They say it’s always dangerous meeting your heroes, most especially when said hero is none other than accomplished Hollywood legend, Spencer Tracy.
Of course, William Shatner wound up learning this valuable lesson the hard way, with the 94-year-oldStar Trek actor recently telling Entertainment Weekly how he accidentally offended his idol during the filming of 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg.
As Shatner remembered it, “I worshipped Spencer Tracy. And he was very aloof.”
While he long held a flattering view of the legendary actor, Shatner revealed that he managed to strain their working relationship by paying Tracy a compliment that Tracy interpreted as an insult.
The incident in question came about when Shatner watched Tracy deliver several lengthy monologues back to back, something that left Shatner absolutely rapt with awe.
“One day, he did a speech, and he knew it completely,” Shatner remembered. “And I was amazed that a movie actor would not do [multiple] takes or have it written out for him.”
Watching Tracy deliver his powerful performance, the Captain Kirk actor went up to Tracy following the end of the scene with the intention of praising the actor’s dramatic abilities.
“So I did approach him — I said, ‘Mr. Tracy, I just want to express my admiration that you learned lines!'” Shatner said.
Unfortunately for Shatner, his comments came off as criticism to Tracy, who responded by snapping at his younger co-star and refusing to speak to him again.
“He looked at me, and he said, ‘I was on the stage before you were born, son,'” Shatner said. “And he left. He never spoke to me again.”
Rather than remaining mournful of such an awkward exchange, Shatner is able to laugh about the incident today, viewing the exchange more as an error in communication on his own part.
“I alienated him by trying to praise him for memorizing his lines,” Shatner said. “Terrible. Foot in the mouth, again.”
