Spencer Tracy Movies

Want to know the best Spencer Tracy movies?  How about the worst Spencer Tracy movies?  Curious about Spencer Tracy’s box office grosses or which Spencer Tracy movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Spencer Tracy movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Fox Films signed Spencer Tracy (1900-1967) to his first movie contract. His first movie was Up the River, directed by John Ford and co-starred another newcomer, Humphrey Bogart.  For the next five years, Tracy appeared in nearly five films a year. Most of these films were low budget films that were forgotten as soon as they were produced. Just how bad were this movies? After making Dante’s Inferno in 1935, Tracy’s contract was terminated. Being fired was Spencer Tracy’s big break, as it allowed him to sign a contract with MGM. At MGM, Spencer Tracy became one of the greatest actors of all-time. This page has every movie he made from 1935 to 1967.

His IMDb page shows 78 acting credits from 1930-1967. This page will rank 60 Spencer Tracy movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and many of his early Fox Films’ movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Spencer Tracy, Judy Holliday and Katharine Hepburn in 1949's Adam's Rib
Spencer Tracy, Judy Holliday and Katharine Hepburn in 1949’s Adam’s Rib

Spencer Tracy Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Spencer Tracy Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Spencer Tracy movies by co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort Spencer Tracy movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Spencer Tracy movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Spencer Tracy movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Spencer Tracy movie received.
  • Sort Spencer Tracy movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Use the sort and search buttons to make this table very interactive.  For example type in “Katharine Hepburn” in the search box…and the Hepburn/Tracy movies pop right up

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Spencer Tracy Table

  1. Thirty-one Spencer Tracy movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 51.66% of his movies listed. How the West Was Won (1963) was his biggest box office ht just barely holding off 1936’s San Francisco.
  2. An average Spencer Tracy movie grosses $149.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  43 of Spencer Tracy’s movies are rated as good movies…or 71.66% of his movies. Adam’s Rib (1949) is his highest rated movie while Plymouth Adventure (1952) was his lowest rated movie.
  4. Thirty Spencer Tracy movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 50.00% of his movies.
  5. Twelve Spencer Tracy movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 20.00% of his movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00.  42 Spencer Tracy movies scored higher than that average….or 70.00% of his movies.  Boys Town (1938) got the the highest UMR Score while Up the River (1930) got the lowest UMR Score.
Spencer Tracy in 1963's It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Spencer Tracy in 1963’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Possibly Interesting Facts About Sir Spencer Tracy

1. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Tracy ninth among the Greatest Male Actors of All-Time.

2. He received 9 Oscar(®) nominations for Best Actor.…..he won twice…for 1937’s Captain Courageous and 1938’s Boys Town.

3. Spencer Tracy joins Luise Rainer, Jason Robards, Katharine Hepburn and Tom Hanks as the only actors to win back to back acting Oscars®.

4. Spencer Tracy had to drop out of the movies, Cheyenne Autumn and The Cincinnati Kid, due to health issues, both times his part was played by Edward G. Robinson.

5. In the Oscar(®) winning Pixar movie Up, Carl the main character is a combination of Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau….the next time you see Up try and not think of Spencer Tracy whenever Carl is on screen….it can not be done.

6. Turned down Cary Grant’s role in The Philadelphia Story in order to make Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

7. Along with Katharine Hepburn, visited an ailing Humphrey Bogart almost daily as he was dying of cancer…..while Katharine Hepburn was with Spencer Tracy on the night he died.  Tracy died only 17 days after filming of 1967’s Guess Who`s Coming to Dinner had been completed.

8. Has three films on the American Film Institute`s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are: Captains Courageous (1937) at #94, Boys Town (1938) at #81 and Guess Who`s Coming to Dinner (1967) at #35.

9. The John Tracy Clinic is a private, non-profit education center for infants and preschool children with hearing loss in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Lousie Treadwell Tracy , wife of actor Spencer Tracy, in 1942. It provides free, parent-centered services worldwide. The Clinic has over 60 years of expertise in the spoken language option.

10.  Recently I discovered one awesome Spencer Tracy tribute site.  Highly recommend checking out The Greatest of All Spencer Tracy.  This site has some awesome Spencer Tracy photos, links to Spencer Tracy information and much much more.

Check out Spencer Tracy’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Proof of possibly interesting fact # 5 about Spencer Tracy.

 

For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

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87 thoughts on “Spencer Tracy Movies”

  1. Saw you had updated Spencer Tracy’s page.

    Thanks!

    Regarding copying and pasting names from TCM forums, I think you can do that from now on regardless, except one in particular – whose name you know. He is a big fan of this actor.

    Tracy was the polar opposite of Brando.

    Yet – he was the Brando of his generation in that all his peers loved him and wanted to act just like him. He was their acting idol.

    So in that sense, Spencer Tracy and Brando were alike.

    Both of them also belived in human rights.

    Regarding how many films I have seen: 34 of his films in the first table.

    21 movies in the second table.

    I love Mr. Tracy.

    Reply

    1. FLORA
      1 There are I think some astute observations in your current post on Spence as the following extract from the International Database illustrates:

      “Brando eclipsed the reputation of other great actors circa 1950 such as Frederick March and Paul Muni. Only the lustre of Spencer Tracy’s reputation hasn’t dimmed when seen in the starlight thrown off by Brando.”

      2 As you suggest they were both Great Civil Rights supporters.*** Indeed some historians have suggested that Spence’s reason for allegedly disliking Brando so much was that he saw Marlon as a competitor not just for the Tracy acting crown but also for his reputation up until then as THE screen liberal.

      3 One other thing they had in common was that they were two of what the historian David Shipman called “the great actor/stars.” In other words stars who were not just admired for their acting but who also had box office pull. Muni and March were great actors but I would not consider them great box office stars. Muni though was regarded as having what the studios used to fondly call ‘prestige’ just like Larry Oliver in more modern times.

      4 ***Marlon refused the Oscar for Godpop because he considered the Indians were being mistreated by the Government. You probably know he sent an Indian Girl along to the Oscar ceremony to refuse on his behalf. I saw an interview with her recently and she is of course an elderly woman now. She was asked how she felt when she got up on that stage. She said she was terrified not just by being in front of a large crowd of VIPs but also because John Wayne tried to gatecrash the side entrance of the stage to drag her off and it took several large bouncers to restrain him. I always like to get a Duke story in if it fits the context of the topic at hand.

      Best wishes BOB

      Reply

    2. Hey Flora…this update actually took a lot of time. But now that it is done….I am glad that it turned out so well….thank you MGM ledgers. Turns out I have lots of better resources since when I wrote this page back in Hub days. So in the end I feel this page is a lot more accurated when it comes to box office information.

      My tally is at 26 now. Seems I have been tracking down lots of Tracy movies since I wrote the page originally. Good comparisons on Brando and Tracy.

      Thanks for checking out our updated Tracy page.

      Reply

  2. I love Spencer Tracy, but for an entirely different reason. He and his wife founded the John Tracy Clinic after their son was born deaf: thanks to their foundation, my son can listen and speak.

    Of course, I love his movies, too!

    Reply

    1. That is awesome leahlefler that his foundation is still helping people today. I am going to add the John Tracy Clinic to my hub facts. Thanks for sharing that awesome story and for checking out my Spencer Tracy page.

      Reply

      1. There is a great history on the JTC foundation’s website (http://www.jtc.org/about-us/history) – Louise Tracy spearheaded the effort to teach her son to speak. It is an absolutely amazing, world class foundation and was funded by the Tracy family (along with other benefactors, including Walt Disney).

        Reply

        1. Thanks I checked out that link and what a wonderful story and foundation….I added it to my interesting facts on my hub…#11….thanks for sharing the information and the link.

          Reply

          1. Spencer Tracy was a great actor, and his family were great advocates and sponsors of deaf education! I love your hub- it is very well written and the layout is wonderful.

    1. Hey Carolyn…the Hepburn/Tracy team was one of the greatest in film history. Thanks for the visit.

      Reply

  4. Hi cogerson; Tracey is one of the greatest–if not THE greatest–actor in movie history. A real legend. Off-screen, from what hear, he seems to have been a complete jerk (Infidelity, heavy drinking, a tendency to be abusive to the women in his life), but on camera he was magnificent.

    I read there was a lot of argument over who should get star billing in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” until Tracey was cast and everybody agreed he should go to the top of the list, while everyone else was listed alphabetically.

    His “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” film did pale in comparison the March’s oscar-winning version, but I’m glad he didn’t take the role in “the Philadelphia Story” because Cary Grant was so good in it.

    And speaking of Frederick March, my favorite Tracey performance was in “Inherit the Wind” where he co-starred with March. Two incredible actors giving amazing performances. I’ve heard that other actors around the studio would gather to watch the filming of “Inherit the Wind” just to see those two acting titans together. (March is another of those forgotten masters of his craft.)

    Great actor. Great page.

    Rob

    Reply

  5. Now I want to see some Spencer Tracy movies – what a great actor he was! Inherit the Wind was my favorite and Tracy’s role as Clarence Darrow was excellent. Of course Mad World is my favorite too – we used to watch that one every New Year’s Day in order to begin the year laughing.

    Reply

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