{"product_id":"9780307262899","title":"Spencer Tracy: A Biography","description":"\u003cp\u003e“The best goddamned actor I’ve ever seen!”—George M. Cohan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis full name was Spencer Bonaventure Tracy. He was called “The Gray Fox” by Frank Sinatra; other actors\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ecalled him the “The Pope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSpencer Tracy’s image on-screen was that of a self-reliant man whose sense of rectitude toward others was matched by his sense of humor toward himself. Whether he was Father Flanagan of \u003ci\u003eBoys Town\u003c\/i\u003e, Clarence Darrow of\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eInherit the Wind,\u003c\/i\u003e or the crippled war veteran in \u003ci\u003eBad Day at Black Rock\u003c\/i\u003e, Tracy was forever seen as a pillar of strength.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his several comedy roles opposite Katharine Hepburn (\u003ci\u003eWoman of the Year\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAdam’s Rib\u003c\/i\u003e among them) or in \u003ci\u003eFather of the Bride\u003c\/i\u003e with Elizabeth Taylor, Tracy was the sort of regular American guy one could depend on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow James Curtis, acclaimed biographer of Preston Sturges (“Definitive” —\u003ci\u003eVariety\u003c\/i\u003e), James Whale, and W. C. Fields (“By far the fullest, fairest, and most touching account . . . we have yet had. Or are likely to have” —Richard Schickel, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review, \u003c\/i\u003ecover review), gives us the life of one of the most revered screen actors of his generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCurtis writes of Tracy’s distinguished career, his deep Catholicism, his devoted relationship to his wife, his drinking that got him into so much trouble, and his twenty-six-year-long bond with his partner on-screen and off, Katharine Hepburn. Drawing on Tracy’s personal papers and writing with the full cooperation of Tracy’s daughter, Curtis tells the rich story of the brilliant but haunted man at the heart of the legend. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe see him from his boyhood in Milwaukee; given over to Dominican nuns (“They drill that religion in you”); his years struggling in regional shows and stock (Tracy had a photographic memory and an instinct for inhabiting a character from within); acting opposite his future wife, Louise Treadwell; marrying and having two children, their son, John, born deaf.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe see Tracy’s success on Broadway, his turning out mostly forgettable programmers with the Fox Film Corporation, and going to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and getting the kinds of roles that had eluded him in the past—a streetwise priest opposite Clark Gable in \u003ci\u003eSan Francisco;\u003c\/i\u003e a screwball comedy, \u003ci\u003eLibeled Lady\u003c\/i\u003e; Kipling’s classic of the sea, \u003ci\u003eCaptains Courageous\u003c\/i\u003e. Three years after arriving at MGM, Tracy became America’s top male star.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe see how Tracy embarked on a series of affairs with his costars . . . making \u003ci\u003eNorthwest Passage\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, \u003c\/i\u003ewhich\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ebrought Ingrid Bergman into his life. By the time the unhappy shoot was over, Tracy, looking to do a comedy, made \u003ci\u003eWoman of the Year\u003c\/i\u003e. Its unlikely costar: Katharine Hepburn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe see Hepburn making Tracy her life’s project—protecting and sustaining him in the difficult job of being a top-tier movie star.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd we see Tracy’s wife, Louise, devoting herself to studying how deaf children could be taught to communicate orally with the hearing and speaking world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCurtis writes that Tracy was ready to retire when producer-director Stanley Kramer recruited him for \u003ci\u003eInherit the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e—a collaboration that led to \u003ci\u003eJudgment at Nuremberg, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,\u003c\/i\u003e and Tracy’s final picture, \u003ci\u003eGuess Who’s Coming to Dinner \u003c\/i\u003e. . . \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rich, vibrant portrait—the most intimate and telling yet of this complex man considered by many to be \u003ci\u003ethe\u003c\/i\u003e actor’s actor.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47009798815984,"sku":"9780307262899","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780307262899_p0.jpg?v=1763671518","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780307262899","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}