Spencer Tracy
April 5, 1900 — June 10, 1967
Spencer Tracy was an American actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in two consecutive years — still the only man to have done so — and is regarded as one of the most naturalistic, technically accomplished film actors in cinema history, known for a style so understated it appeared effortless and for a screen presence so commanding it made everyone around him better.
From Milwaukee to Broadway to Hollywood
Born Spencer Bonaventure Tracy on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he briefly attended Northwestern Military Academy before enrolling at Ripon College and then transitioning to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. He worked steadily in Broadway theater through the 1920s before moving to Hollywood, where his powerful screen presence quickly set him apart. His physicality — stocky, bull-necked, with an expressive, lived-in face — was at odds with the conventional Hollywood leading man, but his stillness and absolute conviction on screen proved deeply compelling. Directors valued him for his rare gift of making difficult material look easy.
The Consecutive Oscars and the Hepburn Partnership
Tracy won back-to-back Best Actor Oscars for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). He is still the only actor to have won twice in a row. He went on to appear in some of American cinema's most important films: Father of the Bride (1950), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Inherit the Wind (1960), and the Stanley Kramer films Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). His professional and romantic partnership with Katharine Hepburn — the two were together from 1941 until his death in 1967, despite Tracy never divorcing his wife — produced nine films and one of Hollywood's great love stories.
Did You Know?
Spencer Tracy famously offered advice to young actors that distilled his philosophy to its essence: "Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture." He was known on set for needing very few takes and for never seeming to act — Katharine Hepburn described his technique as "listening," arguing that real acting is mostly reacting honestly to whatever is happening around you. Laurence Olivier, who played opposite him in Judgment at Nuremberg, said Tracy was "the greatest screen actor I've ever seen." Tracy died in 1967, just 17 days after completing Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
Legacy
Tracy received nine Academy Award nominations overall. Shortly after shooting wrapped on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, he suffered a fatal heart attack on June 10, 1967, at age 67. Katharine Hepburn, who was told immediately after from the production, did not attend his funeral — out of deference to his wife and family. The American Film Institute ranks him as the ninth-greatest male star in Hollywood history. His influence on American acting, particularly the naturalistic school that emphasizes internal truth over external technique, is immeasurable.