Background

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the second son of Caroline (née Brown) and John Edward Tracy, a truck salesman. His mother was a Presbyterian from a wealthy Midwestern family, and his father was of Irish Catholic background. His one brother, Carroll, was four years older.

Education

Spencer was a difficult and hyperactive child  with poor school attendance. Raised as a Catholic, at nine years old he was placed in the care of Dominican nuns in the hope of transforming his behavior. He became fascinated with motion pictures, watching the same ones repeatedly and then re-enacting scenes to his friends and neighbors. Tracy attended several Jesuit academies in his teenage years, which he claimed took the "badness" out of him and helped him improve his grades. At Marquette Academy, he and his lifelong friend, actor Pat O'Brien, began attending plays together, awakening Tracy's interest in the theatre.

With little care for his studies and "itching for a chance to go and see some excitement", Tracy and O'Brien enlisted in the United States Navy together, when Tracy turned 18. They were sent to the Naval Training Station in North Chicago, where they were still students when World War I came to an end. Tracy achieved the rank of seaman second class, but never went to sea, and was discharged in February 1919. John Tracy's desire to see one of his sons gain a college degree drove Tracy back to high school to finish his diploma. Studies at two more institutions, plus the additional allowance of "war credits", won Tracy a place at Ripon College. He entered Ripon in February 1921, declaring his intention to major in medicine.

Tracy was a popular student at Ripon, where he served as president of his hall and was involved in a number of college activities. He made his stage debut in June 1921, playing the male lead in The Truth. Tracy was very well received in this role  and he quickly developed a passion for the stage. He formed an acting company with friends, which they called "The Campus Players" and took on tour. As a member of the college debate team, Tracy excelled in arguing and public speaking. It was during a tour with his debate team that Tracy auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City. He was offered a scholarship to attend the school after performing a scene from one of his earlier roles.

Tracy left Ripon, and began classes at AADA in April 1922. Pat O'Brien was also enrolled there and the two shared a small apartment. Money was tight and the two often subsisted on meals of rice and pretzels and shared one decent suit between them. Tracy was deemed fit to progress to the senior class, allowing him to join the academy stock company. Tracy made his New York debut in October 1922, in a play called The Wedding Guests, and then his Broadway debut three months later playing a wordless robot in R.U.R. He graduated from AADA in March 1923. The college awarded him an honorary degree in 1940.

Career

Tracy made his Broadway debut in a non-speaking role as a robot in the 1923 Theatre Guild production of Karel Capek's R.U.R. Over the next years he played a variety of roles with different stock companies in the East and Midwest, occasionally succeeding in obtaining Broadway roles. By the end of the 1920s he had established himself in New York City as a respected journeyman actor. His big break came in 1930 playing the role of "Killer" Mears in the tough prison drama The Last Mile; he was a sensation and attracted the attention of Hollywood. Tracy returned to the Broadway stage only once more: in 1945 he starred in an unsuccessful production of Robert Sherwood's The Rugged Path, winning much better notices than the play.

Tracy's film career began in 1930. While still playing the lead role in The Last Mile, he made two short dramatic films for the Vitaphone Company at their New York City studio. His first Hollywood role came at the behest of director John Ford, who, seeing him as Mears, cast him in a comedy about prison life (Up the River, 1930). Signing a contract with Fox films, Tracy made over 20 films between 1930 and 1935, the bulk of them for Fox. He was typed as a "tough guy" in films such as Quick Millions (1931), Sky Devils (1932), 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), Looking for Trouble (1934), and The Murder Man (1935). He demonstrated a capacity to extend himself beyond such type-casting in films such as the unconventional The Power and The Glory (1933), but it was not until he moved to MGM in 1935 that he made a real mark and became known for the quality of his acting.

He spent over three decades under contract to MGM and during that time made over 30 movies for that studio as well as a few on "loan-out." After he left MGM in 1956 Tracy made nine more films, the most impressive and successful being those undertaken with producer-director Stanley Kramer. Always well-prepared, Tracy gave such restrained, natural, seemingly effortless performances in his films that at one time he was dubbed "The Prince of Underplayers."

Over the years Tracy garnered nine Academy Award nominations (more than any player in his lifetime) and won the Oscar twice. His range and versatility are well-demonstrated by the roles for which he won these nominations, including the happy-go-lucky Portuguese fisherman Manuel in Captains Courageous (1937 Academy Award), Father Flanagan in Boys Town (1938 Academy Award), the eponymous Stanley Banks in Father of the Bride (1950 nomination), the Clarence Darrow character in Inherit the Wind (1960 nomination), an American jurist dealing with German war criminals in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961 nomination), and the liberal, put-upon father of a daughter who wishes to marry a Black man within 24 hours in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1968 nomination). But no matter what the role, Tracy brought to its authority, sincerity, and great skill, and he was admired by the members of his craft, critics, and the public.

During the last years of his life Tracy suffered greatly from ill health, and between 1962 and 1967 he did not perform at all. It was by all accounts a real effort, requiring great determination on his part and much patience on the part of other cast members and crew, for him to make his last film. He died but weeks after its completion.

Achievements

• 

  Spencer Tracy was 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. During his career, he 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.
  
  Tracy was also nominated for five British Academy Film Awards, of which he won two, and four Golden Globe Awards, winning once. In addition, he received the Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actor and was once named Best Actor by the National Board of Review.
  
  An award for excellence in film acting is bestowed in Tracy's name at the University of California, Los Angeles.
  
  

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Father's Little Dividend

    (This entertaining sequel follows the great success of Fat...)

    1951
  • Without Love 1945
  • Adam's Rib 1949
  • State of the Union 1948
  • Father of the Bride 1950
  • Inherit the Wind 1960
  • Northwest Passage 1940
  • Bad Day at Black Rock 1955
  • Pat and Mike 1952
  • The People Against O'Hara 1951
  • Edward, My Son 1949
  • The Old Man And The Sea 1958
  • Boom Town 1940
  • Broken Lance 1954
  • Libeled Lad 1936
  • Keeper of the Flame 1942
  • A Guy Named Joe 1943
  • Desk Set 1957

Religion

Tracy was an avowed Catholic, but his cousin, Jane Feely, said that he did not devoutly follow the religion: "he was often not a practical Catholic either. I would call him a spiritual Catholic." Garson Kanin, a friend of Tracy's for 25 years, described him as "a true believer" who respected his religion. At periods in his life, Tracy attended Mass regularly.

Politics

Tracy did not believe actors should publicize their political views, but in 1940 lent his name to the "Hollywood for Roosevelt" committee and personally identified as a Democrat.

Views

Quotations: "It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn't, and when it does, we may well reject it."

"I'm tired of pretending that everything's fine just so I can please everyone else."

"I'm disappointed in acting as a craft. I want everything to go back to Orson Welles and fake noses and changing your voice. It's become so much about personality."

Personality

Tracy—who off-camera often was irascible, moody, and crusty—garnered a splendid reputation as a stylish, strong, authoritative actor and developed into one of the top stars of the business. Never conventionally handsome, he proved extremely versatile in the range of roles he addressed and managed to mature successfully as the years passed. A great personality as well as a consummate actor, he limited himself to one medium. He did what he knew best and did that very well, being solid, dependable, and outstanding.

Tracy struggled with alcoholism throughout his adult life, an ailment that ran in his father's side of the family. Rather than being a steady drinker, as commonly thought, he was prone to periods of binging on alcohol. Loretta Young remarked that Tracy was "awful" when he was drunk, and he was twice arrested for his behavior while intoxicated. Because of this bad reaction to alcohol, Tracy regularly embarked on prolonged periods of sobriety, and developed an all-or-nothing routine. Hepburn commented that he could stop drinking for "months, even years at a time".

Tracy was prone to bouts of depression and anxiety: he was described by Mrs. Tracy as having "the most volatile disposition I've ever seen—up in the clouds one minute and down in the depths the next. And when he's low, he's very, very low." He was plagued by insomnia throughout his life. As a result, Tracy became dependent on barbiturates to sleep, followed by dexedrine to function.

Physical Characteristics: Tracy suffered from a number of health problems during his later years because of his smoking and alcoholism.

Quotes from others about the person

• Dore Schary: "There can be no question that he was the best and most protean actor of our screen."
  
  Richard Widmark: "He's the greatest movie actor there ever was ... I've learned more about acting from watching Tracy than in any other way."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Tracy was an avid polo player during his early years in Hollywood.

Connections

Tracy met actress Louise Treadwell while they were both members of the Wood Players in White Plains, New York—the first stock company Tracy joined after graduating. The couple were engaged in May 1923, and married on September 10 of that year between the matinee and evening performances of his show.

Their son, John Ten Broeck Tracy, was born in June 1924. When John was 10 months old, Louise discovered that the boy was deaf. She resisted telling Tracy for three months. Tracy was devastated by the news and felt a lifelong guilt over his son's deafness. He was convinced that John's hearing impairment was a punishment for his own sins. As a result, Tracy had trouble connecting with his son and distanced himself from his family. A second child, Louise "Susie" Treadwell Tracy, was born in July 1932. The children were raised in their mother's Episcopalian faith.

Tracy left the family home in 1933, and he and Louise openly discussed the separation with the media, maintaining that they were still friends and had not taken divorce action. From September 1933 to June 1934, Tracy had a public affair with Loretta Young, his co-star in Man's Castle. He reconciled with Louise in 1935. There was never again an official separation between Tracy and his wife, but the marriage continued to be troubled. Tracy increasingly lived in hotels and by the 1940s, the two were effectively living separate lives. Tracy frequently engaged in extramarital affairs, including with co-stars Joan Crawford in 1937 and Ingrid Bergman in 1941. Tracy is also said to have been involved in a sexual relationship with Judy Garland from 1936, when she was just 14.

While making Woman of the Year in September 1941, Tracy began what was to become a lifelong relationship with Katharine Hepburn. The actress became devoted to him, and their relationship lasted until his death 26 years later. Tracy never returned to live in the family home, although he visited regularly.

Father:

John Edward Tracy

(1873–1928)

Mother:

Caroline Brown Tracy

(1874–1942)

Spouse:

Louise Tracy

(July 31, 1897 – November 13, 1983)

Louise Tracy was the founder of the John Tracy Clinic, a private, non-profit education center for the deaf that began in 1942.

Daughter:

Susan Tracy

(b. July 1, 1932, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States)

Brother:

Carroll Edward Tracy

(1896-1969)

Son:

John Ten Broeck Tracy

(1924-2007)

Partner:

Katharine Houghton Hepburn

(May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress. Known for her fierce independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years.

References

• Spencer Tracy: Tragic Idol
  1987
• Spencer Tracy: A Biography
  2011
• Spencer Tracy. A Biography
  1969
• An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy
  1997
• Spencer Tracy, a Life in Pictures
  2012
• American Legends: The Life of Spencer Tracy
  2013
• Spencer Tracy Fox Film Actor
  2009