Spencer Tracy was Mr. Solid and Dependable. He was a fine actor and a very good light comedian. Tracy was also surprisingly good in period films and Westerns, he is well cast in probably his best Action film Northwest Passage (1940), his best purely serious film is probably Bad Day at Black Rock (1954) which plays more like a thriller than a Western.

Tracy began his film career at Fox in the early days of Talkies, he can be seen with lifelong friend Humphrey Bogart in the otherwise forgettable Up the River (1930). It wasn't though until he moved to MGM that Tracy became a star, he appeared in two excellent but very different films in 1936 : Fritz Lang's Fury (the German director's first American film) and San Francisco (very good as Gable's best friend a priest, two roles he was to return to).

Tracy's stardom was confirmed by his two successive acting Oscars for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys' Town (1938), both films have dated and Tracy's acting comes across as over-sentimental today.

The same could not be said about his series of films with Katharine Hepburn which began with Woman of the Year (1942) and included the excellent comedies Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952). Between these two Tracy delivered maybe his finest comedy performance in Father of the Bride (1950).

After Bad Day at Bad Rock (1955) he left MGM and in his last years hooked up with producer Stanley Kramer for a series of films : Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgement at Nuremberg (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and one final film with Hepburn Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967) completed just before his death.



Filmography

1930    UP THE RIVER    performer
1931    GOLDIE    performer
1931    QUICK MILLIONS    performer
1931    SIX CYLINDER LOVE    performer
1932    DISORDERLY CONDUCT    performer
1932    ME AND MY GAL    performer
1932    THE PAINTED WOMAN    performer
1932    SHE WANTED A MILLIONAIRE    performer
1932    SKY DEVILS    performer
1932    SOCIETY GIRL    performer
1932    YOUNG AMERICA    performer
1933    20,000 YEARS IN SING SING    performer
1933    THE FACE IN THE SKY    performer
1933    THE MAD GAME    performer
1933    MAN'S CASTLE    performer
1933    THE POWER AND THE GLORY    performer
1933    SHANGHAI MADNESS    performer
1934    BOTTOMS UP    performer
1934    LOOKING FOR TROUBLE    performer
1934    MARIE GALANTE    performer
1934    NOW I'LL TELL    performer
1934    THE SHOW-OFF    performer
1935    DANTE'S INFERNO    performer
1935    IT'S A SMALL WORLD    performer
1935    THE MURDER MAN    performer
1935    RIFFRAFF    performer
1935    WHIPSAW    performer
1936    FURY    performer
1936    LIBELED LADY    performer
1936    SAN FRANCISCO    performer
1937    THE BIG CITY/ SKYSCRAPER WILDERNESS    performer
1937    CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS    performer
1937    MANNEQUIN    performer
1937    THEY GAVE HIM A GUN    performer
1938    BOYS TOWN    performer
1938    TEST PILOT    performer
1939    STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE    performer
1940    BOOM TOWN    performer
1940    EDISON, THE MAN    performer
1940    I TAKE THIS WOMAN    performer
1940    NORTHWEST PASSAGE (BOOK I-ROGERS' RANGERS)    performer
1941    DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE    performer
1941    MEN OF BOYS TOWN    performer
1942    KEEPER OF THE FLAME    performer
1942    TORTILLA FLAT    performer
1942    WOMAN OF THE YEAR    performer
1943    A GUY NAMED JOE    performer
1944    THE SEVENTH CROSS    performer
1944    THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO    performer
1945    WITHOUT LOVE    performer
1947    CASS TIMBERLANE    performer
1947    THE SEA OF GRASS    performer
1948    STATE OF THE UNION    performer
1949    ADAM'S RIB    performer
1949    EDWARD, MY SON    performer
1949    MALAYA    performer
1950    FATHER OF THE BRIDE    performer
1951    FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND    performer
1951    THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA    performer
1952    PAT AND MIKE    performer
1952    PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE    performer
1953    THE ACTRESS    performer
1954    BROKEN LANCE    performer
1955    BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK    performer
1956    THE MOUNTAIN    performer
1957    DESK SET    performer
1958    THE LAST HURRAH    performer
1958    THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA    performer
1960    INHERIT THE WIND    performer
1961    THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK    performer
1961    JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG    performer
1962    HOW THE WEST WAS WON    performer
1963    IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD    performer
1967    GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER    performer