Spencer Tracy

. Wolfit was primarily a stage actor, and, despite taking his famous portrayal of Volpone to television and appearing in a few films, he was never widely known outside the UK. Tracy was one of Hollywood's earliest "realistic" actors; his performances have stood the test of time unlike some of the overly theatrical work done by many of his peers. The company performed in London during the Battle of Britain in 1940. He could portray the hero, the villain, or the comedian, and make the audience believe he truly was the character he played. His speciality was Shakespeare, and in 1937 he formed his own company to take the Bard to the provinces. More than thirty years after his death, Tracy is still considered by many to be the most skillful actor of his time. He first appeared in the West End in 1924, playing The Wandering Jew.

Although Tracy was an alcoholic most of his adult life, it never seemed to affect his career. Wolfit was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and made his stage début in 1920. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Donald Wolfit (1902-1968) was an English actor, knighted in 1957 for his services to the theatre. Two weeks after making his last movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, with Hepburn, he died from a massive heart attack at the age of 67. He and Hepburn made nine films together.

Though estranged from his wife Louise, he was a devout Catholic and never divorced. In 1941 he began a relationship with Katharine Hepburn. He is tied with Laurence Olivier for the most best actor Oscar nominations. 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).

In 1935 he signed with MGM and won the Oscar for Best Actor two years in a row, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). Shortly after that he and his family moved to Hollywood, where he made over 35 films in 5 years. In 1923 he married Louise Treadwell, and they had two children, John and Louise (Susie). In 1930, director John Ford saw him in the play The Last Mile and signed him to do Up the River for Fox Pictures. Finally in 1930 he appeared in a hit play on Broadway, The Last Mile.

For several years he performed in stock in Michigan, Canada, and Ohio. In the early 1920s he attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Afterward he attended Ripon College where he appeared in a play entitled The Truth, and decided on acting as a career. At the beginning of World War I he left school to enlist in the Navy, but remained in Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia throughout the war.

He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second son of a truck salesman. Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 - June 10, 1967) was an American film actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 through the 1960s. Not to mention some of the beautiful actresses.". Why, I'd probably kill the actors.

I don't have the patience. "I couldn't be a director because I couldn't put up with the actors. On drinking: "Hell, I used to take two-week lunch hours!". "Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture.".

Greenwood Press, 1994. Westport, Conn. Spencer Tracy : a Bio-bibliography by James Fisher. 1969.

Co. Spencer Tracy; a Biography by Larry Swindell, New York, World Pub.