STAR OF THE MONTH
Spencer Tracy
Born April 5, 1900
Died June 10, 1967
At the beginning of the 20th century, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born to Irish Catholic parents Caroline and John Tracy. He was the youngest of two children, having an older brother named Carroll. Tracy did not have a difficult upbringing, yet he was typically written off as a "problem child" throughout most of his youth. He was hyper, inattentive, disrespectful, and made poor grades in school. While he was still in elementary school, Tracy's parents made the decision to hand him over to church authorities, in the hopes that they could help modify his behavior. During this time he had some slight attitude changes, but did not really turn his life around until he was in high school. As a teenager, Tracy attended a Jesuit academy and he credits the school in helping him grow up and become more respectable.
It was also during high school that Tracy's passion for acting and theater was ignited. He was friends with fellow future actor Pat O'Brien, and the two of them would spend much of their time attending and analyzing plays and acting for friends. Yet, even after his attitude adjustments, Tracy was never one for academics, so he enlisted in the Navy as soon as he turned 18. He was discharged after a year, and did not know what to do with himself. His father, John Tracy, desperately wanted one of his sons to go to college, so after much pleading, Spencer went back to school to achieve his undergrad diploma. He then was accepted at Ripon College, where he majored in medicine.
Tracy fit in well at Ripon, and he soon made many friends. He quickly affiliated himself with the drama team and began acting, even forming an informal troupe with his friends, calling themselves "The Campus Players." In 1921, the college debate team went on tour, taking Tracy to New York. While there, he decided to take his chances and auditioned for a place at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The school officials were impressed with Tracy and offered him a scholarship, which he accepted, and he began taking classes at AADA in the spring of 1922. As soon as he graduated from the Academy, Tracy took up work with a small acting company, but he was not satisfied with his small roles, so he soon left and joined with another. Tracy moved from company to company, and even took two gigs on Broadway for the next three years, but nothing was successful. It was a low period for young Tracy, who not only had to take care of himself but also felt a new obligation to take care of his new family, having been married in 1923. He later said, "There were times when my pants were so thin, I could sit on a dime and know if it was heads or tails." Finally, in 1926, Tracy took a part in the Broadway play Yellow. He decided that if he couldn't make a go of it and launch his career this time around, then he would quit acting for good and take a regular desk job. Yet it became clear on opening night that Yellow was a success, and that the young Tracy had extraordinary talent. The play's producer, George M. Cohan specifically wrote his next play with a part for Tracy, and then another after that. The next play, however, never made it to the stage, and Tracy once again considered quitting the business. Eventually, Tracy was approached and offered the part of a desperate madman being sent to death row in The Last Mile. He warily accepted, and on opening night in January of 1930, Tracy was called forward for 14 curtain calls for his outstanding performance.
With the invention of "talkies" in the 1930s, new actors and actresses that could handle speaking parts were in demand. Scouts for Hollywood studios were sent out to recruit and bring promising talents in for screen tests, and one of those scouts found Tracy. After being discovered, Tracy was offered a contract with Fox and made his film debut alongside Humphrey Bogart in Up the River (1930). Tracy stayed with Fox for the next 5 years, and then he moved to MGM. Some of Tracy's most well recognized work was produced with MGM over the next twenty years that he was with them. It was also while working at MGM in the 1940s that he met actress Katharine Hepburn. Tracy was still married to his wife at the time, but the two were amicably separated and had no intention of divorce because of their Catholic and Episcopalian backgrounds.He was also no longer living with his wife and two children, after he discovered that his son was deaf and he felt guilty and blamed his son's loss of hearing on his past deeds. So it was that, strange as the circumstances were, Hepburn and Tracy embarked on a partnership to go down in history. Their relationship was even used by the studio to produce box office hits, and the two are still today primarily known as much for their partnership on the screen as off. They starred in 9 films together. The two were completely devoted to each other and remained together for the remaining 26 years of Tracy's life.
Tracy was a true star and a great asset to Hollywood throughout his career. During the 45 years of Tracy's career, he starred in over 85 productions, and won two Academy Awards for his performances in Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). Spencer Tracy died after collapsing due to a major heart attack in 1967. Hepburn was with him at the time, and she later recalled that afterwards, "He looked so happy to be done with living, which for all his accomplishments had been a frightful burden for him."
MOVIE OF THE MONTH
Father of the Bride
1950
Starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor
Stanley Banks (Tracy) is a completely ordinary man. He is a successful lawyer, he lives in a comfortable home, has a beautiful wife, Ellie (Bennett), and a lovely daughter, Kay (Taylor). The only problem with his comfortable, ordinary life is that it is about to turn upside down because his daughter (who, surely, is much too young) has decided that it is essential to her happiness to get married.
Not only is Stanley against the idea of his little girl getting married at all, but he begins to question the entire thing as he realizes that his once reassuring dreams of a quiet, cheap ceremony are out the window and gone forever. Problem after problem arises, and Stanley keeps his cold feet planted in his stubborn shoes until he realizes that by causing so much trouble, and by being so unwilling to contribute to his daughter's big day, he is jeopardizing her happiness. So, despite the fact that it hurts him and his wallet in ways he'd rather not think about, he decides to clean up his act and make Kay's wedding a day she will never forget. And even though it cost him a fortune, trashed his home, and he had to give away his little girl, he decides that it was worth it after all.
Father of the Bride was a huge comedic hit at the box office when it was released in 1950. Tracy was applauded for his portrayal of Stanley Banks, and audiences everywhere fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor all over again, as this was considered one of her first "adult" or mature roles. The film was so successful that the studio brought all the actors together for a sequel the next year, entitled Father's Little Dividend. The film was remade in 1991 starring Steve Martin as Banks, and many of the details were kept the same.
"This mug of mine is as plain as a barn door. Why should people pay thirty-five cents to look at it?"
"Come to work on time, know your lines, and don't bump into the furniture."
"I'm disappointed in acting as a craft. I want everything to go back to Orson Welles and fake noses and changing your voice. It becomes so much about personality."
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