Spencer Tracy
Birthday:
5 April 1900, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Birth Name:
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy
Height:
177 cm
Spencer Tracy was born four years after his brother Carroll to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy. He attended Marquette Academy along with Pat O'Brien and the two left school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. He was still at Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia at the end of the war. At Ripon College he did well in ...
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Spencer Tracy was born four years after his brother Carroll to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy. He attended Marquette Academy along with Pat O'Brien and the two left school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. He was still at Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia at the end of the war. At Ripon College he did well in the lead of "The Truth" and decided on acting as a career. In New York he roomed with O'Brien while they attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1923 they both got nonspeaking parts as robots in "R.U.R". In stock he supported himself with jobs as bellhop, janitor and salesman. John Ford saw his critically acclaimed performance in the lead role in the play "The Last Mile" and signed him to Up the River (1930) for Fox. Despite appearing in 16 films there over the next 5 years, Tracy never achieved star status there (during his stint the studio had floundered and was absorbed into Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures). In 1935 he signed with MGM under the aegis of Irving Thalberg and his career flourished. He became the first actor to win back-to-back Oscars for Captains Courageous (1937) and in a project he initially didn't want to star in, Boys Town (1938). He was nominated for San Francisco (1936), Father of the Bride (1950), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). He had a brief romantic relationship with Loretta Young in the 1930s and a lifelong one with Katharine Hepburn beginning in 1942. His Catholic beliefs precluded ever divorcing his wife Louise, though they lived apart. Tracy suffered from severe alcoholism and diabetes (from the late 1940's), which unfortunately impacted his willingness to accept several tailor-made roles in films that would become big hits. Although his drinking problems were well known, he was inarguably considered one of the best actors in Hollywood among his peers (he had a well deserved reputation for keeping co-stars on their toes for his oddly endearing scene-stealing tricks) and remained in demand. A few weeks after completion of Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), during which he suffered from lung congestion, he died of a heart attack. Show less «
[on acting] Come to work on time, know your lines and don't bump into the other actors.
[on acting] Come to work on time, know your lines and don't bump into the other actors.
]on drinking] Hell, I used to take two-week lunch hours!
]on drinking] Hell, I used to take two-week lunch hours!
I couldn't be a director because I couldn't put up with the actors. I don't have the patience. Why, I'd probably kill the actors. Not to men...Show more »
I couldn't be a director because I couldn't put up with the actors. I don't have the patience. Why, I'd probably kill the actors. Not to mention some of the beautiful actresses. Show less «
[on being asked why he was always billed above long-time companion Katharine Hepburn in their films together] Because this is a movie, you c...Show more »
[on being asked why he was always billed above long-time companion Katharine Hepburn in their films together] Because this is a movie, you chowderhead, not a lifeboat! Show less «
The kids keep telling me I should try this new "Method Acting" but I'm too old, I'm too tired and I'm too talented to care.
The kids keep telling me I should try this new "Method Acting" but I'm too old, I'm too tired and I'm too talented to care.
[on why he never left his wife for Katharine Hepburn] I can get a divorce whenever I want to. But my wife and Kate like things just as they ...Show more »
[on why he never left his wife for Katharine Hepburn] I can get a divorce whenever I want to. But my wife and Kate like things just as they are. Show less «
This mug of mine is as plain as a barn door. Why should people pay thirty-five cents to look at it?
This mug of mine is as plain as a barn door. Why should people pay thirty-five cents to look at it?
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 m...Show more »
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. Show less «
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...Show more »
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. Show less «
Even when my throat is completely tired out from acting, Luckies still get along with it fine.
Even when my throat is completely tired out from acting, Luckies still get along with it fine.
There were times when my pants were so thin, I could sit on a dime and know if it was heads or tails.
There were times when my pants were so thin, I could sit on a dime and know if it was heads or tails.
The physical labor actors have to do wouldn't tax an embryo.
The physical labor actors have to do wouldn't tax an embryo.
Write anything you want about me. Make up something. Hell, I don't care.
Write anything you want about me. Make up something. Hell, I don't care.
Why do actors think they're so God damn important? They're not. Acting is not an important job in the scheme of things. Plumbing is.
Why do actors think they're so God damn important? They're not. Acting is not an important job in the scheme of things. Plumbing is.
Actors have no damn place in politics, period.
Actors have no damn place in politics, period.
[on Jean Harlow] A square shooter if ever there was one.
[on Jean Harlow] A square shooter if ever there was one.
[on why actors should avoid political activism] Remember who shot [Abraham Lincoln].
[on why actors should avoid political activism] Remember who shot [Abraham Lincoln].
[To Ernest Hemingway at dinner in the Stork Club] Sometimes I think life is a terminal illness.
[To Ernest Hemingway at dinner in the Stork Club] Sometimes I think life is a terminal illness.
[1962 interview] The only thing an actor has to offer a director and finally an audience is his instinct. That's all.
[1962 interview] The only thing an actor has to offer a director and finally an audience is his instinct. That's all.
[on acting] It's never been very demanding. It doesn't require much brainwork. Acting is not the noblest profession in the world, but there ...Show more »
[on acting] It's never been very demanding. It doesn't require much brainwork. Acting is not the noblest profession in the world, but there are things lower than acting. Not many, mind you - but politicians give you something to look down on from time to time. Show less «
[in a 1962 interview] I'm Spencer Tracy with some deference to the character. When a person says he's an actor - he's a personality. The who...Show more »
[in a 1962 interview] I'm Spencer Tracy with some deference to the character. When a person says he's an actor - he's a personality. The whole idea is to show your personality. There are people who are much better technically, but who cares? Nobody cares. Show less «
[on being asked what he looked for in a potential script]. Days off.
[on being asked what he looked for in a potential script]. Days off.
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