87 thoughts on “Spencer Tracy Movies”

1. Lee Phelps appeared in 12 films with Spence. George Chandler, Charles Sullivan and Harry Strang were with him in 10.

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   1. Hey Dan….Lee Phelps was a very busy man. Not aware of the three in the 10 Spencer movies. Thanks for the information.

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2. STEVE/JOHN

   1 I really do feel that a close inspection of Wikipedia’s poster for Thirty Seconds over Tokyo should be mandatory for the pair of you. Spencer Tracy was keen to play the prestigious supporting role of Col Jimmy Doolittle and anyway he wanted to do everything he could to assist his protege Van Johnson who had the lead role in the film along with Robert Walker.

   2 Even that fierce old billing warrior Tracy accepted that it would have been disproportionate for his name to come first in that movie so Johnson and Walker are first named – BUT – Tracy’s name is in far larger lettering than theirs and in fact matches the size and bold type of the title of the film whereas the names of Johnson and Walker are in small faint letters.

   3 I did not like Tracy as a person as I considered him a contrary and nasty s**t but boy was that man a true star! – the Real Deal as the saying goes. Whilst Gable was nicknamed the King of Hollywood in my own mind I always nicknamed Spence The King of Billing and today his poster live on as a testament to the Giant that he was in that respect.

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3. Hey Bob…..good comparison of Depp, Sinatra and Travolta. I agree 100% they are very fickle indeed.

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4. Hey Bob….I wonder if Tracy and Bogart fought over billing when the were making Up the River in 1930. Too bad they did not make another movie after they became screen legends. Thanks for sharing this billing information….your knowledge on this matter is truly impressive.

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5. In view of the immense importance of this issue to the entire movie industry I’m sorry that I did not mention it more in previous posts.
   WIKIPEDIA MOVIES BILLING PART 2 – COMPETITIVE BILLING
   When making Strange Cargo (1940) Joan Crawford knew that Gable was now as big a name at the box office as she was thanks to Gone with the Wind. But her competitive nature was challenged when someone unwisely reminded her that only rival Norma Shearer had gotten top billing over Gable for Idiot’s Delight, made the previous year. What was good enough for Norma was good enough for Joan, who lobbied for – and got – top billing in Strange Cargo. Gable only shrugged and went about his business. Both of their names were above the title, what difference did it make? It made a lot of difference to Joan, not so much due to pettiness or megalomania, but rather because she saw any sign of diminishment as a sign that she was slipping. Although Gable may have been her nominal leading man in so many of her early movies, everyone knew that he had been supporting her, in what the public perceived as “Joan Crawford movies.” His status in Hollywood may have changed, but hers had not. She would not be “sup-porting” him in Strange Cargo – or any other movie. His name could go above the title, but it could not go above hers.

   Spencer Tracy was originally cast to play the lead opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours (1955) but when neither actor would relinquish top billing, Tracy withdrew and was replaced by Fredric March, who took second billing to Bogart.

   Spencer Tracy would also later back out of co-starring in the 1965 film The Cincinnati Kid when he learned he would have to take second billing behind the film’s star Steve McQueen. The role Tracy had been cast in went instead to Edward G. Robinson, whom McQueen had idolized from childhood. Cary Grant had been offered the Tracy part before Robinson but he too would not accept second billing to McQueen

   Gene Hackman had his name completely removed from the posters of The Firm (1993) rather than have it subordinated to Tom Cruise. Hackman is mentioned only on the screen. However he had in 1978 for Superman the Movie secured equal above the title billing after his idol Marlon Brando despite both men having supporting roles and the star of the film Christopher Reeve was billed under the title. This was a double compensation for Hackman who said he had taken the Lex Luthor part only so as he could be in a “Brando movie”

   As both Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis wanted top billing for Boeing Boeing (1965), their animated names appeared in a spinning, circular fashion in front of an airplane engine’s rotating nacelle.[6] . For the posters, the names made an X, Lewis’ going up from the bottom left and Curtis’ going down from the upper left

   For the Ocean’s Eleven film and sequels the producers wanted Clooney to be the first name a casual viewer of the advertising would see.

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   1. Hi Bob

      I see you put my name up for this being directed at, so my reaction–very interesting stuff. I would dispute a couple of points. Whatever Joan thought, Gable was as big, and in fact much bigger, at the box office long before Gone with the Wind. Mutiny on the Bounty, San Francisco, Saratoga, and Test Pilot were all bigger at the box office than any film Joan had appeared in or would ever appear in. And Gable’s nickname of “The King” (which I believe he never liked) came from winning a poll conducted by Ed Sullivan in 1938 with 20 million fans voting. Sorry to mention this, but Myrna Loy won that poll’s female side as The Queen of the Movies.

      I don’t believe these billing issues are quite as definitive as you feel. There are all kinds of factors involved, but one is that a squeaking wheel gets the grease. Doesn’t make that wheel more important than all the others.

      Gable, for example, didn’t seem to care that much about billing, at least in the 1930’s. He was billed under not only Crawford, but Garbo, Shearer, John Barrymore, Hayes, Laughton, and Davies, that I know of. He was bigger at the box office than all of them through the thirties.

      There were others who didn’t seem to care about billing that much. Katherine Hepburn for one. Henry Fonda for another. Hepburn and Fonda were billed under other stars a lot, but when all is said and done, they are going to make most short lists of the top classic era stars, such as the AFI (which had Hepburn #1 among females, and Fonda #6 among males)

      Back to Gable. He wasn’t inclined to dispute billing with Crawford. But what if he had? What if he said, “Give me top billing or I walk the instant my contract expires.” My guess is MGM would have acquiesced in giving him top billing over Crawford after around 1935 or so.

      Just a question. Elizabeth Taylor was given top billing over Marlon Brando in Reflections in a Golden Eye. In your eyes, does this make Taylor a bigger star than Brando?

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      1. Hey John…..good points throughout this comment. It looks like I will be updating our Gary Cooper page soon….looks like his career box office grosses is rising again. I think billing only becomes an issue when two or more legends appear in a movie together….in the end it does really matter …because…they are all legends. That being said it is fun to read all the billing fights that Bob has been collecting over the years. As always thanks for the visit and the comment.

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      2. HI JOHN
         1 If Gable didn’t care about billing why did he have his contract stipulate that he was guaranteed top billing? One report that I read said that he was growing tired of being forced to take 2nd billing to ‘prima donas’

         2 Elizabeth Taylor WAS bigger than Marlon Brando when Reflections in a Golden Eye was made. The Godfather probably reversed that though.

         3 I think though that back in the classic era it’s largely academic what the stars wanted unless they had a contract as the producers decided what billing would be in their best interests. That’s happening even today to some extent as the George Clooney and Johnny Depp example that Bruce and I have given demonstrate.

         4 Anyway we don’t want to keep straying into Groundhog Day so let’s agree to differ because as I’ve said before “A man convinced against his will remains unconvinced still.” For example they used to believe the world was flat and they would fall off it if they went near the edge.

         5 Great chatting to you though as always and I hope you have a good new year.

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