Louise Tracy - Family

Family

Louise Ten Broeck Treadwell's parents were Alliene Wetmore and Bright (Smith) Treadwell. Alliene Treadwell was a prominent attorney and part owner of the New Castle Daily News in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Louise's parents divorced when she was a teenager.

In 1915, Louise Treadwell enrolled at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio and graduated with honors. During the next several years, she pursued an acting career as a stage actor, primarily in stock companies. In early March 1923, Louise joined the Leonard Wood Players in White Plains, New York, which engaged her as the leading lady. There she met actor Spencer Tracy, who had also joined the company. On September 12, 1923, Louise and Spencer were married in Cincinnati, Ohio.

On June 26, 1924, Louise and Spencer's first child John was born. Ten months later, Louise discovered that John was hearing impaired. Early in 1926 Louise met a deaf woman at a contract bridge party who could lip read very well, encouraging Louise that John might have a normal life in spite of his deafness. She took John to a hearing specialist, who confirmed a diagnosis of nerve deafness. The doctor told Louise that even though there was no medical treatment, John could still learn how to talk, lip read, and do anything a hearing person could do.

With new hope, Louise began working with John, using material from different schools. In 1927, John spoke the word "Mama" for the first time. In June 1927, John was enrolled in the Wright Oral School for the deaf in New York City. At three years of age, he was the youngest child they had ever accepted.

In the summer of 1930, Spencer Tracy went to Hollywood, California to make his first film. John and Louise also traveled to Hollywood while Spencer was filming. On the train back to New York, John was struck with infantile paralysis.

In July 1932, the Tracys' daughter Susie was born, and by March 1935 the family moved to a ranch in Encino, California, where they lived for 19 years. During the 1930s, Louise and Spencer both began playing polo and became accomplished players.

Throughout their marriage, Spencer had engaged in numerous love affairs, including actresses Loretta Young, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman and Gene Tierney, In 1942, Spencer co-starred with actress Katharine Hepburn in the film Woman of the Year. The pair famously began a long-term romantic relationship that lasted until Spencer's death in 1967. During this time, Spencer and Louise became estranged, but they never divorced.