Spencer BonaventureTracy was born on a day like today from 1900 in Milwaukee (United States). For the history of cinema stayed forever as Spencer Tracy, one of its best actors. With a life marked by a character as harsh as he was passionate, with few words and an alcoholic, he lived it in a way that was as cinematic as all those he played. Some of them came straight out of the literature. And On the way as iconic as the sailor Manuel de Fearless Captains or the doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde they bear his most unique imprint. The two of them and another pair are my selection to remember it.
Fearless Captains (1937)
Directed by Victor Fleming and based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, featured Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew the child prodigy of the time, as protagonists of an exceptional cast that completed Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas or John Carradine. She was a candidate for the Oscar awards for the best editing, for the best film and for the best script. And Tracy won it by best lead actor for her portrayal of one of those characters that reaches the hearts of all generations of viewers who see her: Manuel, the Portuguese fisherman from a schooner who rescues Harvey Cheyn, the repellent rich boy who accidentally falls into the sea from the boat where he travels with his father.
Forced to spend the next three months there with him and the rest of the crew, Harvey will have many adventures. Also will learn the value of effortIn addition to courage, a courage that you will need to face the worst experiences that you will also have.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll (1941)
Tracy repeated with Victor Fleming in another adaptation of another literary classic such as the homonymous work of Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1886. The actor composed a unforgettable portrait of the kind and caring doctor Jekyll, the scientist obsessed with finding a formula to control the evil impulses of the human being. And it only took very little makeup and a superb ability to decompose his face into its most evil expression when he became the fearsome lord hyde, an abominable being that terrorizes the night London of 1887.
He was accompanied by two actresses with bells like Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner.
State of the Union (1948)
Based on the stage play by Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1946, it was directed by another craftsman such as Frank Capra. And Tracy had her best partner as her leading partner both in film and in real life: Katharine hepburn.
Here Tracy is the tycoon Grant Matthews who, driven by the influential director of a newspaper with whom he also has an affair, decides to introduce himself as candidate for president of the United States for the Republican Party. But that will mean very uncomfortable commitments at both political and personal levels, especially with his wife (Hepburn) from whom he is separated.
The cast was completed Van Johnson and Angela Lansbury.
The old man and the sea (1958)
Directed by John sturges, starred Tracy, Felipo Pazos and Harry Bellaver. It was based on eponymous short novel by Ernest Hemingway, which came out in 1952. It was his last major work of fiction published in life.
Tracy composed with her usual mastery to Santiago, an old fisherman who has spent his entire life dedicated to the sea to exercise the profession that he is so passionate about. So he decides to continue his exploits and embarks on a new adventure. He won't mind being teased of all, who also take him for crazy for wanting to continue throwing himself into the sea at his age.
But for Santiago it will be a challenge, perhaps the last. Luck has never been very good for him and he has to keep trying after several months without catching anything. Then, one day a large fish bites his hook and drags him out to sea, in a journey that turns out to be full of memories and risky situations that he will have to face before returning to land.