Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy, one of the most gifted and versatile actors of the twentieth century, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 5, 1900, to Irish Catholic truck salesman John Tracy and his wife, Caroline Brown Tracy.
Not an enthusiastic student, Spencer tried but failed to convince his parents to let him quit school at the age of sixteen to go to work. But in 1917 he leapt at the opportunity to quit school, join the navy, and serve his country in World War I. He was discharged without ever leaving the Norfolk Navy Yard, where he first served, and used his military education benefits to enroll in Ripon College with a focus on premed. Joining the debating team at Ripon led to his interest in acting, and when he successfully auditioned for the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he finally found a passion that was exciting and fulfilling enough to make him a good student for the first time in his life.
He met a young actress named Louise Treadwell when he joined a stock theater company, and they fell in love and were married in September 1923. Nine months later their son John was born. They were devastated to discover that he was deaf, but they made it their mission to help him lead a normal, happy life. (In fact, they also made it their mission to help as many others like John as possible and, in 1943, founded the still thriving John Tracy Clinic, an education center for hearing-impaired infants and preschool children.) They also had a daughter, Susie, who was born in 1932.
Spencer was performing in a play called The Last Mile in 1930 when the legendary director John Ford discovered him and promptly hired him to costar in Ford’s upcoming film Up the River with another newcomer named Humphrey Bogart. The Tracy family moved to Hollywood in November 1931, and Spencer appeared in a whirlwind sixteen films during his three-year contract with Fox Films before he was signed by MGM, the most powerful and esteemed studio in the business at the time. It was through his films for MGM that he was able to prove his renowned versatility, moving brilliantly and effortlessly from comedic scripts to dramatic works. To no one’s surprise, he made history by being the first to win the Best Actor Oscar two years in a row, in 1937 and 1938.
It was in 1942, while making a film called Woman of the Year, that Spencer met, costarred with, and fell in love with Katharine Hepburn, who was to become his partner both onscreen and off for the rest of his life. His Catholicism prevented him from ever divorcing Louise, but she did agree to a discreet, respectful, permanent separation, thanks to which the Tracy-Hepburn affair managed to proceed without bitterness and sensationalism. He reportedly had affairs with a number of other celebrated actresses over the years, but Katharine rode them out, well aware of Spencer’s frailties and secure in her knowledge that if she simply stayed out of the way, his compulsive wandering eye would satisfy itself and he’d be back.
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn made a total of nine movies together, including his last film, 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. By then Spencer’s health was seriously compromised from years of alcoholism, diabetes, and recurring heart and lung problems, and his shooting schedule on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was limited to the few hours a day he had the stamina to work. On June 10, 1967, seventeen days after filming was completed, Spencer Tracy died of heart failure at his Hollywood home, leaving behind a legacy of almost eighty films, seven Academy Award nominations, and two consecutive Best Actor Oscars.
From Francine
Spencer actually remained earthbound for several years after his death. He was frankly too stubborn to leave Katharine, and he was also reluctant to find out whether God would welcome him after a life in which he felt he’d committed more than his share of sins. He visited Katharine relentlessly, trying to get her attention to let her know he was still there, and because he had no idea that he was dead, he couldn’t understand why she persisted in ignoring him. She sensed his presence countless times, but her Yankee practicality would never allow her to believe in something as intangible as life after death, and she would scold herself for letting the intensity of grieving the loss of him lead her to indulge in such foolish fantasies.
His mother finally retrieved him and brought him to the Other Side. He was relieved to find himself here after a lifetime of being weighed down with the needless threat of hell, and he was also exhilarated to be rid of a body that had caused him more pain in his last years on earth than he admitted to anyone. He had a difficult time at the Scanning Machine watching the pain his personal emotional conflicts caused those around him.
He was proud of his work as an actor except, he says, when he “caught himself at it,” but he regrets that he didn’t excel at the most important role he was ever given, the role of father. To make amends, his frequent visits to your dimension are devoted to special-needs children, who see him and enjoy talking to him, and he loves making them laugh.
He spends most of his time here with his soul mate, Katharine. He was one of the first to meet her when she returned Home, and they promptly returned to their secluded house on the shore, where they enjoy writing plays together for themselves and their actor friends to perform. Spencer also writes historical novels with Ernest Hemingway, a friend from several past lives.
He joyfully greeted his son when John came Home not long ago, and the two of them are very much at peace and love building and sailing boats together. Neither Spencer, John, nor Katharine has plans to incarnate again.
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