Celebrity Graveland

April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (real name) was a fixture in the so-called “Golden Age” of Hollywood. The Milwaukee-born actor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor nine times. He won twice. His onscreen partnership with Katharine Hepburn as well as their “private” decades-long affair made for, perhaps, the biggest Hollywood romance of the 20th century. The pair made 9 movies together and shared a 26 year relationship despite Tracy still being married to his estranged wife, Louise.  Ah, but it’s Hollywood. Who cares?  What’s important is that Spencer Tracy is routinely mentioned in conversations about the greatest actors of all time. His early career saw success, but no acclaim, on stage and for Fox studios.  It wasn’t until he signed with MGM in 1935 that his fame and career skyrocketed.  He made over 70 films during his life and drank quite a bit of alcohol while making them. He also suffered from depression.  Spencer nearly died a couple of times in his final years, but it wasn’t until 17 days after he wrapped shooting on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? that Spencer Tracy finally died of a massive heart attack while making some tea.  Officially, he was found by his housekeeper the next morning. Unofficially, Hepburn said he looked like he was just glad to be done with life.  Not that she was there with him or anything.

Burial

Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Glendale, CA

Specific Location

Garden of Everlasting Peace; Enter the garden from in front of the Freedom Mausoleum, Spencer is buried immediately on your right in a small walled-in plot.

This entry was posted on June 17, 2013 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Forest Lawn Glendale with tags Actors, Forest Lawn Glendale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.