Spencer Tracy, pilnībā Spencer Bonaventure Tracy, (dzimis 1900. gada 5. aprīlī, Milvokī, Viskonsīnā, ASV - miris 1967. gada 10. jūnijā, Beverlihilsā, Kalifornijā), rupji izcirsta amerikāņu filmu zvaigzne, kura bija viena no Holivudas lielākajām vīriešu kārtas lomām un pirmā aktieris saņems divas Kinoakadēmijas balvas pēc kārtas par labāko aktieri.
Viktorīna
Kino skola: Fakts vai daiļliteratūra?
Filmu veidošanā galvenais taustiņš ir apgaismojums.
Tā kā jaunietis Tracy aizrāvās ar skolas darbiem un 17 gadu vecumā pievienojās ASV Jūras spēkiem. Neskatoties uz viņa nepatiku pret akadēmiķiem, viņš galu galā kļuva par iepriekšēju studentu Viskonsinas Riponas koledžā. Atrodoties tur, viņš klausījās un ieguva lomu iesākuma spēlē un atklāja, ka darbojas vairāk kā viņa, nevis zāles. 1922. gadā viņš devās uz Ņujorku, kur kopā ar savu draugu Patu O'Braienu iestājās Amerikas Dramatiskās mākslas akadēmijā. Tajā pašā gadā abi vīrieši debitēja kopīgi Brodvejā, spēlējot nelielas lomas kā roboti Karela Čapeka RUR. Nākamos astoņus gadus Tracy atlēca starp īsfilmu Brodvejas lugu galvenajām lomām un vadošajām lomām reģionālajās akciju sabiedrībās, beidzot sasniedzot stardom, kad viņš tika nominēts kā nāves rindas ieslodzītais Killer Mears 1930. gada Brodvejas hit The Last Mile. Pēc tam viņš parādījās divos Vitaphone īsos priekšmetos,bet viņš bija neapmierināts ar sevi un pesimistiski noskaņots par savām iespējām ekrāna izskaņā.
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 his performance as the Portuguese fisherman Manuel in Captains Courageous (1937) and for his role as the priest who founded the eponymous facility in 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 Roman 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), Desk Set (1957), and Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), which was completed three weeks before Tracy’s death.
