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Spenser TracyActor
Date of Birth: 05.04.1900
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Spencer Tracy
Early Life and EducationSpencer Tracy was born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was the second son of John Edward Tracy, an Irish-American Catholic chauffeur-salesman, and Caroline Brown, a Protestant who had joined the Christian Science movement and baptized their son Spencer Bonaventure Tracy. Tracy's paternal grandparents, John Tracy and Mary Gahin, were born in Ireland, while his maternal grandparents immigrated from England in the late 1630s. Tracy attended six different middle schools, starting with Wauwatosa East High School in 1915 and the Marquette Academy for Boys in Milwaukee the following year. The Tracy family moved to Kansas City, where Spencer enrolled at St. Mary's College, Kansas, a boarding school in St. Marys, 30 miles west of Topeka, and then transferred to Rockhurst, a Jesuit academy in Kansas City, Missouri. However, John Tracy's job in Kansas City did not work out, and after six months, the family decided to return to Milwaukee. Spencer enrolled at Marquette Academy, another Jesuit school, where he met actor Pat O'Brien. Dropping out of both schools, he enlisted in the Navy in the spring of 1917 to participate in World War I as part of the American Army, but Tracy was left behind in Norfolk, Virginia. He later continued his education at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy, Wisconsin, 30 miles west of Milwaukee, but completed the prolonged process at West Division High School in Milwaukee in February 1921. He then attended Ripon College, where he played the lead role in the play "Truth" and realized he would pursue an acting career.
Early Acting Career
Tracy received an honorary degree from Ripon College in 1940. After a trip to the Northeast as part of Ripon's debate club, Tracy auditioned and was accepted into the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first role on Broadway was as a robot in Karel Capek's play "R.U.R." in 1922. This was followed by five more Broadway plays in the 1920s. In 1923, Spencer married actress Louise Treadwell. The couple had two children, John and Louise (Susie). For several years, Tracy performed on stages in Michigan, Canada, and Ohio. In the late 1930s, he appeared in the Broadway play "The Last Mile." Director John Ford saw Spencer in "The Last Mile" and signed him to a contract for his 1930 film "Up the River" with Humphrey Bogart for Fox Corporation. Shortly after this significant event, the Tracy family moved to Hollywood, where the actor managed to appear in 25 films over the next five years.
Success at MGM and Oscar Wins
In 1935, Tracy signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for his roles in "Captains Courageous" (1937) and "Boys Town" (1938). He was also nominated for the Academy Award for his performances in "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 posthumously for his role in Stanley Kramer's melodrama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967). Tracy and Laurence Olivier hold the record for the most nominations for Best Actor by the Academy – they were both approved for the Oscar a total of nine times. In 1941, while filming "Woman of the Year," Tracy began a relationship with Katharine Hepburn, who had just ended a five-year affair with producer Howard Hughes. Their relationship, never confirmed by either party, lasted until Tracy's death in 1967. The relationship was complex, with periods of separation followed by reunions. Tracy even had a brief affair with Gene Tierney during the filming of "Plymouth Adventure." Over the years, Tracy's health deteriorated; he was diagnosed with diabetes, which was exacerbated by his alcoholism. Seventeen days after filming his last movie, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," with Hepburn, he died of a heart attack. The film was released in December, six months after his death.
Legacy
To this day, Spencer Tracy is considered one of the most accomplished actors of his time. For example, actor Van Johnson considered Tracy his mentor. Tracy was one of the first "realistic" actors, and other actors noted that his work in the films of the 1930s was sometimes similar to the performances of his contemporaries. Against the established clichés and performances of the time, Spencer stood out as original and interacted superbly with the rest of the cast. In 1988, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus commission and Suzy Tracy established the "UCLA Spencer Tracy Award." The award was given to actors for their achievements in the film industry. Among the recipients were William Hurt, James Stewart, Michael Douglas, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Harrison Ford, Angelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, Kirk Douglas, Jack Lemmon, and Morgan Freeman. Tracy once said about Gene Tierney, "Although she was beautiful in her films, they still could not capture her full worth. Fortunately, I was able to, even in the end of my life." He also remarked, "I couldn't be a director because I can't stand actors. I don't have the patience. I'd probably kill them all, except for a few beautiful actresses."
