“I rate him tops”: the star Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart agreed was “the best of all actors”

Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart both singled out Spencer Tracy as the finest actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Their praise matters because Grant and Bogart were major stars in their own right, even though both were known more for their distinctive screen personas than for playing a wide range of roles.

Grant said, “I’d say Spence is the best by far: I rate him tops,” while Bogart called Tracy “the best of all actors”, praising his natural performances and lack of showiness. Tracy and Bogart appeared together only once, in the 1930 film *Up the River*. Tracy also became the first man to win consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor, and all nine of his Oscar nominations were in the leading category.