Tracy became a major movie star in the late 1930s, after winning two consecutive Oscars.
But in the 1950s and 1960s, he became a super-star with a iconic image, a quality that last up until his very last film, the 1967 Oscar winning interracial comedy, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? which was released posthumously.
In his last decade or so, he was a free-lancer, able to command $300,000 per film, and a percentage of the gross.
Tracy, like other stars of his age and stature, turned down all TV offers; in fact, he had never appeared on TV.
Furthermore, rather consistently, Tracy refused to discuss any part of his personal life–long relationship with Katharine Hepburn while he was married, rumors of bisexuality–with the press. He had discouraged interviews, reaffirming his known position as a very talented and very private person.
