
Lee Tracy
Actor · 1898 – 1968 · Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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
Movies24
Movie7.3DramaThe other party is in disarray. Five men vie for the party nomination for president. No one has a majority as the first ballot closes and the front-runners begin to decide how badly they want the job.
The Best Man
1964 · 45 votes
Movie6.0HorrorThrillerA wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.
Doctor X
1932 · 85 votes
Movie6.8ComedyDramaAn ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
Dinner at Eight
1933 · 133 votes
Movie7.2ComedyDocumentaryFilm clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964 · 6 votes
Movie5.8DramaRomanceA comedy-romance about rival brothers attending a military academy.
Salute
1929 · 5 votes
Movie5.4ComedyDramaWhile recuperating in a hospital after he's hit by an automobile, a struggling shopowner dreams what his life might have been like if he'd made different choices twenty years earlier.
Turn Back the Clock
1933 · 10 votes
Movie7.3ComedyLos Angeles newspaper reporter Toby Prentiss is continually in trouble with his editor. He is demoted to running the paper's "Miss Lonelyhearts" advice column because he missed the scoop on a major earthquake whilst out on the town. Determined to be fired from the column he starts to give crazy advice to the readers, but this only makes him even more popular.
Advice to the Lovelorn
1933 · 3 votes
Movie7.0RomanceComedyLee Tracy once again plays a Winchellesque newspaper reporter in Universal's I'll Tell the World. More interested in his sex life than his career, news hawk Brown nonetheless agrees to cover the activities of a European archduke on behalf of his wire service.
I'll Tell the World
1934 · 1 votes
Movie5.4CrimeDramaA gossip columnist helps a Broadway ingenue who's beholden to a penthouse gangster.
Love is a Racket
1932 · 17 votes
Movie7.0DramaComedyWhen vaudeville performer Florette Faxon is left penniless with her six-year-old son Jimmy, she relies on the friendship of fellow performer Bud Hannigan to help her get a job. Bud is reluctant to become her partner, as he has proven to himself to be unreliable in relationships, but he tells her to call him whenever she needs help. While working in a beer garden, Florette meets Hap Stanley, an avaricious performer who marries her to get the rights to perform her show routine. Hap dislikes Jimmy and eventually convinces Florette to send him away to school. Both Jimmy and Florette are broken-up over being apart, but Jimmy pretends it is what he wants so Florette can be happy with Hap.
You Belong to Me
1934 · 2 votes
Movie6.5ComedyRomanceA glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
Bombshell
1933 · 58 votes
Movie6.4ThrillerActionA carnival showman tries to keep Japanese spies from sabotaging the Panama Canal.
Betrayal from the East
1945 · 5 votes
Movie5.1ComedyRomanceA carnival pitchman (Tracy) finagles his girlfriend, a fiery hoochie dancer (Vélez), into a major Broadway revue under the auspices of an impresario (Morgan).
The Half-Naked Truth
1932 · 13 votes
Movie6.1DramaCrimeA fast-talking reporter befriends a young woman and her male companion who are wanted for a policeman's shooting.
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
1932 · 12 votes
Movie7.5DramaThe relationship between a male dancer and his actress girlfriend is threatened by a scheming chorister.
Big Time
1929 · 2 votes
Movie7.0ComedyA PR man saves a struggling radio station from ruin.
I'll Tell the World
1945 · 1 votes
Movie6.1CrimeDramaA crop of millionaire inmates struggle to get accustomed to prison life, while inmate Nick Burton watches out for everyone's interests on the inside.
Millionaires in Prison
1940 · 7 votes
Movie7.5DramaButton Gwinett Brown is a freshman congressman on a mission to rid Washington of corruption. He quickly runs afoul of the powerful Senator Norton...
Washington Merry-Go-Round
1932 · 4 votes
Movie5.9MysteryCrimeA car accident traps two men inside a car near the water. With the tide coming in, they discuss the circumstances that led up to the accident.
High Tide
1947 · 21 votes
Movie6.7ComedyCrimeBuckley is an unethical reporter who manipulates the news for his own benefit as much as he reports it. When he is in Paris to get a medal for being rescued from his alleged kidnappers, he finds that his boss, Stevens, at the Chicago Globe is going with his old gal Dolly. When Stevens learns that Dolly is staying with Buckley in Moscow, he fires Buckley. To get his job back, Buckley and Lefty stage a great news story about the shooting of the last Romanoff, but the plan backfires and they are now in line to be shot by the Commissar.
Clear All Wires!
1933 · 3 votes
Movie6.1FamilyVarious Hollywood performers put on a pirate-themed variety show on Catalina Island, with a number of amiable stars in the audience.
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle
1935 · 10 votes
Movie6.5DramaDuring WWII, the publisher of the isolationist New York Gazette is murdered just as he was about to change the paper's policy and support the US war effort. His friend, a small town patriotic editor, is brought in to find the culprits.
Power of the Press
1943 · 11 votes
Movie6.0AdventureActionInvestigators set out to capture a gang of thieves transporting stolen cash through the U.S. mail.
Wanted: Jane Turner
1936 · 4 votes
Movie5.7CrimeComedyIn order to use the publicity to get re-elected, a judge sentences a notorious gangster to fight in the war.
Born Reckless
1930 · 16 votes
Series8
TV5.9DramaBen Casey
1961 · 15 votes
TV6.0Sci-Fi & FantasyCrimeLights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.
Lights Out
1949 · 5 votes
TV7.8CrimeDrama87th Precinct is an American crime drama starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, and Ron Harper, which aired on NBC on Monday evenings during the 1961–1962 television season.
87th Precinct
1961 · 5 votes
TV5.8DramaComedyGoing My Way is an American comedy-drama series
Going My Way
1962 · 5 votes
- TV8.0Drama
Ford Theatre, spelled Ford Theater for the radio version and known as Ford Television Theatre for the TV version, was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts. Ford Theatre was named for its sponsor, the Ford Motor Company, which had an earlier success with its concert music series, The Ford Sunday Evening Hour.
Ford Theatre
1948 · 1 votes
- TV7.5War & PoliticsDrama
Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965. The series was based on the recently President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage.
Profiles in Courage
1964 · 2 votes
TV10.0CrimeDramaNew York Confidential is a British-American crime drama series that aired from 1958 to 1959. The series aired in syndicated in the United States and was broadcast on London's local ITV station, Associated-Rediffusion, in the UK. It was co-produced by ITC Entertainment, Metropolis Productions, Inc., and Television Programs of America.
New York Confidential
1959 · 1 votes
TV7.3Martin Kane, Private Eye was an early radio series and television crime series sponsored by United States Tobacco Company.
Martin Kane, Private Eye
1949 · 3 votes