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Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American film actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. He is often regarded as one of the finest actors in motion picture history. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second son of John Edward Tracy, a hard-drinking Irish-Catholic truck salesman, and Caroline Brown, a Protestant turned Christian Scientist. Tracy's paternal grandparents, John Tracy and Mary Guhin, were born in Ireland. His mother's ancestry dates back to Thomas Stebbins, who immigrated from England in the late 1630s. At the beginning of World War I, Tracy left school to enlist in the Navy, but remained in Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia throughout the war. Afterward he attended Ripon College where he appeared in a play entitled The Truth, and decided on acting as a career. In the early 1920s he attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. For several years he performed in stock in Michigan, Canada, and Ohio. Finally in 1930 he appeared in a hit play on Broadway, The Last Mile. In 1923 he married Louise Treadwell. They had two children, John and Louise (Susie). In 1930, director John Ford saw Tracy in the play The Last Mile and signed him to do Up the River for Fox Pictures. Shortly after that he and his family moved to Hollywood, where he made over 25 films in five years. In 1935 Tracy signed with MGM. He won the Oscar for Best Actor two years in a row, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). He was also 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 and Laurence Olivier share the record for the most best actor Oscar nominations (9). His consistent excellence as a screen actor was somewhat compromised by persistent drinking, similar to his father's alcohol problem. In 1941 he began a relationship with Katharine Hepburn, whose agile mind and New England brogue complemented Tracy's easy working-class machismo very well. Though estranged from his wife Louise, he was a devout Catholic and never divorced, though some have speculated that it was not so much his Catholic upbringing but the fact that he didn't want to completely abandon his deaf son John. He and Hepburn made nine films together, and were often called 'The happiest couple in Hollywood'. Under Hepburn's influence and support, Tracy's drinking problem receded. Seventeen days after filming had completed on his last film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with Hepburn, he died from a massive heart attack at the age of 67. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. More than thirty years after his death, Tracy is still widely considered one of the most skillful actors of his time. He could portray the hero, the villain, or the comedian, and make the audience believe he truly was the character he played. Tracy was one of Hollywood's earliest "realistic" actors; his performances have stood the test of time.



Credit:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Tracy