Spencer Tracy bio sheds new light on an actor's actor

James Curtis' book benefits from the cooperation of the actor's daughter, Susie, who offers insight on her mother, Louise Treadwell, and Tracy's long-running affair with Katharine Hepburn.

According to James Curtis, author of the new 1,056-page "Spencer Tracy: A Biography," it could have been actress Loretta Young who became the love of Tracy's life, not Katharine Hepburn, his partner for 26 years with whom he made nine films.

Tracy and Young, both Catholics, began their romance while working together on the 1933 Depression-era drama "A Man's Castle." Though Tracy was married to Louise Treadwell, the illicit pair would go to Mass and confessions together.

"I think they were drawn together because of the shared bond of faith," said Curtis, who spent six years on the book, drawing from Tracy's own papers and obtaining the cooperation of the actor's daughter, Susie Tracy.

But it was also their faith that caused the relationship to end after about a year. Tracy wouldn't divorce Treadwell and Young wouldn't have married a divorced man.

Hepburn didn't have such hang-ups. Tracy met her on the set of George Stevens' 1942 classic romantic comedy "Woman of the Year."

"Hepburn really kind of inserted herself into Tracy's life," said Curtis. "She fell madly in love with him, though she was never sure that he felt the same way about her. They had some rough times, but she was absolutely devoted to him. I think she's a very interesting person who was, in some ways, completed by Tracy. He was not reluctant to tell her to shut up."

Curtis will be appearing Sunday at the American Cinematheque's Tracy-Hepburn double bill at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood: 1967's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (the frail 67-year-old Tracy died just two weeks after its completion) and the sparkling 1949 romantic comedy "Adam's Rib." Also appearing at the event will be Katharine Houghton, Hepburn's niece, who costars in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," a drama that deals with a white couple who discover that their daughter is marrying an African American man.

The Milwaukee-born Tracy is considered one of the most versatile and accomplished actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood — an actor's actor who won two Academy Awards, one for playing a vibrant Portuguese fisherman in 1937's "Captains Courageous," the other for portraying the noble Father Flanagan in 1938's "Boys Town." He moved effortlessly between comedies such as 1950's "Father of the Bride" and dramas such as 1961's "Judgment at Nuremberg." He even did a horror movie: 1941's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

But Tracy was beset with demons, including a drinking problem and guilt over his marital affairs and that his son, John Tracy, was born deaf.

Susie Tracy is thrilled that Curtis' book offers new insights into her mother, who stayed married to Tracy for more than 40 years and founded the John Tracy Clinic for the deaf. "He didn't meet Miss Hepburn until 1942," she said. "There were many years before that where a lot went on that people should know about."

Her mother, who had been an accomplished actress and polo player, "could do almost anything," said Tracy. "She was also a writer. She wrote some lovely poetry."

Tracy said that her dad was very much like the charming, devoted father of Elizabeth Taylor in "Father of the Bride" and 1951's "Father's Little Dividend."

"He had a sense of humor," Tracy remarked. "He was funny. He always had a joke at the dinner table. He told a joke wonderfully."

It was director-producer Stanley Kramer who gave Tracy a splashy final act, casting him in 1960's "Inherit the Wind," "Judgment at Nuremberg," 1963's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (after which he had a massive heart attack) and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

Houghton recalls that her aunt was a "basket case" during the production of "Dinner" because of Tracy's failing health.

"I think they both wanted to do the movie," said Houghton, who had known Tracy since she was little. "They thought it was an important film, and they loved Stanley Kramer. I think they felt that, 'OK. It's better than just sitting around waiting to die. Let's try it.' I think it did prolong Spencer's life by several months because he had to meet the challenge."

Spencer Tracy Biography

Spencer Tracy was an iconic Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Boys Town, Inherit the Wind and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Synopsis

Born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Spencer Tracy starred in film classics like Father of the Bride, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He frequently collaborated with actress Katharine Hepburn, with whom he was romantically linked. Tracy ultimately received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. He died in Beverly Hills, California, on June 10, 1967.

Early Life

Over his long career as an actor, Spencer Tracy played an impressive range of roles, from prisoners to priests. He managed to make each character seem believable and genuine. For more than three decades, Tracy displayed his tremendous talents on the big screen.

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in Milwaukee. The youngest son of an Irish-American sales manager for a truck company, Tracy was raised Catholic, and both he and his older brother Carroll served as altar boys. The young Tracy got into trouble early on for missing school and getting into fights. According to some accounts, he went to at least 15 different elementary schools.

At the age of 18, Tracy enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I with friend Pat O'Brien. He never saw any action, having spent most of his time stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. After the war, Tracy spent several semesters at Ripon College, where he discovered acting. He then made his way to New York City, where he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Stage and Film Work

Tracy spent much of the 1920s as a stage actor. In 1922, he made his Broadway debut alongside Pat O'Brien as a robot in R.U.R., a science fiction play by Kavel Capek. He also appeared in the short-lived comedy A Royal Fandango the following year. Tracy continued to appear in both comedies and dramas over the next few years, both in New York and elsewhere. In 1930, he gave a star-making performance as a convicted killer in the Broadway drama The Last Mile. Director John Ford saw Tracy in the production and wanted him for his film Up The River (1930), which also featured Humphrey Bogart.

Under now contract with Fox, Tracy made a string of films from 1930 to 1935. He was often cast as a tough guy or criminal. With 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, Tracy began to attract positive notices from critics. The film, which also starred Bette Davis, failed to draw much of an audience. He earned raves for The Power and the Glory. Written by Preston Sturges, the film examined the life of wealthy businessman (Tracy).

Tracy developed a reputation as a heavy drinker off screen. Married to Louise Treadmill since 1923, he was also known to have extramarital affairs with other performers, including Loretta Young. Tracy may have broken his marriage vows, but he and Louise never divorced. The couple had two children, John and Susan.

Making the move to MGM in 1935, Tracy started to achieve box office success. His first hit as a leading man came with 1936 revenge drama Fury, directed by Fritz Lang. Tracy scored again later that same year with San Francisco, co-starring with Clark Gable in this disaster tale.

In 1937, Tracy achieved both commercial and critical success with Captains Courageous. Audiences and critics alike praised his performance as a Portuguese fisherman, and the film brought him his first Academy Award. Tracy picked up another Academy Award the following year for his portrayal of Father Flanagan in Boys Town.

In 1942, Tracy first appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year. The pair had tremendous chemistry, both on and off-screen. Some have commented that Tracy had finally met his match in Hepburn, and their talent for verbal sparring was dazzling in their films together. Many of their projects involved a battle-of-the-sexes theme, such as Adam's Rib (1949). In this film, the pair played married lawyers on opposite sides of a court battle.

By the mid-1950s, Tracy's career seemed to slow down. One memorable role from this time was Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). He played a one-armed man searching for the truth in a small desert town. Directed by John Sturges, the film also featured Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Tracy's work with Hepburn on the comedy Desk Set (1957) was another popular picture from this time.

Final Years

Tracy started the 1960s with several strong leading roles. With Inherit the Wind (1960), he brought a fictionalized version of the renowned lawyer Clarence Darrow to the big screen. The film, based on an earlier play, explored the infamous Scopes Trial of 1925, which was a legal battle over the teaching of evolution. In Judgment at Nuremburg (1961), he played an American judge presiding in a trial of his German counterparts after World War II.

In his later years, Tracy reportedly became moody and difficult and suffered from health problems, all of which affected his ability to work. In 1967, Tracy filmed his last movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which also starred Hepburn and actor Sidney Poitier. The movie explored the subject of interracial dating. Shortly after the filming was complete, Tracy died of a heart attack on June 10, 1967, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. Hepburn had been with him during his final days.

Remembered as an actor's actor, Tracy had the amazing ability to make his performances seem effortless. He made an unlikely box office draw, with his stocky form and craggy face. Yet still he became one of Hollywood's most bankable names during his peak. Tracy is also forever linked to another great star, Katharine Hepburn. From their meeting on the set of Woman of the Year in 1941, they remained a couple until Tracy's death.

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy, in full Spencer Bonaventure Tracy    (born April 5, 1900, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.—died June 10, 1967, Beverly Hills,California), rough-hewn American film star who was one of Hollywood’s greatest male leads and the first actor to receive two consecutive Academy Awards for best actor.

As a youth Tracy was bored by schoolwork and joined the navy at age 17. Despite his distaste for academics, he eventually became a premed student at Wisconsin’s Ripon College. While there, he auditioned for and won a role in the commencement play and discovered acting to be more to his liking than medicine. In 1922 he went to New York, where he and his friend Pat O’Brien enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. That same year, both men made their joint Broadway debut, playing bit roles as robots in Karel Čapek’sR.U.R. For the next eight years, Tracy bounced between featured parts in short-running Broadway plays and leading roles in regional stock companies, finally achieving stardom when he was cast as death-row inmate Killer Mears in the 1930 Broadway hit The Last Mile. He subsequently appeared in two Vitaphone short subjects, but he was displeased with himself and pessimistic about his chances for screen stardom.

Nevertheless, director John Ford hired Tracy to star in the 1930 feature film Up the River, which resulted in a five-year stay at Fox Studios in Hollywood. Although few of his Fox films were memorable—excepting perhaps Me and My Gal (1932), 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), and The Power and the Glory (1933)—his tenure at the studio enabled him to develop his uncanny ability to act without ever appearing to be acting. His friend Humphrey Bogart once attempted to describe the elusive Tracy technique: “[You] don’t see the mechanism working, the wheels turning. He covers up. He never overacts or is hammy. He makes you believe what he is playing.” For his part, Tracy always denied that he had come up with any sort of magic formula. Whenever he was asked the secret of great acting, he usually snapped, “Learn your lines!”

In 1935 he was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he would do some of his best work, beginning with his harrowing performance as a lynch-mob survivor in Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936). He received his first of nine Oscar nominations for San Francisco (1936) and became the first actor to win two consecutive Academy Awards, for Captains Courageous(1937) and Boys Town (1938). In the course of his two decades at MGM he settled gracefully into character leads, conveying everything from paternal bemusement in Father of the Bride (1950) to grim determination in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). In later years his health was eroded by respiratory ailments and a lifelong struggle with alcoholism, but Tracy worked into the early 1960s, delivering exceptionally powerful performances in producer-director Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind (1960) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).

Married since 1923 to former actress Louise Treadwell, Tracy lived apart from his wife throughout most of their marriage, though as a strict Catholic he refused to consider divorce. From 1942 onward, he maintained a warm, intimate relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn. Tracy and Hepburn were also memorably teamed in nine films, including Woman of the Year (1942), Adam’s Rib (1949), Pat and Mike(1952), The Desk Set (1957), and Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), which was completed three weeks before Tracy’s death.

Anthony Geary to Exit General Hospital

It's a shock. Then again, it's not. Eight-time Emmy winner Anthony Geary—the most revered and trophied actor in daytime drama—has decided to leave ABC's General Hospital at the end of his current contract. Geary will continue shooting at the hit soap until late June and remain on air for a month or so after that. Then he's off to his second home in Amsterdam where, for the last few years, he has been spending more and more time. A rep for ABC Daytime says, "The door at GHwill always be open to Tony and we hope that he will make a return visit at some point, even if just for a few weeks." What's behind this major life decision? And what will become of the iconic, yet horribly screwed-up, Luke Spencer? Geary gave us the exclusive scoop on his Port Charles farewell.

What's the deal here? Are you just quitting GH or retiring from show business altogether? 
I don't like that word "retirement." It sounds like some guy sitting around the pool drinking Mai Tais until his heart gives out, and that's not me. I'm an actor, a showbiz kid. This year marks 50 years for me in this business—a half-century of professional work—and I am not about to bring that to an end. I will always act. I will always be looking for another project.

So why take a hike from GH, and why now? 
The people at ABC and at GH have been amazingly good to me, allowing me to live on two continents and treating me, for the most part, extremely well. This show has been a huge part of my life for over half my life and Luke Spencer is my alter ego. But I'm just weary of the grind and have been for 20 years. There was a point after my back surgery last year where it became clear to me that my time is not infinite. And I really don't want to die, collapsing in a heap, on that GH set one day. That wouldn't be too poetic. [Laughs] In fact, it would be poetically incorrect. I have another life and I want time to explore it. Ever since I discovered Amsterdam and made it my home, I have found my artistic and social fulfillment there. One of the first things I will do when I leave GH is go back to my language classes. I want to be so fluent in Dutch that I can pursue film or theater work over there. And there are always American actors in European films. I don't see why I shouldn't be one of them.

When did you make this decision? 
This past January. [GH executive producer] Frank Valentini knew it was coming. They have done a magnificent job writing Luke's story, especially with what culminated in the 52nd anniversary show, but where do we go after this? There are still some surprises, the usual twists and turns and interesting guest stars coming up before Luke leaves town, but where we've gone in these last couple of months would be pretty hard to top.

Where does this leave your great screen partner, Jane Elliot [Tracy]? 
It's going to lead to the most wonderful, ass-kicking performance from her, and nobody kicks ass like Jane. We just shot some stuff the other day where she is so fabulous. Such fire and pathos!

Rick Rowell/ABC

Then you don't see your departure as a bad thing for her? 
No, I don't. Jane has been tied to my story these last few years in an up and down love affair that's been a lot of fun. But it seems that if I don't work then she doesn't work. If I leave the show for a few months, they mysteriously don't seem to be able to find ways to keep her involved. But now it looks like they're going to keep her busy. That is my fervent hope for the show and for Jane, my best friend. Putting Luke with Tracy was a weird idea that somehow worked like gangbusters. Jane is the best thing that ever happened to me on GH. Luke's love for Laura [Genie Francis] was a youthful thing. He saw Laura as the damsel who needed saving. That's love but an unequal kind of love. Luke's love for Tracy has been infuriatingly, wonderfully equal and much more mature.

Do you know how Luke will be written out? 

I've been given a sort of Reader's Digest version of the story.

Which I'm guessing you can't spoil. But perhaps you can answer this: What kind of a sendoff do you think is appropriate here? 

Here's what I see happening: Luke Spencer is a man who has finally come to grips with the secret and the core of his life—he killed his father and accidentally killed his mother—and he can now see that he has conned and slimed his way through this world for several decades. As charming as he may have been, here and there, he has been a leech on other people. For me, it makes perfect sense that he is left standing alone and that he must go off and find his purpose in life with whatever time he has left. His children are grown, and being a father and grandfather was never fulfilling anyway. It's no longer fun to careen from adventure to adventure. He's never had a proper job. What's he going to do, become a bank manager? If I were in his place, I'd go to Tibet or Nepal on some kind of spiritual journey, even though he's an atheist. He needs to be at peace. Or the other option is to just end it all, but suicide would make the audience very dissatisfied, and the network would never stand for it. Luke should make a contribution somewhere, maybe go to India and work with children or go to Africa and work with AIDS patients. That is the only thing I can see. He's looking for redemption and a reason to forgive himself for what he now knows has been a really fun ride at everybody else's expense. The logical and honorable thing for him to do would be to leave the people he loves behind, with the hope that when he sees them next he's going to have something worthwhile to offer them. And, if he doesn't have anything worthwhile, they'll never see him again.

There are fans who are hoping the upcoming return of Genie Francis to GH means some sort of Luke-and-Laura reunion.

Genie and I agreed several years ago that the love of Luke and Laura had run its course. They have children together and a very storied history and there's definitely still love there but I think they're toxic to each other at this point. She's been in an asylum. He's been in an asylum. Life has not always worked out for them.

Jesse Grant/Getty Images

How did you feel about reuniting with Genie on stage at the Daytime Emmys? Clearly, the telecast producers were milking that old Luke-and-Laura magic. 

I felt great about it, actually. I had an epiphany shortly after the GH anniversary episode, when I was hearing the writers' ideas of how Luke Spencer would leave the show and I was not on board with a lot of it at first. But then I realized, you know what? I don't have ownership of this character. I have deluded myself all of these years that I could bully writers and producers into doing things my way, and a lot of times I bullied quite successfully. I have bullied, cajoled, and subverted! I know how to do all those things well but that has been very costly to me and to others. And so I finally had a talk with myself and realized that Luke Spencer belongs to ABC and to whoever is writing and producing GH. And there was a great weight lifted off my back when I accepted that. I will do my best with the material they give me in these next few weeks and I will fight to make it honorable but, at the end of the day, I am a color on the palette. I am not the painter. And I am finally at peace with that. [Laughs] God, it only took me 37 years on this show to figure that out!

Is there ever a moment where you reflect on your decision to leave and think, "What the f--- have I done?" 

There was. But not since March. The closer it comes, there is less anxiety and dread at seeing the end of the tunnel and it's more like nirvana because my life is now wide open.

You're a man of the theater! You know that the third act is where all the really good s--t happens. 

That's what I keep telling myself—that I'm about to raise the curtain on my third act. It's a blessing that I can make this choice. I don't have any ex-wives or errant children to support. What I've got is all mine. And any dread of leaving was softened by Frank Valentini saying, "We'll take you back whenever you want." I am fortunate in that I don't have to work again. I have put my home in L.A. on the market. But work is in my genes. I will rest and reassess for a few months. And I will write. I will be ready with that memoir I keep telling you about. [Laughs] There are just a couple of funerals that have to happen first. You know, it's funny. Success and endurance and survival in this business is all so subjective. The other day I was having lunch at The Grove and a person came up to me and said, "Excuse me. Please don't take this the wrong way but you look like Anthony Geary." [Laughs]. It's my favorite thing anybody has ever said to me!

Spencer Tracy Biography

Spencer Tracy was an iconic Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Boys Town, Inherit the Wind and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Synopsis

Born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Spencer Tracy starred in film classics like Father of the Bride, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nurembergand Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He frequently collaborated with actress Katharine Hepburn, with whom he was romantically linked. Tracy ultimately received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. He died in Beverly Hills, California, on June 10, 1967.

Early Life

Over his long career as an actor, Spencer Tracy played an impressive range of roles, from prisoners to priests. He managed to make each character seem believable and genuine. For more than three decades, Tracy displayed his tremendous talents on the big screen.

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born on April 5, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in Milwaukee. The youngest son of an Irish-American sales manager for a truck company, Tracy was raised Catholic, and both he and his older brother Carroll served as altar boys. The young Tracy got into trouble early on for missing school and getting into fights. According to some accounts, he went to at least 15 different elementary schools.

At the age of 18, Tracy enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I with friend Pat O'Brien. He never saw any action, having spent most of his time stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. After the war, Tracy spent several semesters at Ripon College, where he discovered acting. He then made his way to New York City, where he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Stage and Film Work

Tracy spent much of the 1920s as a stage actor. In 1922, he made his Broadway debut alongside Pat O'Brien as a robot in R.U.R., a science fiction play by Kavel Capek. He also appeared in the short-lived comedy A Royal Fandango the following year. Tracy continued to appear in both comedies and dramas over the next few years, both in New York and elsewhere. In 1930, he gave a star-making performance as a convicted killer in the Broadway drama The Last Mile. Director John Ford saw Tracy in the production and wanted him for his film Up The River (1930), which also featured Humphrey Bogart.

Under now contract with Fox, Tracy made a string of films from 1930 to 1935. He was often cast as a tough guy or criminal. With 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, Tracy began to attract positive notices from critics. The film, which also starred Bette Davis, failed to draw much of an audience. He earned raves forThe Power and the Glory. Written by Preston Sturges, the film examined the life of wealthy businessman (Tracy).

Tracy developed a reputation as a heavy drinker off screen. Married to Louise Treadmill since 1923, he was also known to have extramarital affairs with other performers, including Loretta Young. Tracy may have broken his marriage vows, but he and Louise never divorced. The couple had two children, John and Susan.

Making the move to MGM in 1935, Tracy started to achieve box office success. His first hit as a leading man came with 1936 revenge drama Fury, directed by Fritz Lang. Tracy scored again later that same year with San Francisco, co-starring with Clark Gable in this disaster tale.

In 1937, Tracy achieved both commercial and critical success with Captains Courageous. Audiences and critics alike praised his performance as a Portuguese fisherman, and the film brought him his first Academy Award. Tracy picked up another Academy Award the following year for his portrayal of Father Flanagan in Boys Town.

In 1942, Tracy first appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year. The pair had tremendous chemistry, both on and off-screen. Some have commented that Tracy had finally met his match in Hepburn, and their talent for verbal sparring was dazzling in their films together. Many of their projects involved a battle-of-the-sexes theme, such as Adam's Rib (1949). In this film, the pair played married lawyers on opposite sides of a court battle.

By the mid-1950s, Tracy's career seemed to slow down. One memorable role from this time was Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). He played a one-armed man searching for the truth in a small desert town. Directed by John Sturges, the film also featured Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Tracy's work with Hepburn on the comedy Desk Set (1957) was another popular picture from this time.

Final Years

Tracy started the 1960s with several strong leading roles. With Inherit the Wind (1960), he brought a fictionalized version of the renowned lawyer Clarence Darrow to the big screen. The film, based on an earlier play, explored the infamous Scopes Trial of 1925, which was a legal battle over the teaching of evolution. In Judgment at Nuremburg (1961), he played an American judge presiding in a trial of his German counterparts after World War II.

In his later years, Tracy reportedly became moody and difficult and suffered from health problems, all of which affected his ability to work. In 1967, Tracy filmed his last movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which also starred Hepburn and actor Sidney Poitier. The movie explored the subject of interracial dating. Shortly after the filming was complete, Tracy died of a heart attack on June 10, 1967, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. Hepburn had been with him during his final days.

Remembered as an actor's actor, Tracy had the amazing ability to make his performances seem effortless. He made an unlikely box office draw, with his stocky form and craggy face. Yet still he became one of Hollywood's most bankable names during his peak. Tracy is also forever linked to another great star, Katharine Hepburn. From their meeting on the set of Woman of the Yearin 1941, they remained a couple until Tracy's death.

American National Biography Online

Tracy, Spencer (5 Apr. 1900-10 June 1967), actor, was born Spencer Bonaventure Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of John Edward Tracy, the general sales manager of the Sterling Motor Truck Company, and Caroline Brown. Known for his professionalism, naturalness, and powers of concentration as an actor, Tracy lacked self-discipline and direction in his childhood and adolescence. Truant and often expelled from school for fighting, he shunned the middle-class setting of his family's Prospect Avenue home and ran with the poorer Irish of South Milwaukee. As a teen, Tracy acted out plays he had written for a basement theater in his parents' second home in West Milwaukee. Older brother Carroll would break up the inevitable fights when fellow actors and young patrons complained about the quality of the scripts.

Tracy attended Marquette Academy in 1917, befriending Bill O'Brien (Pat O'Brien), who became a fellow actor after taking the name Pat. The two joined the U.S. Navy to get in on World War I. They trained at Great Lakes, and Tracy was in the Norfolk navy yard when the war ended. Tracy returned to Marquette under a serviceman's scholarship and transferred to the Northwestern Military Academy in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, still uncertain about his future. In 1921 he enrolled at Ripon College as a premedical student, joined the debate team, and flourished. As the lead in the commencement play, The Truth, he found he could act. That fall he played the heroic prisoner in The Valiant and began talking about a career in acting. Tracy and O'Brien entered the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York on a serviceman's scholarship and pinched pennies by dining on water and pretzels, while studying for a life in the theater.

Their first jobs were as $15-a-week robots in Karel Capek's science-fantasy R.U.R. that opened at New York's Garrick Theatre on 9 October 1922. During the run Tracy got a small speaking part and a raise to $20 a week. O'Brien remembered that even at this early stage, Tracy's unusual gifts as an actor were apparent. Reviewers later described Tracy's acting as so effortless it appeared as if the lines occurred to him spontaneously. But O'Brien knew better. Tracy would pace their one-room apartment, going over and over each line in the play, like a debater memorizing an argument. Costar Katharine Hepburn and scriptwriter Ruth Gordon observed no actor could get inside a part like Tracy and make the lines his own personal vocabulary.

Tracy honed his craft with the Leonard Wood stock company of White Plains, New York. By the time the Wood Players had closed their run in July 1923, Tracy had fallen in love with the company's leading lady, Louise Treadwell. She found him "earnest" and "attentive." The two joined the Stuart Walker stock company in Cincinnati, and in September 1923 they were married. Spencer supported Ethel Barrymore in Broadway's A Royal Fandango and then worked with Louise in a series of stock companies. Louise gave birth to their son on 26 June 1924.

During Tracy's fall and winter commitment at the Montauk Theatre in Brooklyn, the couple learned that their son was deaf. The news devastated Tracy and, according to some observers, activated the uncertainty, restlessness, and fear of failure that plagued much of his professional life. The Tracys lived the itinerant lives of all stock players, with Louise retreating to Milwaukee from time to time to live with Spencer's mother. These separations increased Tracy's feelings of powerlessness and encouraged his self-defeating bouts of drinking. Tracy got good notices as the lead in George M. Cohan's The Song and Dance Man, a part Cohan had originated on Broadway. However, Tracy was fired when he appeared drunk for an evening performance and was rehired only when a suitable replacement could not be found.

By the fall of 1926 Tracy's frustrations were professional as well as personal. He had been in more than fifty plays, many in small towns and for obscure companies. He needed to make a better salary and provide a suitable home for his wife and their son. The anxiety made him drink, which deepened his guilt. Cohan hired Tracy for a supporting role in Yellow, a three-act melodrama that was to open at the National Theatre on Broadway. During rehearsal Cohan, speaking before the entire company, said, "Spencer Tracy, you're the best damn actor I ever saw." The remark and the play's 135-performance run helped establish Tracy as an actor on the rise.

Cohan wrote Tracy a significant part for The Baby Cyclone, which ran 184 performances on Broadway, and in the spring of 1928 Tracy toured in Cohan'sWhispering Friends. Other Broadway parts followed, some successful, others not, but each furthering Tracy's growing reputation as one of the finest actors in the theater. His performance as Killer Mears in The Last Mile, which opened on Broadway on 13 February 1930, was a smash. John Ford offered Tracy the lead in a prison picture at Fox, Up the River (1930). Fox executives liked the rushes and offered Tracy a contract. During the next three years he appeared in sixteen films, establishing himself as one of the most gifted, if troubled, actors in Hollywood.

Tracy got good notices in invariably inferior material during his five years at Fox Studios. His best performances occurred while he was on loan to other studios. He costarred with Bette Davis in 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) for Warner Bros. and appeared with Loretta Young in Columbia's A Man's Castle(1933). Slated for another potboiler for Fox, he disappeared on a bender on the eve of production. When given an opportunity to do a Preston Sturges script forThe Power and the Glory (Fox, 1933), he turned in a performance critics agreed was "one of the fullest characterizations ever achieved on the screen." When Tracy was loaned to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the lead in The Show-Off (1934), he impressed Irving Thalberg, head of production. When he returned to Fox for another inferior production, Tracy promptly tore apart a set.

By April 1935 Fox executives had had enough and terminated his contract. At Thalberg's insistence, MGM immediately signed Tracy to a seven-year contract. Over the next twenty years Tracy made forty films, all but two of them at MGM. His brother Carroll became his business manager. The Tracys moved into a twelve-acre ranch Spencer had purchased in the San Fernando Valley, and a daughter was born. Tracy's work and off-screen behavior reflected this change in circumstances. He was widely praised for his role in Fury (1936), a film about mob rule, and he received an Oscar nomination for San Francisco (1936), his first role as a priest. His deft comedy in Libeled Lady (1936) helped make the film a smash. But Victor Fleming's Captains Courageous (1937) was Tracy's breakthrough film. Reviewers were uniformly ecstatic over Tracy's characterization of a Portuguese fisherman who rescues a boy at sea. The role won him an Oscar. He received another Oscar the following year for his portrayal of Father Edward J. Flanagan in Boys Town (1938). Tracy returned to 20th Century-Fox for Stanley and Livingstone (1939) an established superstar whose work brought critical praise and meant big returns at the box office.

Three films in 1940, Northwest Passage, Edison, the Man, and Boom Town, his third and final film with Clark Gable, placed Tracy among the top five Hollywood money-makers. Although Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) and Tortilla Flat (1942) did not match his earlier successes, Woman of the Year (1942), his first teaming with Katharine Hepburn, was a critical and box office bonanza and made Tracy the most popular actor in Hollywood. A Guy Named Joe(1943), his fifth film with Fleming, and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944) continued a ten-year pattern of classic performances.

Tracy's reluctant return to the stage in the unsuccessful The Rugged Path (1946) and his work in a series of undistinguished films during the late 1940s failed to tarnish his reputation. Adam's Rib (1949), his sixth pairing with Hepburn, and Father of the Bride (1950) showed his comfortable transition to middle age.Pat and Mike (1952), another Ruth Gordon-Garson Kanin gem with Tracy and Hepburn, and The Actress (1953) were performances of a professional finally at the height of his powers. During this period Louise founded the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles to help the hearing impaired. Spencer, though estranged from Louise, participated fully in the clinic's fundraising.

Tracy's final film at MGM, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), was a major success and won him his fifth Oscar nomination. It coincided, however, with the collapse of the Hollywood studio system following a court decision to strip the studios of their profitable theater chains. As a result, studios could no longer afford to keep their stars under contract. Superstars like Tracy were left to their own devices in picking scripts and directors. Tracy, now graying and showing his age, seemed uncertain about his role as an independent. His next film, The Mountain (Paramount, 1956), flopped, and Desk Set (20th Century-Fox, 1957), with Hepburn, seemed a script beneath their abilities. The Old Man and the Sea (Warner Bros., 1958) drew a mixed critical reaction, and The Last Hurrah(Columbia, 1958), directed by John Ford, drew critical raves but small audiences.

Tracy had every reason to wonder after the financial flop of Inherit the Wind (United Artists, 1960), his first film with director Stanley Kramer, whether he had aged beyond his audience. Critics were certain he had something left, but it took the all-star Judgment at Nuremberg (United Artists, 1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (United Artists, 1963), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Columbia, 1967) to confirm Tracy's superstar status in warmly received films across four decades.

Tracy died in Beverly Hills. The years since his death have focused on his 25-year romance with frequent costar Katharine Hepburn and his long struggle with alcoholism. Nearly lost among these topics has been the greatness of his career as a film actor. Contemporaries considered Tracy the greatest film actor America had yet produced, and during his lifetime none was more honored. Two Academy Awards, nine Oscar nominations, two best-acting awards from the National Board of Review, the Golden Globe Award for best actor, the best actor award from the Cannes Film Festival, and the best actor award from the British Academy testify to Tracy's unique and remarkable gifts. Four years after his death 200 filmmakers polled by Daily Variety chose Tracy as the best actor of the sound era. Costars were often in awe of his capacities before the camera and frequently fought for the opportunity to work with him.

Anthony Geary ‘General Hospital’ Exit: Luke and Lucky Spencer Reunite, the Rivalry Between Laura and Tracy Continues [Watch]

When Anthony Geary announced on May 8 that he was leaving his role as Luke Spencer on the long-running daytime TV soap "General Hospital" after 28 years, fans were crushed.

The show's devoted viewers have been eager to learn details about Geary's last episodes and exit.

On Wednesday, TVLine's Michael Ausiello dished on Geary's last "General Hospital" episodes. He said that fans may need tissues for the moment when Luke and Lucky Spencer are reunited.

Genie Francis, who has played Geary's onscreen wife, Laura Spencer, for most of the last four decades, told Ausiello that watching Geary act opposite Jonathan Jackson, who plays Lucky, in final scenes was emotionally riveting.

"There's some amazing scenes between Tony and Jonathan," she told TVLine. "I stood at the monitor and couldn't move, couldn't leave."

"General Hospital" fans know that in recent episodes Luke and Laura's son Lucky was kidnapped. The fact that father and son will be reunited may come as some relief.

The Wrap also spoke with Francis on Wednesday and uncovered even more spoilers.

When asked if she knew anything about Luke's exit story, France told The Wrap that she had no spoilers.

"I don't have any hints for you, because I don't know myself," she said. "Which is nice, because I don't have to sit here telling lies to you. I'd rather not know."

The daytime soap star also said she does not know what's next for Laura following Luke's exit. She suspects Laura "will be in Port Charles, because that's where her whole family is." She added that may change, however, if the show writers find something more interesting to do with Laura.

Laura broke up the engagement party of her former husband and his fiancée, Tracy Quartermaine, sparking a fierce rivalry. The bad blood between the women isn't changing with Luke's exit, Francis reveals.

"I mean, Tracy's gotta hate Laura with a fiery passion right now! Don't you think? She's gotta just hate her! I think Laura better duck and cover, man," Francis said. "I think Laura should be wearing a flak jacket. Which is great. Because already there's a relationship there that's gonna be very, very actable, and very writeable as well," she said.

There have been rumors Geary's exit may have something to do with him not getting along with Francis. According to the actress, the reports are exaggerated.

"I would say that we're getting along beautifully and that we're both enjoying this time very, very much," she said. "We have -- I don't know, what is it? -- 38 years together. Don't tell me anybody who's had 38 years together [hasn't had] a couple of run-ins with each other -- if they're saying they didn't, they're full of sh*t. So, yeah, we're doing very well with each other now, and there's a lot of love and a lot of good feelings about this ending."