1939
Film
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Without Love
Pat Jamieson
1945
Film
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
1940
Film
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
(archive footage)
1990
Film
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
1940
Film
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Self (archive footage)
1996
Film
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
1986
Film
Up the River
Saint Louis
1930
Film
Bogart: The Untold Story
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1997
Film
Hollywood Goes to Town
Self
1938
Film
Edward, My Son
Arnold Boult
1949
Film
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
1939
Film
DEVO
Henry Drummond (archive footage) (uncredited)
2024
Film
I Take This Woman
Karl Decker
1940
Film
Me and My Gal
Danny Dolan
1932
Film
Whipsaw
Ross 'Mac' McBride aka Danny Ross Ackerman
1935
Film
Now I'll Tell
Murray Golden
1934
Film
Young America
Jack Doray
1932
Film
Big City
Joe Benton
1937
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Self (archive footage)
1995
Film
She Wanted a Millionaire
William Kelley
1932
Film
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1961
Film
Man's Castle
Bill
1933
Film
Mannequin
John Hennessey
1938
Film
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
(archive footage)
1985
Film
Dante's Inferno
Jim Carter
1935
Film
Riffraff
Dutch
1936
Film
The Show-Off
J. Aubrey Piper
1934
Film
It's A Small World
Bill Shevlin
1935
Film
Marie Galante
Dr. Crawbett
1934
Film
The Mad Game
Edward Carson
1933
Film
Quick Millions
Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond
1931
Film
Face in the Sky
Joe Buck
1933
Film
Hollywood Hobbies
Self (uncredited)
1939
Film
The Power and the Glory
Tom Garner
1933
Film
Six Cylinder Love
William Donroy
1931
Film
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
(archive footage)
1999
Film
Something a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1991
Film
Disorderly Conduct
Dick Fay
1932
Film
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
Self (Archival Footage)
1997
Film
Shanghai Madness
Pat Jackson
1933
Film
Bottoms Up
'Smoothie' King
1934
Film
Sky Devils
Wilkie
1932
Film
Ring of Steel
Narrator (voice)
1942
Film
The Painted Woman
Tom Brian
1932
Film
Northward, Ho!
Himself
1940
Film
Another Romance of Celluloid
Self (uncredited)
1938
Film
Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story
Fr. Edward Flanagan (archive footage)
2024
Film
The Hard Guy
Guy
1930
Film
Movie Tough Guys
Self (archive footage)
1991
Film
Looking for Trouble
Joe Graham
1934
His New World
Narrator (voice)
1943