Spencer Tracy Tracy left MGM in 1955, and continued to work regularly as a freelance star, despite an increasing weariness as he aged. His personal life was troubled, with a lifelong struggle against severe alcoholism and guilt over his son's deafness. Tracy became estranged from his wife in the 1930s, but never divorced, conducting a long-term relationship with Katharine Hepburn in private. Towards the end of his life, Tracy worked almost exclusively for director Stanley Kramer. It was for Kramer that he made his last film, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967, completed just 17 days before his death. During his
Spencer Tracy war-based. "A Guy Named Joe" (1943) with Irene Dunne surpassed "San Francisco" to become his highest-grossing film to date. "The Seventh Cross" (1944), about an escape from a Nazi concentration camp, met with critical acclaim. It was followed by the aviation film "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944). On the strength of these three releases, the annual Quigley poll revealed Tracy was MGM's biggest money-making star of 1944, His only film the following year was "Without Love" (1945), a third film with Hepburn that performed well at the box office despite muted enthusiasm from critics. In 1945, Tracy returned to the