FIlmography
1930
Taxi Talks
The Hard Guy
Up the River
1931
Quick Millions
Six Cylinder Love
Goldie
1932
She Wanted a Millionaire
Sky Devils
Disorderly Conduct
Young America
Society Girl
The Painted Woman
Me and My Gal
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
1933
Face in the Sky
Shanghai Madness
The Power and the Glory
The Mad Game
Man’s Castle
1934
The Show-Off
Looking for Trouble
Bottoms Up
Now I’ll Tell
Marie Galante
1935
It’s a Small World
The Murder Man
Dante’s Inferno
Whipsaw
1936
Riffraff
1937
They Gave Him a Gun
Big City
Mannequin
1938
Another Romance of Celluloid
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 9
Hollywood Goes to Town
1939
Stanley and Livingstone
For Auld Lang Syne
Hollywood Hobbies
1940
I Take This Woman
Young Tom Edison
Edison, the Man
Northward, Ho!
1941
Men of Boys Town
1942
Tortilla Flat
Keeper of the Flame
Ring of Steel
1943
His New World
A Guy Named Joe
1944
The Seventh Cross
1945
Without Love
1947
The Sea of Grass
Cass Timberlane
1948
1949
Malaya
Some of the Best
1950
1951
Father’s Little Dividend
The People Against O’Hara
For Defense for Freedom for Humanity
1952
Pat and Mike
Plymouth Adventure
1953
1954
Broken Lance
1955
1956
The Mountain
1957
1958
The Old Man and the Sea
The Last Hurrah
1960
1961
The Devil at 4 O’Clock
Judgment at Nuremberg
1962
1963
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1967
Awards
He was nominated nine times for Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award and won twice.
| 1936 | San Francisco |
| 1937 | Captains Courageous – won |
| 1938 | Boys Town – won |
| 1950 | Father of the Bride |
| 1955 | Bad Day at Black Rock |
| 1958 | The Old Man and the Sea |
| 1960 | Inherit the Wind |
| 1961 | Judgment at Nuremberg |
| 1967 | Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner |
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Spencer Tracy: Learn more about him, review his filmography and more
At the age of 18, Tracy enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I with friend Pat O’Brien. He never saw any action, having spent most of his time stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. After the war, Tracy spent several semesters at Ripon College, where he discovered acting. He then made his way to New York City, where he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Tracy spent much of the 1920s as a stage actor. In 1922, he made his Broadway debut alongside Pat O’Brien as a robot in R.U.R., a science fiction play by Kavel Capek. Tracy continued to appear in both comedies and dramas over the next few years. In 1930, he gave a star-making performance as a convicted killer in the Broadway drama The Last Mile. Director John Ford saw Tracy in the production and wanted him for his film Up The River (1930), which also featured Humphrey Bogart .
Tracy made a string of films from 1930 to 1935, under contract with Fox. He was often cast as a tough guy or criminal. With 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, Tracy began to attract positive notices from critics. The film, which also starred Bette Davis , failed to draw much of an audience. He earned rave reviews for The Power and the Glory. Written by Preston Sturges, the film examined the life of wealthy businessman (Tracy).
Making the move to MGM in 1935, Tracy started to achieve box office success. His first hit as a leading man came with 1936 revenge drama Fury , directed by Fritz Lang. Tracy scored again later that same year with San Francisco , co-starring with Clark Gable in this disaster tale.
In 1937, Tracy achieved both commercial and critical success with Captains Courageous . Audiences and critics alike praised his performance as a Portuguese fisherman, and the film brought him his first Academy Award. Tracy picked up another Academy Award the following year for his portrayal of Father Flanagan in Boys Town .
In 1942, Tracy first appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year . The pair had tremendous chemistry, both on and off-screen. Some have commented that Tracy had finally met his match in Hepburn, and their talent for verbal sparring was dazzling in their films together. Many of their projects involved a battle-of-the-sexes theme, such as Adam’s Rib (1949). In this film, the pair played married lawyers on opposite sides of a court battle.
By the mid-1950s, Tracy’s career seemed to slow down. One memorable role from this time was Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). He played a one-armed man searching for the truth in a small desert town. Tracy’s work with Hepburn on the comedy Desk Set (1957) was another popular picture from this time.
Tracy started the 1960s with several strong leading roles. With Inherit the Wind (1960), he brought a fictionalized version of the renowned lawyer Clarence Darrow to the big screen. The film, based on an earlier play, explored the infamous Scopes Trial of 1925, which was a legal battle over the teaching of evolution. In Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), he played an American judge presiding in a trial of his German counterparts after World War II.
Tracy filmed his last movie, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner , which also starred Hepburn and actor Sidney Poitier. The movie explored the subject of interracial dating. Seventeen days after the filming was complete, Tracy died of a heart attack on June 10, 1967, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. Hepburn had been with him during his final days.
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