John Ten Broeck Tracy was the deaf son of the veteran actor, Spencer Tracy.
John Ten Broeck Tracy’s Family
John Ten Broeck Tracy was born June 26, 1924, in Milwaukee to Louise and Spencer Tracy. Nine months after his birth, Louise discovered that John was hearing impaired.
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born in Milwaukee on April 5, 1900, to Caroline (née Brown) and truck salesman John Edward Tracy. Spencer met actress Louise Treadwell while they were both members of the Wood Players in White Plains, New York—the first stock company he joined after graduating. Louise Ten Broeck Tracy (née Treadwell) was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1896. Her parents were Alliene Wetmore and Bright Treadwell. Alliene was a prominent attorney and part owner of the New Castle Daily News.
Spencer and Louise engaged in May 1923 and married on September 10 of that year between the matinee and evening performances of his show. John was born shortly after. In July 1932, their daughter Susie was born. Spencer and Louise separated in 1933. Although they never went through the divorce procedures, they lived separately.
In 1953, John married Nadine Carr, a neighbor with whom he used to ride horses. They had a son, Joseph Spencer Tracy, before divorcing in 1957. John died in Acton, California on June 15, 2007—five days after the 40th anniversary of his father’s death. On June 10, 1967, Spencer died of a heart attack and Louise died on November 13, 1983.
John Ten Broeck Tracy’s Net Worth
John Ten Broeck Tracy was a celebrity son who was known to the world because of his parents. Despite his disabilities, his mother denied giving up on him and made every possible effort to help him lead a normal life. 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. In June 1927, John was enrolled in the Wright Oral School for the deaf in New York City.
Louise’s efforts were equally reciprocated by John and despite being physically challenged, he became a dedicated polo and tennis player. After attending the California Institute of the Arts, John worked for several years in the art props department at Walt Disney Studios; Disney was a close family friend. He stopped working when his eyesight started to fail in the late 1950s. By the early 1990s, he was legally blind from retinitis pigmentosa.
Louise founded the John Tracy Clinic, a private, non-profit education center for the deaf to help young hearing-impaired children and their families. Her husband, Spencer was a well-established actor and had a net worth of $70 million at the time of his death.
