William Hurt

William Hurt Accepts the UCLA Spencer Tracy Award

The UCLA Spencer Tracy Award is an annual event that recognizes actors for their achievements in film. Since its inception, the students of UCLA -- and Spencer Tracy's daughter, Susie Tracy - have presented the award to some of film's most respected actors: William Hurt Jimmy Stewart Michael Douglas Denzel Washington Tom Hanks Anthony Hopkins Jodie Foster Harrison Ford Angelica Houston Nicolas Cage Kirk Douglas Morgan Freeman About this video clip: William Hurt, the first recipient of the Tracy Award, eloquently accepts the award and honors Mr. Tracy by reading a letter that Mr. Hurt wrote to him. It's an amazing and thoughtful exploration of what acting means to Mr. Hurt in context of the renowned career - and life - of Spencer Tracy. About the Award and Spencer Tracy: The UCLA Spencer Tracy Award was established in 1988 by UCLA Campus Events Commissioner, Willard Tressel. Other key players were College of Fine Arts Dean, Robert Gray, Associate Dean George Schaefer, Geoffrey Gilmore and, of course, Susie Tracy. Special recognition also goes out to the current Dean of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, Robert Rosen. The recipients of the UCLA Spencer Tracy Award were selected because their body of work, in some way, embodied the professional spirit of Mr. Tracy, an actor who many have considered one of the finest actors in film history. Over Spencer Tracy's 37-year career, he portrayed a wide variety of characters "with such naturalness, such ease, that you almost forgot that you were watching a performance -- he simply was the man he was playing." A critic once noted that the beauty of Tracy's acting was that "you never saw the strings attached." His acting was, to his audience, real and true. Elizabeth Taylor has said: "His acting seemed almost effortless, it seemed almost as if he wasn't doing anything, and yet he was doing everything. It came so subtly out of his eyes, every muscle in his face - he was a film actor." Richard Widmark once commented: "It's what every actor tries to strive for - to make it so simple, so real that anybody in the audience can say, 'Oh, I could do that' - if you can ever achieve that kind of grace in acting you're on the way. And Tracy did it from the very beginning." Spencer Tracy's acting was recognized in his lifetime with numerous awards and nominations. He became the first actor to win the Academy Award for best actor for two consecutive years (for 1937's "Captains Courageous" and 1938's "Boys Town"). The next actor to achieve that distinction was Tom Hanks some 55 years later -- and a Spencer Tracy Award recipient. To bring Spencer Tracy's legacy to the current era, the American Film Institute recently recognized Mr. Tracy near the very top of its list of the "50 Greatest Screen Legends" of all time. The Award Ceremony: Traditionally, the Spencer Tracy Award has been presented at a noontime ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall to an enthusiastic student audience. The knowledgeable UCLA student body -- and campus - help makes this award program different from all others. It is always guaranteed that the interaction between the Tracy Award recipient and the students will be very entertaining. Further, the world-renowned UCLA campus also serves as a spectacular backdrop to this respected and longstanding event. The UCLA Spencer Tracy Award is truly a unique program. It is an honor for the actors to be given an award that carries the name of one of film's greatest actors. The participation of Susie Tracy is a link to the man himself and that link has elicited wonderful moments of true emotion over the years. Finally, the students themselves lend a vibrancy and energy to the program that brings the greatest actors of our times back time and time again to accept the UCLA Spencer Tracy Award.

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