Acting · Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA · Born April 5, 1900
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.
MovieGene Kelly - An American in Hollywood
2025
as Self (archive footage)
MovieHeart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story
2024
as Fr. Edward Flanagan (archive footage)
MovieDEVO
2024
as Henry Drummond (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieRat Pack
2022
as Self (archive footage)
MovieScotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
2018
as Self (archive footage)
MovieClassic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
2013
as Self (archive footage)
Movie1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
as Self (archive footage)
MovieStardust: The Bette Davis Story
2006
as Self (archive footage)
MovieHidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
1999
as (archive footage)
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1997
as Self (Archival Footage)
MovieBogart: The Untold Story
1997
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieIngrid Bergman Remembered
1996
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
1995
as Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
1995
as Self (archive footage)
MovieLa Classe américaine
1993
as The Professional Witness (archive footage)
MovieMovie Tough Guys
1991
as Self (archive footage)
MovieSomething a Little Less Serious: A Tribute to 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'
1991
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieMyrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990
as (archive footage)
MovieThe Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988
as Self (archive footage)
MovieJames Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
1986
as Self (archive footage)
MovieHollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieThat's Entertainment, Part II
1976
as (archive footage)
MovieBrother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThat's Entertainment!
1974
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieHollywood: The Dream Factory
1972
as Self (archive footage)
MovieBrasileiros em Hollywood
1970
as Self (archive footage)
MovieGuess Who's Coming to Dinner
1967
as Matt Drayton
MovieThe Big Parade of Comedy
1964
as Haggerty in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage)
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1963
as C. G. Culpepper
MovieHow the West Was Won
1962
as Narrator (voice)
MovieHollywood: The Selznick Years
1961
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieJudgment at Nuremberg
1961
as Dan Haywood
MovieThe Devil at 4 O'Clock
1961
as Father Matthew Doonan
MovieInherit the Wind
1960
as Henry Drummond
MovieThe Last Hurrah
1958
as Mayor Frank Skeffington
MovieThe Old Man and the Sea
1958
as The Old Man
MovieDesk Set
1957
as Richard Sumner
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1956
as Zachary Teller
TVMGM Parade
1955
MovieBad Day at Black Rock
1955
as John J. Macreedy
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1954
as Matt Devereaux
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1953
as Clinton Jones
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1952
as Capt. Christopher Jones
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1952
as Mike Conovan
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1951
as James P. Curtayne
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1951
as Stanley Banks
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1950
as Stanley T. Banks
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1949
as Carnaghan
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1949
as Adam Bonner
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1949
as Arnold Boult
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1948
as Grant Matthews
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1947
as Cass Timberlane
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1947
as Col. James B. Brewton
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1945
as Pat Jamieson
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1944
as Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle
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1944
as George Heisler
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1944
as Pete Sandidge
MovieTwenty Years After
1944
as (archive footage)
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1943
as Stevie O'Malley
His New World
1943
as Narrator (voice)
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1942
as Pilon
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1942
as Narrator (voice)
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1942
as Sam Craig
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1941
as Dr. Henry 'Harry' Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
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1941
as Edward Flanagan
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1940
as Self
MovieBoom Town
1940
as Square John Sand
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1940
as Self
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1940
as Self
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1940
as Thomas A. Edison
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1940
as Man Admiring Portrait of Thomas A. Edison
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1940
as Major Robert Rogers
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1940
as Himself
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1940
as Karl Decker
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1939
as Henry M. Stanley
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1939
as Self
MovieHollywood Hobbies
1939
as Self (uncredited)
MovieBoys Town
1938
as Father Flanagan
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1938
as Self
MovieTest Pilot
1938
as Gunner Morse
MovieAnother Romance of Celluloid
1938
as Self (uncredited)
MovieMannequin
1938
as John Hennessey
MovieBig City
1937
as Joe Benton
MovieThe Romance of Celluloid
1937
as Self (archive footage)
MovieCaptains Courageous
1937
as Manuel Fidello
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1937
as Fred P. Willis
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1936
as Haggerty
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1936
as Father Tim Mullin
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1936
as Joe Wilson
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1936
as Dutch
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1935
as Ross 'Mac' McBride aka Danny Ross Ackerman
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1935
as Jim Carter
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1935
as Steven 'Steve' Grey
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1935
as Bill Shevlin
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1934
as Dr. Crawbett
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1934
as Murray Golden
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1934
as 'Smoothie' King
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1934
as Joe Graham
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1934
as J. Aubrey Piper
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1933
as Bill
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1933
as Edward Carson
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1933
as Tom Garner
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1933
as Pat Jackson
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1933
as Joe Buck
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1932
as Tommy Connors
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1932
as Danny Dolan
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1932
as Tom Brian
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1932
as Briscoe
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1932
as Jack Doray
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1932
as Dick Fay
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1932
as Wilkie
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1932
as William Kelley
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1931
as Bill
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1931
as William Donroy
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1931
as Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond
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1930
as Saint Louis
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1930
as Guy
Taxi Talks
1930
as Taxi Driver
