Spencer Tracy Several of Tracy's films, particularly his comedies, are regarded as classics of American cinema. He starred in four of the titles on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Years ... 100 Laughs": "Adam's Rib", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", "Father of the Bride" and "Woman of the Year". "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was included on AFI's list of the 100 greatest American movies, while "Captains Courageous" was featured on their list of America's most inspiring movies. Tracy was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor, a category record he holds with Laurence Olivier. He was
Spencer Tracy introduced Mr. Tracy as one of the screen's best performers". Mordaunt Hall of "The New York Times" stated: "No more convincing performance has been given on the screen than Spencer Tracy's impersonation of Tom Garner." "Shanghai Madness" (1933), meanwhile, gave Tracy a previously unseen sex appeal and served to advance his standing. Despite this attention, Tracy's next two movies went largely unnoticed. "Man's Castle" (1933) with Loretta Young was anticipated to be a hit, but made only a small profit. "The Show-Off" (1934), for which he was lent to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, proved popular, but his subsequent outings continued to be unsuccessful.