10. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn’s 27-year affair
In 1941 actor Spencer Tracy, one of Hollywood’s most successful and in-demand leading men, began seeing actress Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn was from upper-crust New England stock, presenting a prim, proper, and athletic image to her fans, who had for several years been involved in a relationship with Howard Hughes. Tracy was a married man who presented the public persona of being a devout Catholic, though, in fact, he did not follow the practices of the religion as piously as his image indicated. From 1941 until his death, the two maintained an affair which was an open secret in Hollywood. Tracy did not seek a divorce, nor did he return to married life to attempt a reconciliation for the rest of his life. Rather than live with Hepburn, Tracy resided in hotels for the most part, with his main employer, MGM, helping to continue the charade of his having a happily married life.
Not until the final years of his life, when Tracy was suffering from numerous ailments and in declining health, did he and Hepburn live together? During their lengthy affair, Tracy was also unfaithful to Hepburn, having an affair with actress Gene Tierney which made the tabloids, and speculation was often rife over others. When Tracy died at the home he shared with Hepburn, she reacted by calling his wife and then removing herself from the scene, in order to avoid embarrassing her. She did not attend Tracy’s funeral for the same reason. In addition to keeping his affair with Hepburn under wraps, MGM helped quell reports of Tracy’s long battle with alcohol, barbiturates, and Dexedrine, including at least two arrests for alcohol-related incidents. Tracy was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, alongside his wife Louise. Katharine Hepburn was interred in Connecticut, thirty-six years after Tracy’s death.