Lee Tracy

Birthday: 1898-04-14
Deathday: 1968-03-28
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Gender: Male
Drafted: 0
Drafted By: Unowned
Owned By: Unowned
Owned Wins: 0
Owned Noms: 0
Win Bonus: 0
Nom Bonus: 0
Total Points: 0

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.

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Career Statisics

Season Age Movie Role Result Points
1965 67 The Best Man (1964) Supporting Actor Nom 0
Career 0

Transaction History

Date Location Team Receives Team Receives Team Receives

Credits

Year Title Character
1964-04-05 The Best Man President Art Hockstader
1947-09-13 High Tide Hugh Fresney
1945-06-08 I'll Tell the World Gabriel Patton
1945-04-24 Betrayal from the East Eddie Carter
1943-01-29 Power of the Press Griff Thompson
1942-11-24 The Payoff Brad McKay
1940-07-12 Millionaires in Prison Nick Burton
1939-07-28 The Spellbinder Jed Marlowe
1939-04-21 Fixer Dugan Charlie "Fixer" Dugan
1938-01-07 Crashing Hollywood Michael Winslow
1937-05-14 Behind The Headlines Eddie Haines
1937-01-29 Criminal Lawyer Brandon
1936-12-04 Wanted: Jane Turner Tom Mallory
1936-03-01 Sutter's Gold Pete Perkin
1935-11-20 Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Pirate (uncredited)
1935-10-03 Two-Fisted Hap Hurley
1935-02-15 Carnival Chick Thompson
1934-09-27 The Lemon Drop Kid Wally Brooks aka The Lemon Drop Kid
1934-09-08 You Belong to Me Bud Hannigan
1934-04-20 I'll Tell the World Stanley Brown
1933-12-22 Dinner at Eight Max Kane
1933-12-01 Advice to the Lovelorn Toby Prentiss
1933-10-13 Bombshell E.J. 'Space' Hanlon
1933-08-25 Turn Back the Clock Joe Gimlet
1933-06-03 The Nuisance Joseph Phineas 'Joe' Stevens
1933-03-25 Private Jones Pvt. William 'Bill' Jones
1933-02-24 Clear All Wires! Buckley Joyce Thomas
1932-12-16 The Half-Naked Truth Jimmy Bates
1932-10-15 Washington Merry-Go-Round Button Gwinett Brown
1932-09-10 Blessed Event Alvin Roberts
1932-08-18 The Night Mayor Mayor Bobby Kingston
1932-08-03 Doctor X Lee Taylor
1932-06-18 Love Is a Racket Stanley Fiske
1932-05-28 The Strange Love of Molly Louvain Scott 'Scotty' Cornell
1930-11-09 She Got What She Wanted
1930-09-27 Liliom The Buzzard
1930-05-11 Born Reckless Bill O'Brien
1929-09-07 Big Time Eddie Burns
1929-09-01 Salute Radio Announcer (uncredited)