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Spencer
Tracy
1900-1967
Theatre,
Film
Often credited as one of the silver screen's
greatest actors, Spencer B.  Tracy
was born on April 5, 1900. His father was John Edward Tracy,
of Irish stock, and his mother Carrie Brown could trace her
lineage back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Spencer grew
up in a framed house on Prospect Ave. in Milwaukee. He was
a scrapper, and his older brother Carroll would try to keep
him out of trouble and protect him. Spencer also loved the
penny arcade where he saw his first movies. At fourteen he
was putting on plays in his basement for penny admission.
This was also the time he became friends with Bill O'Brien…later
to become the famous Pat O'Brien.
Through his teens Spencer attended Marquette
Academy, Wauwatosa High School, St. John Cathedral High School,
and eventually graduated from West Division High School in
1921. In 1917 he enlisted in the Navy, was discharged in November
1918, and returned to Milwaukee. He then joined the Northwestern
Military and
Naval Academy located in Lake Geneva, WI. In 1921 he attended
Ripon College in central Wisconsin. It was here that he developed
his acting skills. He also toured with the debate team. In
1922 he moved to New York with his friend Pat O'Brien and
attended Sargent's Academy of Acting. They lived in an apartment
that was "about the size of a jail cell and furnished
like one, with a shared toilet and a shared bath that cost
extra."
He began his career in summer stock and
Broadway Plays. In 1923 he met Louise Treadwell and married
her as soon as they could get a license. They had two children,
John and Susie. Because her son was born deaf, Louise became
an activist for deaf children and established the John Tracy
Clinic at USC, which is still an active institution today.
In 1930 his break came with the play The
Last Mile. He was an overnight success,  and
film director John Ford saw his performance. Ford's film Up
The River was Tracy's first film along with another young
actor named Humphrey Bogart. He appeared in 76 films and won
back-to-back Academy Awards for his roles in Captains Courageous
(1937) and Boys Town (1938). Tracy also loved sailing
and polo but was a complex man. Even the person that knew
him best, Katherine Hepburn with which he appeared in nine
films with, was never able to fathom what seemed to drive
him.
When Spencer needed a break he would occasionally
come back to Milwaukee.
Filmography:
*
The Strong Arm (1930) (short subject)
* Taxi Talks (1930) (short subject)
* The Hard Guy (1930) (short subject)
* Up the River (1930)
* Quick Millions (1931)
* Six Cylinder Love (1931)
* Goldie (1931)
* She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)
* Sky Devils (1932)
* Disorderly Conduct (1932)
* Young America (1932)
* Society Girl (1932)
* The Painted Woman (1932)
* Me and My Gal (1932)
* 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
* The Face in the Sky (1933)
* Shanghai Madness (1933)
* The Power and the Glory (1933)
* Man's Castle (1933)
* The Mad Game (1933)
* The Show-Off (1934)
* Looking for Trouble (1934)
* Bottoms Up (1934)
* Now I'll Tell (1934)
* Marie Galante (1934)
* It's a Small World (1935)
* The Murder Man (1935)
* Dante's Inferno (1935)
* Whipsaw (1935)
* Riffraff (1936 film) (1936)
* Fury (1936)
* San Francisco (1936)
* Libeled Lady (1936)
* They Gave Him a Gun (1937)
* Captains Courageous (1937)
* Big City (1937)
* Mannequin (1937)
* Test Pilot (1938)
* Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
(short subject)
* Boys Town (1938)
* For Auld Lang Syne: No. 4 (1939)
(short subject)
* Hollywood Hobbies (1939)
(short subject)
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* Stanley and Livingstone
(1939)
* I Take This Woman (1940)
* Young Tom Edison (1940) (cameo)
* Northward, Ho! (1940) (short subject)
* Northwest Passage (1940)
* Edison, the Man (1940)
* Boom Town (1940)
* Men of Boys Town (1941)
* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
* Woman of the Year (1942)
* Ring of Steel (1942) (short subject)
* Tortilla Flat (1942)
* Keeper of the Flame (1942)
* His New World (1943) (documentary)
* A Guy Named Joe (1943)
* The Seventh Cross (1944)
* Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
* Without Love (1945)
* The Sea of Grass (1947)
* Cass Timberlane (1947)
* State of the Union (1948)
* Edward, My Son (1949)
* Adam's Rib (1949)
* Malaya (1949)
* Father of the Bride (1950)
* For Defense for Freedom for Humanity
(1951) (short subject)
* Father's Little Dividend (1951)
* The People Against O'Hara (1951)
* Pat and Mike (1952)
* Plymouth Adventure (1952)
* The Actress (1953)
* Broken Lance (1954)
* Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
* The Mountain (1956 film) (1956)
* Desk Set (1957)
* The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
* The Last Hurrah (1958)
* Inherit the Wind (1960)
* The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961)
* Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
* How the West Was Won (1962)
* It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
* Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
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