“On the set, Walter provoked Spencer Tracy’s ire. Katie (Katharine Hepburn) didn’t have “good judgment” or common sense, Brennan told Tracy. Walter was referring to her attacks on Senator Joseph McCarthy. Tracy turned icy, and the next day director John Sturges discovered Tracy and Brennan were no longer speaking to one another. The estranged actors addressed one another through intermediaries. Sturges remembered this exchange: [Tracy to Sturges] Would you ask Mr. Brennan to not get in my key light? [Brennan to Sturges] Tell Mr. Tracy if he hit his mark, I wouldn’t be in his key light. At one point Brennan turned his back on Tracy and held up three fingers, signifying that he had three Academy Awards. Tracy had two.””
A Real American Character: The Life of Walter Brennan
