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Guess Who's Coming To Dinner 1967

© Lea Frydman

The 1967 Academy Awards ceremony, the 40th in its history, was held under unusual sombre circumstances. The assassination of Martin Luther King caused the event to be postponed for 48 hours until April 10, 1968. The annual post-Oscar ball was also postponed in those uncertain days of vague social unease, political upheaval and of course the Vietnam War.

Bob Hope again presided over the event, between flights to South East Asia to entertain the troops, and because of some energetic hustling by the Academy president Gregory Peck, no fewer than 18 out of the 20 acting nominees were on hand to hear the announcements, It was unfortunate then that the Best Actress Oscar went in a surprise decision to one of the only two performers who could not make it Katharine Hepburn for Stanley Kramers' comedy of racial co-existance "Guess Who's Coming For Dinner."

Cast:

Spencer Tracy Sidney Poitier Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton

Synopsis

Pretty young Joey (Houghton) comes home from a 10 day Hawaiian vacation with the man she loves, John (Poitier) a 40-year-old internationally respected Black doctor. Joey is determined not only to marry him immediately but to have both sets of parents' blessings. The couple must leave that night for Geneva for a Health Organisation post.

Matt (Tracy) and Christina (Hepburn) are extremely likeable, intelligent wealthy and hard working. He owns and operates a newspaper in San Francisco and she runs an avant-garde art gallery. Now both are faced with a true test of their liberal beliefs. Further tension is introduced when the John's (Poitier)parents fly up from Los Angeles and find themselves as shocked and dismayed as the Joey's parents.

Spencer Tracy

Tracy was 30 when he finally made it to Hollywood after director John Ford spotted his potential in a lead role on Broadway and cast him in "Up The River" 1930. Tracy began a 20-year relationship with MGM after making his last film with Fox in 1935.

MGM quickly dubbed him a "man's man" in their publicity. His fame steadily grew, and he won Oscars two years running & the only actor until Tom Hanks, for "Captain Courageous" 1937 and "Boys Town" 1938

His life with Katharine Hepburn was very private and generally treated with respect. "Woman Of The Year" 1942 was their first film together and their collaboration was a professionally happy one.

Tracy and Hepburn made "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" the last of their 7 films together.

On June 10, 1968 two weeks after the completion, he died of heart failure.