Spencer Tracy

Highest Rated: 100% Desk Set (1957)

Lowest Rated: 17% The Sea of Grass (1947)

Birthday: Apr 5, 1900

Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Universally regarded among the screen's greatest actors, Spencer Tracy was a most unlikely leading man. Stocky, craggy-faced, and gruff, he could never be considered a matinee idol, yet few stars enjoyed greater or more consistent success. An uncommonly versatile performer, his consistently honest and effortless performances made him a favorite of both audiences and critics throughout a career spanning well over three decades. Born April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, WI, Tracy was expelled from some 15 different elementary schools prior to attending Rippon College, where he discovered and honed a talent for debating; eventually, he considered acting as a logical extension of his skills, and went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first professional work cast him as a robot in a stage production of R.U.R. at a salary of ten dollars a week. He made his Broadway debut in 1923's A Royal Fandango and later co-starred in a number of George M. Cohan vehicles. Tracy's performance as an imprisoned killer in 1930's The Last Mile made him a stage star, and during its Broadway run he made a pair of shorts for Vitaphone, The Hard Guy and Taxi Talks. Screen tests for MGM, Universal, and Warners were all met with rejection, however, but when John Ford insisted on casting Tracy as the lead in his prison drama Up the River, Fox offered a five-year contract.Tracy's second film was 1931's Quick Millions, in which he portrayed a racketeer. He was frequently typecast as a gangster during his early career, or at the very least a tough guy, and like the majority of Fox productions throughout the early part of the decade, his first several films were unspectacular. His big break arrived when Warners entered a feud with Jimmy Cagney, who was scheduled to star in 1933's 20,000 Years in Sing Sing; when he balked, the studio borrowed Tracy, and the picture was a hit. His next two starring roles in The Face in the Sky and the Preston Sturges epic The Power and the Glory were also successful, earning very positive critical notice. Still, Fox continued to offer Tracy largely low-rent projects, despite extending his contract through 1937. Regardless, much of his best work was done outside of the studio grounds; for United Artists, he starred in 1934's Looking for Trouble, and for MGM starred as The Show-Off. After filming 1935's It's a Small World, executives cast Tracy as yet another heavy in The Farmer Takes a Wife; he refused to accept the role and was fired. Despite serious misgivings, MGM signed him on. However, the studio remained concerned about his perceived lack of sex appeal and continued giving the majority of plum roles to Clark Gable. As a consequence, Tracy's first MGM offerings -- 1935's Riff Raff, The Murder Man, and 1936's Whipsaw -- were by and large no better than his Fox vehicles, but he next starred in Fritz Lang's excellent Fury. For the big-budget disaster epic San Francisco, Tracy earned the first of nine Academy Award nominations -- a record for male stars -- and in 1937 won his first Oscar for his work in Victor Fleming's Captains Courageous. Around the release of the 1938 smash Test Pilot, Time magazine declared him "cinema's number one actor's actor," a standing solidified later that year by Boys' Town, which won him an unprecedented second consecutive Academy Award. After 1939's Stanley and Livingstone, Tracy starred in the hit Northwest Passage, followed by a turn as Edison the Man. With the success of 1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he even usurped Gable's standing as MGM's top draw.Tracy was happily married to actress Louise Treadwell when he teamed with Katharine Hepburn in 1942's Woman of the Year. It was the first in a long series of collaborations that established them as one of the screen's greatest pairings, and soon the two actors entered an offscreen romance which continued for the remainder of Tracy's life. They were clearly soulmates, yet Tracy, a devout Catholic, refused to entertain the thought of a

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

		Credit
No Score Yet	Murnau, Borzage & Fox	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Spencer Tracy Legacy	Actor	—	1987
No Score Yet	George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey	Actor	—	1984
60%	That's Entertainment, Part 2	Actor	—	1976
71%	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	Matt Drayton	—	1967
69%	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Capt. C.G. Culpepper	—	1963
86%	How the West Was Won	Narrator	—	1963
91%	Judgment at Nuremberg	Judge Dan Haywood	—	1961
80%	The Devil at 4 O'clock	Father Matthew Doonan	—	1961
92%	Inherit the Wind	Henry Drummond	—	1960
78%	The Old Man and the Sea	The Old Man	—	1958
92%	The Last Hurrah	Mayor Frank Skeffington	—	1958
100%	Desk Set	Richard Sumner	—	1957
No Score Yet	The Mountain	Zachary Teller	—	1956
97%	Bad Day at Black Rock	John J. Macreedy	—	1955
89%	Broken Lance	Matt Devereaux	—	1954
60%	The Actress	Clinton Jones	—	1953
No Score Yet	Plymouth Adventure	Capt. Christopher Jones	—	1952
90%	Pat and Mike	Mike Conovan	—	1952
100%	Father's Little Dividend	Stanley Banks	—	1951
No Score Yet	The People Against O'Hara	James Curtayne	—	1951
93%	Father of the Bride	Stanley T. Banks	—	1950
No Score Yet	Malaya	Carnaghan	—	1949
100%	Adam's Rib	Adam Bonner	—	1949
No Score Yet	Edward, My Son	Arnold Boult	—	1949
80%	State of the Union	Grant Matthews	—	1948
No Score Yet	Cass Timberlane	Cass Timberlane	—	1947
17%	The Sea of Grass	Col. James B. 'Jim' Brewton	—	1947
No Score Yet	Without Love	Pat Jamieson	—	1945
No Score Yet	A Guy Named Joe	Pete Sandridge	—	1944
100%	Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo	Lt. Col. James Doolittle	—	1944
100%	The Seventh Cross	George Heisler	—	1944
No Score Yet	Keeper of the Flame	Steven 'Stevie' O'Malley	—	1942
No Score Yet	Tortilla Flat	Pilon	—	1942
92%	Woman of the Year	Sam Craig	—	1942
65%	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Dr. Harry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde	—	1941
40%	Men of Boys Town	Father Flanagan	—	1941
80%	Edison, the Man	Thomas Alva Edison	—	1940
100%	Northwest Passage	Major Rogers	—	1940
No Score Yet	I Take This Woman	Dr. Karl Decker	—	1940
No Score Yet	Boom Town	Square John Sand	—	1940
No Score Yet	Stanley and Livingstone	Henry M. Stanley	—	1939
No Score Yet	Land of Liberty	Actor	—	1939
90%	Boys Town	Father Edward Flanagan	—	1938
75%	Test Pilot	Gunner Sloane	—	1938
No Score Yet	Mannequin	John L. Hennessey	—	1937
No Score Yet	Big City	Actor	—	1937
94%	Captains Courageous	Manuel	—	1937
No Score Yet	They Gave Him a Gun	Fred P. Willis	—	1937
100%	San Francisco	Father Tim Mullin	—	1936
100%	Fury	Joe Wheeler	—	1936
No Score Yet	Riffraff	Dutch Miller	—	1936
83%	Libeled Lady	Warren Haggerty	—	1936
No Score Yet	Whipsaw	Ross 'Mac' McBride aka Danny Ross Ackerman	—	1935
No Score Yet	Dante's Inferno	Jim Carter	—	1935
No Score Yet	The Murder Man	Steve Gray	—	1935
No Score Yet	Now I'll Tell	Murray Golden	—	1934
No Score Yet	Marie Galante	Crawbett	—	1934
71%	Man's Castle	Bill	—	1933
No Score Yet	The Power and the Glory	Tom Gardner	—	1933
No Score Yet	20,000 Years in Sing Sing	Tommy Connors	—	1932
No Score Yet	Me and My Gal	Dan Dolan	—	1932
No Score Yet	Young America (We Humans)	Jack Doray	—	1932
No Score Yet	Disorderly Conduct	Dick Fay	—	1932
No Score Yet	She Wanted a Millionaire	William Kelley	—	1932
No Score Yet	Quick Millions	Daniel J. 'Bugs' Raymond	—	1931
No Score Yet	Goldie	Bill	—	1931
No Score Yet	Up the River	Saint Louis	—	1930
No Score Yet	The Hard Guy (The Tough Guy)	Actor	—	1930

QUOTES FROM Spencer Tracy CHARACTERS

Hornbeck says: Mr. Brady, it is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Hornbeck says: Sit down, Samson, you’re about to get a haircut.

Hornbeck says: Sit down, Samson, you're about to get a haircut.

Henry Drummond says: I don’t swear for the hell of it. Language is a poor enough means of communication. We’ve got to use all the words we’ve got. Besides, there are damn few words anybody understands.

Henry Drummond says: I don't swear for the hell of it. Language is a poor enough means of communication. We've got to use all the words we've got. Besides, there are damn few words anybody understands.

Matthew Harrison Brady says: I have been to their cities and I have seen the altars upon which they sacrifice the futures of their children to the gods of science. And what are their rewards? Confusion and self-destruction. New ways to kill each other in wars. I tell you gentlemen the way of science is the way of darkness.

Hornbeck says: Mr. Brady, it is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Hornbeck says: Sit down, Samson, you’re about to get a haircut.

Hornbeck says: Sit down, Samson, you're about to get a haircut.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Matthew Harrison Brady says: I do not think about things I don't think about.

Henry Drummond says: Do you ever think about things that you do think about?

Henry Drummond says: Suppose God whispered into a Bertram Cate’s ear that an un-Brady thought could still be holy? Must men go to jail because they find themselves at odds with a self-appointed prophet?

Henry Drummond says: Suppose God whispered into a Bertram Cate's ear that an un-Brady thought could still be holy? Must men go to jail because they find themselves at odds with a self-appointed prophet?

Hornbeck says: Well, We’re growing a strange crop of agnostics this year.

Hornbeck says: Well, We're growing a strange crop of agnostics this year.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of mans knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Matthew Harrison Brady says: I do not think about things I don't think about.

Henry Drummond says: Do you ever think about things that you do think about?

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Henry Drummond says: An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.

Matt Drayton says: You're a pontificating old poop!

Col. Tad Lawson says: "The hare was shot by the hunter in the field." It's really quite simple.

Col. Tad Lawson says: 'The hare was shot by the hunter in the field.' It's really quite simple.

Capt. Harrison Byers says: Colonel, I think we ought to be going.

Judge Dan Haywood says: Yes, we really shouldn't be discussing this.

Col. Tad Lawson says: No, Judge. We're fair Americans, and true-blue. We mustn't do anything that's out of order.

Mme. Bertholt says: You see, I have a mission with the Americans, as Mr. Perkins can tell you.

Judge Dan Haywood says: What is that?

Mme. Bertholt says: To convince you that we're not all monsters.

Judge Dan Haywood says: Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts â?? if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs â?? these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men â?? even able and extraordinary men â?? can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How easily that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the 'protection' of the country. Of 'survival'. The answer to that is: 'survival as what?' A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world â?? let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!

Judge Dan Haywood says: Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts Ã¢?? if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men even able and extraordinary men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How easily that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the 'protection' of the country. Of 'survival'. The answer to that is: 'survival as what?' A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world Ã¢?? let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!

Judge Dan Haywood says: Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts Ã?Â¢?? if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men even able and extraordinary men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How easily that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the 'protection' of the country. Of 'survival'. The answer to that is: 'survival as what?' A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!

Judge Dan Haywood says: Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men even able and extraordinary men can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How easily that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the 'protection' of the country. Of 'survival'. The answer to that is: 'survival as what?' A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!

Ernst Janning says: My counsel would have you believe that we were not aware of the extermination of millions. That we were only aware of the extermination of the hundreds. Does that make us any the less guilty? Maybe we didn't know the details. But if we didn't know, it was because we did not want to know.

Emil Hahn says: Traitor! Traitor!

Judge Dan Haywood says: Order, order! Put that man back in his seat and keep him there!

Ernst Janning says: am going to tell the truth if the whole world conspires against it. I am going to tell them the truth about their Ministry of Justice. Werner Lampe â?? an old man who cries into his Bible now. An old man who profited from the property expropriation of every man he sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich Hofstetter â?? the butcher who knew how to take orders, who sent men before him to be sterilized like so many digits. Emil Hahn â?? the decayed, corrupt bigot, obsessed by the evil within himself. And Ernst Janning â?? worse than any of them, because he knew what they were, and he went along with them. Ernst Janning â?? who made his life...excrement... because he walked with them.

Ernst Janning says: I am going to tell the truth if the whole world conspires against it. I am going to tell them the truth about their Ministry of Justice. Werner Lampe an old man who cries into his Bible now. An old man who profited from the property expropriation of every man he sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich Hofstetter Ã¢?? the butcher who knew how to take orders, who sent men before him to be sterilized like so many digits. Emil Hahn the decayed, corrupt bigot, obsessed by the evil within himself. And Ernst Janning worse than any of them, because he knew what they were, and he went along with them. Ernst Janning who made his life...excrement... because he walked with them.

Ernst Janning says: Judge Haywood... the reason I asked you to come: Those people, those millions of people... I never knew it would come to that. You must believe it, you must believe it!

Judge Dan Haywood says: Herr Janning, it "came to that" the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent.

Judge Dan Haywood says: Herr Janning, it 'came to that' the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent.

Hans Rolfe says: I'll make you a wager...

Judge Dan Haywood says: I don't make wagers.

Hans Rolfe says: A gentleman's wager... in five years, the men you sentenced to life imprisonment will be free.

Judge Dan Haywood says: Herr Rolfe, I have admired your work in the court for many months. You are particularly brilliant in your use of logic. So, what you suggest may very well happen. It is logical, in view of the times in which we live. But to be logical is not to be right, and nothing on God's earth could ever make it right!

Capt. Harrison Byers says: I trust you'll be comfortable in this room, sir.

Judge Dan Haywood says: Captain, I have no doubt that the entire state of Maine would be comfortable in this room!

Harvey Allen says: What'll we use for a headline?

Warren Haggerty says: I don't care. Anything. "War threatens Europe!"

Warren Haggerty says: I don't care. Anything. 'War threatens Europe!'

Harvey Allen says: Which country?

Warren Haggerty says: Flip a nickel!

Warren Haggerty says: She may be his wife, but she's engaged to me!

Coley Trimble says: You're a yellow-bellied Jap lover! Am I right or wrong?

John J. Macreedy says: You're not only wrong, you're wrong at the top of your voice.

Narrator says: The west was won by its pioneers, settlers, adventurers is long gone now. Yet it is theirs forever, for they left tracks in history that will never be eroded by wind or rain - never plowed under by tractors, never buried in compost of events. Out of the hard simplicity of their lives, out of their vitality, of their hopes and sorrows grew legends of courage and pride to inspire their children and their children's children. From soil enriched by their blood, out of their fever to explore and be, came lakes where once there were burning deserts - came the goods of the earth; mine and wheat fields, orchards and great lumber mills. All the sinews of a growing country. Out of their rude settlements, their trading posts came cities to rank among the great ones of the world. All the heritage of a people free to dream, free to act, free to mold their own destiny.

Capt. C.G. Culpepper says: Billie Sue? Billie Sue where are you?

Billie Sue says: I'm at the bus station.

Capt. C.G. Culpepper says: Sweetheart what are you doing at the bus station?

Billie Sue says: I'm waiting for the bus!

Pilon says: "Lover and wine are similar in that too much of one can leave a man sick"

Pilon says: Love and wine are similar in that too much of one can leave a man sick.

Sam Craig says: Women should be kept illiterate and clean, like canaries.

Mike Conovan says: Not much meat on her, but what's there is choice.

Father Flanagan says: There is no bad boy.