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 At Marquette Academy he and lifelong friend, actor Pat O'Brien, began attending plays together, awakening Tracy's interest in the theatre. With little care for his studies and "itching for a chance to go and see some excitement", Tracy and O'Brien enlisted in the United States Navy together, when Tracy turned 18. They were sent to the Naval Training Station in North Chicago, where they were still students when World War I came to an end. Tracy achieved the rank of seaman second class, but never went to sea, and was discharged in February 1919. John Tracy's desire to see one