Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [220]
Tracy thought himself merely competent in the role of Father Flanagan, and talk of another honor frankly made him uncomfortable. “It isn’t that I think it is disrespectful or sacrilegious to play a priest,” he hedged, “but I think a role of this kind demands more than is in one’s power to give. Long after I’m forgotten, Father Flanagan will go down in history as one of the great humanitarians of the century.” Privately, he feared people would confuse the man with the actor and vote for the priest and his good deeds, not for a performance that was, by his own reckoning, pretty routine. He was relieved when Cagney was thought to have a big lead in the early balloting, then less so when Variety reported the “general belief” the winner would be either Cagney or himself.
“Only an actor like Mr. Tracy and an actor like young Mickey Rooney, or someone equally good, could possibly carry a story without any love interest for more than ninety minutes and make you like it,” wrote William Boehnel of the New York World-Telegram. (SUSIE TRACY)
The festivities at the Biltmore didn’t begin until eleven o’clock on the night of February 23, and the awards for acting weren’t announced until well past midnight. Bette Davis’ win for Jezebel had been expected, but Tracy’s win over Cagney and the others was considered an upset. When Tracy, in black tie, stepped up to the trophy-laden center table and began to speak, Louise could see he was embarrassed. “I could tell by the tone of his voice,” she said. “He wasn’t himself at all.” Handed the Oscar by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, he took a long moment to collect his thoughts. “I honestly do not feel that I can accept this award,” he said, his eyes cast downward. “I do not deserve it. I can accept it only as it was meant to be for a great man—Father Flanagan, whose goodness and greatness must have been enough to shine even through me.”
Sensing the sincerity of his words, the crowd responded with “thunderous” applause. “I was all primed,” said Clark Gable, “to suggest that maybe they had counted the ballots for the year before by mistake. But he stopped me cold before I ever started.” Tracy dutifully beamed for the flash photographers, a cigarette in one hand, his statuette in the other. Heading for the door, he came alongside screenwriter Laurence Stallings. “I didn’t see Boys Town,” Stallings told him. “I don’t know whether you deserved the award for that or not, but you certainly deserve it for the performance you just gave.”
Greeting Bette Davis at the Academy Awards dinner. Davis collected the Best Actress statuette for Jezebel. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Tracy responded to Father Flanagan’s wire of congratulations:
THE CREDIT IS DUE YOU AND I AM GLAD WE GOT IT FOR THE SAKE OF BOYS TOWN.
He also wired Bobs Watson, whose trademark crying jags nearly stole the show: HALF OF THE STATUE BELONGS TO YOU. Two days later, on the night of February 27, Father Flanagan’s assistant brought a box to him. Inside was Tracy’s Boys Town Oscar, an added plate bearing the inscription:
TO FATHER FLANAGAN
WHOSE GREAT HUMAN QUALITIES, KINDLY SIMPLICITY AND INSPIRING COURAGE WERE STRONG ENOUGH TO SHINE THROUGH MY HUMBLE EFFORTS.
SPENCER TRACY
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In the four years since Spencer Tracy and Fox Film Corporation parted company, both had gone through extraordinary changes. Where Tracy was scarcely a blip on the box office barometer in 1935, a critics’ darling and little more, he was now fifth-ranked among all American film stars and had two Academy Awards to his credit. Similarly, where Fox had been limping along under the fitful leadership of Winfield Sheehan, Darryl F. Zanuck was now in charge of production, having taken over in the wake of a deal that merged 20th Century Pictures with Fox Film to create 20th Century-Fox. Under him, Fox became a writers’ studio—the polar