Appreciating all that makes America special

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, www.greatamericanthings.net

The ninth and final pairing of Hepburn and Tracy garnered 10 Oscar nominations. Uploaded by bplusmovieblog.com.

Sure, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is something of a period piece now. Yes, we watch and shake our heads at how things used to be. But that diminishes neither the influence of this film nor the tremendous performances at its heart.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, www.greatamericanthings.net

Uploaded by thebestpictureproject.wordpress.com.

Here’s a snapshot of race relations in 1967, or at least how they were evolving at the time. When Katharine Hepburn’s daughter (played by her real-life niece, Katharine Houghton) introduces Sidney Poitier as her fiance, there’s unmistakable distress among both families. Neither was prepared for the incendiary idea of their offspring being part of an interracial marriage. And both come to a somewhat uneasy peace with the idea by the film’s conclusion.

This was the ninth and last pairing of Hepburn and Spencer Tracy – the venerable actor died just 17 days after shooting on the picture concluded. The duo was directed by Stanley Kramer, and with Poitier in the cast, this was bound to be a memorable film. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner received 10 Academy Award Nominations and won two – Best Original Screenplay (William Rose) and Best Actress (Hepburn).

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