CineScope
Lee Tracy picture

Lee Tracy

Acting
Known For

70 Years Old

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. William Lee Tracy (April 14, 1898 – October 18, 1968) was an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the 1964 film The Best Man. In 1929, Tracy arrived in Hollywood, where he played the role of newspapermen in several films. He, for example, played a Walter Winchell-type gossip columnist in Blessed Event (1932). Tracy also starred as the columnist in Advice to the Lovelorn (1933), very loosely based on the novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West; and he played a conscience-stricken editor in the 1943 drama The Power of the Press, based on a story by former newspaperman Samuel Fuller. Tracy played "The Buzzard," the criminal who leads Liliom (Charles Farrell) into a fatal robbery, in the film version of Liliom (1930). He also played Lupe Vélez's frenetic manager in Gregory LaCava's The Half-Naked Truth (1932) and portrayed John Barrymore's agent in Dinner at Eight (1933), directed by George Cukor. Lee Tracy's flourishing film career was temporarily disrupted on 19 November 1933, while he was on location in Mexico filming the Wallace Beery vehicle Viva Villa! According to the actor and producer Desi Arnaz, in his published autobiography The Book (1976), Tracy stood on a balcony in Mexico City and urinated down onto a passing military parade. Elsewhere in his autobiography, Arnaz claims that from then on, if one watched other crowds of spectators, they would visibly disperse any time an American stepped out onto a balcony. However, other crew members there at the time disputed this story, giving a sharply different account of events. In his autobiography, Charles G. Clarke, the cinematographer on the picture, said that he was standing outside the hotel during the parade and the incident never happened. Tracy, he said, was standing on the balcony observing the parade when a Mexican in the street below made an obscene gesture at him. Tracy replied in kind; and the next day a local newspaper printed a story that, in effect, Tracy had insulted Mexico, Mexicans in general, and their national flag in particular. The story caused an uproar in Mexico, and MGM decided to sacrifice Tracy in order to be allowed to continue filming there. The young actor Stuart Erwin replaced Tracy. The film's original director, Howard Hawks, was also fired for his refusal to testify against Tracy. Jack Conway replaced him. During World War II, Tracy returned to military service. Later, he had two television series in the 1950s. One was Martin Kane: Private Eye, in which he was one of four actors to play the title role. The others were William Gargan, Lloyd Nolan, and Mark Stevens. In 1958, he returned to a newspaper reporter role in the syndicated New York Confidential. After World War II, his screen career was largely relegated to television, but he portrayed the former President of the United States, Art Hockstader, a character loosely based on Harry Truman, in both the stage and film versions of The Best Man (1964), written by Gore Vidal. The movie version featured Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson. Tracy received his only Academy Award nomination, as Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in the film. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lee Tracy, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Born

Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 13th April 1898

Died

18th October 1968

All Credits

Ben Casey Image
Ben Casey
Going My Way Image
Going My Way
New York Confidential Image
New York Confidential
Lee Cochran
No Image
Ford Theatre
Captain Gallagher
87th Precinct Image
87th Precinct
No Image
Profiles in Courage
Senator Robert A. Taft
Lights Out Image
Lights Out
Martin Kane, Private Eye Image
Martin Kane, Private Eye
Dinner at Eight Image
Dinner at Eight
Max Kane
Doctor X Image
Doctor X
Lee Taylor
The Big Parade of Comedy Image
The Big Parade of Comedy
Space in 'Bombshell' (archive footage)
The Best Man Image
The Best Man
President Art Hockstader
Born Reckless Image
Born Reckless
Bill O'Brien
Millionaires in Prison Image
Millionaires in Prison
Nick Burton
Blessed Event Image
Blessed Event
Alvin Roberts
Bombshell Image
Bombshell
E.J. 'Space' Hanlon
The Nuisance Image
The Nuisance
Joseph Phineas 'Joe' Stevens
Love Is a Racket Image
Love Is a Racket
Stanley Fiske
The Spellbinder Image
The Spellbinder
Jed Marlowe
Salute Image
Salute
Radio Announcer (uncredited)
The Half-Naked Truth Image
The Half-Naked Truth
Jimmy Bates
Turn Back the Clock Image
Turn Back the Clock
Joe Gimlet
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain Image
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
Scott 'Scotty' Cornell
Criminal Lawyer Image
Criminal Lawyer
Brandon
Carnival Image
Carnival
Chick Thompson
Betrayal from the East Image
Betrayal from the East
Eddie Carter
Liliom Image
Liliom
The Buzzard
You Belong to Me Image
You Belong to Me
Bud Hannigan
Fixer Dugan Image
Fixer Dugan
Charlie "Fixer" Dugan
I'll Tell the World Image
I'll Tell the World
Stanley Brown
Two-Fisted Image
Two-Fisted
Hap Hurley
Crashing Hollywood Image
Crashing Hollywood
Michael Winslow
Advice to the Lovelorn Image
Advice to the Lovelorn
Toby Prentiss
The Payoff Image
The Payoff
Brad McKay
Sutter's Gold Image
Sutter's Gold
Pete Perkin
High Tide Image
High Tide
Hugh Fresney
Wanted: Jane Turner Image
Wanted: Jane Turner
Tom Mallory
Clear All Wires! Image
Clear All Wires!
Buckley Joyce Thomas
No Image
Cinema Circus
Himself - Ringmaster
Power of the Press Image
Power of the Press
Griff Thompson
Private Jones Image
Private Jones
Pvt. William 'Bill' Jones
Big Time Image
Big Time
Eddie Burns
I'll Tell the World Image
I'll Tell the World
Gabriel Patton
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Image
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle
Pirate (uncredited)
The Night Mayor Image
The Night Mayor
Mayor Bobby Kingston
Behind The Headlines Image
Behind The Headlines
Eddie Haines
The Lemon Drop Kid Image
The Lemon Drop Kid
Wally Brooks aka The Lemon Drop Kid
Washington Merry-Go-Round Image
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Button Gwinett Brown
No Image
She Got What She Wanted