MGM considered the trouble and expense of the ‘Tracy Squad’ was worth it, convinced he could make money for the studio. They would also pay off hoteliers if he happened to give them the slip, get plastered, and trash a room. If they saw him enter a bar or a liquor store they were to immediately apprehend him and confiscate any booze he might have acquired. A ‘Tracy Squad’ was created, consisting of four ‘heavies’ whose job was to follow the actor at all times. Of course, MGM knew of Tracy’s problems (everyone in the industry did), but the studio fixers, Howard Strickling and Eddie Mannix, formulated a plan to control him. L B Mayer’s protégé, Irving Thalberg, knew talent when he saw it. He then returned to the office and destroyed it and its contents. He listened very attentively, then walked across the street to the nearest saloon and got blind drunk. Curb his drinking or his contract would not be renewed. Called in to the head office, he was given an ultimatum. This might take several days, during which time he would not leave the bathtub – for any reason. Fox put up with his abominable behaviour for five years before calling it quits. And he would continue the cycle until the booze was gone. In fact, he would drink himself unconscious, wake up then drink himself unconscious again. On his week-long benders Tracy would rent a hotel room, load up with two or three cases of whiskey, then settle himself in the bathtub and commence to drink. Evidently, her priest was away on vacation or something. Two years later she would have a child to the equally married Clark Gable after they made The Call of the Wild together. Why? Because her priest would not give her absolution for ‘dating’ a married Catholic man. In 1933 he made Man’s Castle with Loretta Young, and the couple began a tempestuous affair that Loretta eventually called off. He also seduced starlets at a rate of knots for, regardless of his issues, the man could charm the birds out of the trees when he chose to. He rarely slept, suffered from depression, had a hair-trigger temper, was obsessed with death – and, most troublesome of all, he was a hopeless alcoholic. He started his movie career at Fox in 1930, made sixteen movies there, but could not establish himself in the top echelon of performers. All the other greats such as Brando, Olivier and Bette Davis, brought a wealth of stage experience with them, but not Tracy. There is no doubt he became one of the greatest movie actors in history, an achievement made more meritorious when we consider that he came to the screen with virtually no stage experience behind him. When he went on a ‘bender’, which was often, he was known at times to demolish hotel rooms a la Charlie Sheen.Īs a youth he was thrown out of half a dozen grammar schools, the only subject he handled with relative ease being drama. He was a violent alcoholic his entire life and a rampant womanizer who had almost as many conquests to his name as Gable although, unlike ‘the King’, he is alleged to have taken male lovers as well. Off screen he was a very ordinary human being, a man beset with all kinds of problems. Image by © Underwood & Underwood/CORBISĪs an actor Spencer Tracy had few peers and cinema-goers adored him. A portrait of a young Spencer Tracy (1900-1967).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |