Tracy’s first films, beginning with Up the River (1930), with Humphrey Bogart, were mostly “B” gangster pictures for Fox Studios, but he became wildly known in 1933 when he replaced James Cagney (who was fighting with the studio) in 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
with Bette Davis. A number of films followed in rapid succession and though Tracy’s performances were uniformly good, the executives at Fox were often displeased by his unruliness. They weren’t overly concerned when Spencer Tracy moved to MGM in 1935, convinced that he lacked sex appeal.While at MGM, Tracy got off to a promising start with Riff Raff (1936), with
Jean Harlow, but top stardom came with Fritz Lang’s Fury and with the big-budgeted disaster film *San Francisco, with Clark Gable. Both of these films were also made in 1936. Tracy would be nominated for a best actor Oscar a total of nine times in his long and illustrious career (those nominated films are indicated by an * throughout this post) and would win the award twice, both times in the 
1930s. Those wins were in consecutive years, a record for a male star. His first Academy Award was for 1937’s *Captains Courageous and his second was for his role as Father Flanagan in 1938’s *Boys Town. We enjoy both of these films very much, but Captains Courageous is in the spotlight today.Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous tells the tale of young Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew), a spoiled rich kid who falls overboard when he and his
father (Melvyn Douglas) are sailing on a trans-Atlantic luxury liner near The Grand Banks. Harvey is “fished out” of the ocean by Portuguese fisherman, Manuel Fidello, (Spencer Tracy) and taken aboard the fishing schooner, “We’re Here”, which is owned and operated by Captain Disko Troop (Lionel Barrymore). While on board, Harvey learns what it is to work hard without the indulgence he is used to and Manuel teaches him valuable life lessons about friendship, fairness and integrity. The film is one of our favorites from childhood and one we will always remember fondly, although when we were small, we used to think Sp
encer Tracy’s “Manuel” was being played by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. (Tracy has curly, dark hair, wears a cap, and speaks with a similar accent in the film, so we confused him with Chico.) Captains Courageous is a terrific motion picture and one we highly recommend for family viewing, although there are some moments of tragedy. The wonderful cast also includes Mickey Rooney, John Carradine, and Charley Grapewin.With the 1940s, of course, would come Tracy’s pairing with Katharine Hepburn for
their classic films (see our previous post), but those won’t be covered today. Spencer Tracy made many enjoyable films throughout his career and some of our 
favorites include Northwest Passage (1940), with Robert Young; Boom Town (1940), with Clark Gable; 
Edison the Man (1940), with Gene Lockhart; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), with Ingrid Bergman; *Father of the Bride (1950)and its sequel, Father’s Little Dividend (1951), both with Elizabeth Taylor; *Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), with Robert Ryan; *The Old Man and the Sea (1958); *Inherit the Wind (1960), with Fredric March; *Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Burt Lancaster; and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1962), with an all-star comedy cast.
Spencer Tracy made one final film with Katharine Hepburn in 1967 (*G
uess Who’s Coming to Dinner) before he died of a heart attack 17 days after completion of filming. He was 67. During his life, Spencer Tracy fought many “demons”, but his problems never seemed to effect his magnificent screen portrayals except, perhaps, to lend them more depth. He was indeed a legendary performer whose film masterpieces will live on as long as film art endures.**Trivia Question for Today: What musical instrument does Spencer Tracy’s character, Manuel, play in Captains Courageous?
Trivia Answer for Previous Post: In Adam’s Rib, Adam’s nickname for Amanda is “Pinkie” and her nickname for him is “Pinky”.
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