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 in 1948, Frank Capra's political drama "State of the Union". Tracy played a presidential candidate in the movie, which was warmly received. He then appeared in "Edward, My Son" (1949) with Deborah Kerr. Tracy disliked the role, and told director George Cukor, "It's rather disconcerting to me to find how easily I play a heel." Upon its release, "The New Yorker" wrote of the "hopeless miscasting of Mr. Tracy". The film became Tracy's biggest money-loser at MGM. Tracy finished off the 1940s with "Malaya" (1949), an adventure film with James Stewart, and "Adam's Rib" (1949), a comedy with Tracy and