Spencer Tracy Kramer's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967), Tracy's ninth and final film with Hepburn. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" explored the topic of interracial marriage, with Tracy playing a liberal-minded newspaper publisher whose values are challenged when his daughter wishes to marry a black man, played by Sidney Poitier. Tracy was happy to be working again, but he told the press the movie would be his last. To commence filming, Tracy had to be insured for the high premium of $71,000; Hepburn and Kramer both put their salaries in escrow until Tracy completed his scenes. In poor health, Tracy could
Spencer Tracy ordinary man, and just the man for the part." "The Last Mile" opened on Broadway in February, where Tracy's performance was met by a standing ovation that lasted 14 curtain calls. The "Commonweal" described him as "one of our best and most versatile young actors". The play was a hit with critics, and ran for 289 performances. In 1930, Broadway was being heavily scouted for actors to work in the "talkies", the new medium of sound film. Tracy was cast in two Vitaphone short movies ("Taxi Talks" and "The Hard Guy"), but he had not considered becoming a film actor: