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 "The Murder Man" (1935), which included the feature film debut of James Stewart. Thalberg then began a strategy of pairing Tracy with the studio's top actresses: "Whipsaw" (1935) co-starred Myrna Loy and was a commercial success. "Riffraff" (1936) put Tracy opposite Jean Harlow. Both films were, however, designed and promoted to showcase their leading ladies, thus continuing Tracy's reputation as a secondary star. "Fury" (1936) was the first film to prove that Tracy could make a success on his own merit. Directed by Fritz Lang, Tracy played a man who swears revenge after narrowly escaping death by a lynch mob.