Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
original movie poster
Directed by	Stanley Kramer
Written by	William Rose
Starring	Spencer Tracy Sidney Poitier Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 12, 1967
Running time	108 min
Language	English
Budget	$4,000,000 USD (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 Academy Award-winning comedy-drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, and Katharine Houghton. Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae band probably best known for their hits Shine Eye Gal, Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Sinsemilla, Solidarity, and What Is Life?. They were the first group to win a Grammy in the reggae category when it was introduced in 1985. ... Guess Whos Coming to Dinner is the title of a 1981 reggae album by Black Uhuru. ... Image File history File links MPW-10743. ... Stanley Kramer (September 29, 1913 – February 19, 2001) was a Jewish-American film director and producer. ... William Rose (December 12, 1914 - February 10, 1987) was a major American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films. ... Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. ... Sir Sidney Poitier KBE, (IPA pronunciation: ) (born February 20, 1927), is an Academy Award-winning Bahamian American actor, film director, and activist. ... Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an iconic American actress of film, television and stage. ... {{Infobox actor | name = Katharine Houghton | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birthname = Katharine Houghton Grant | birthdate = March 10, 1945 ) (age 62) | location = Hartford, Connecticut Katharine Houghton, an American actress, was born Katharine Houghton Grant on March 10, 1945, in Hartford, Connecticut. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... Lauren steiger, born in 1992 at Royal Womens hospital started acting and modelling at the age of 2 and is now currently 15 working in Milan on the catwalks. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ... For other uses, see Drama (disambiguation). ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. ... Sir Sidney Poitier KBE, (IPA pronunciation: ) (born February 20, 1927), is an Academy Award-winning Bahamian American actor, film director, and activist. ... Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an iconic American actress of film, television and stage. ... {{Infobox actor | name = Katharine Houghton | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birthname = Katharine Houghton Grant | birthdate = March 10, 1945 ) (age 62) | location = Hartford, Connecticut Katharine Houghton, an American actress, was born Katharine Houghton Grant on March 10, 1945, in Hartford, Connecticut. ...

Plot summary

The movie concerns Joanna Drayton, a young white American woman (Houghton) who has had a whirlwind romance with Dr. Prentice (Poitier), an African American she met while on a holiday in Hawaii. The two plan to marry and she will return with him to Switzerland. The plot is centered on Joanna’s return to her liberal upper class American home in San Francisco, bringing her new fiancé to dinner to meet her parents, and the reaction of family and friends. The term white American (often used interchangeably and incorrectly with Caucasian American[2] and within the United States simply white[3]) is an umbrella term that refers to people of European descent residing in the United States. ... Diverse women. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... Upper class refers to the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. ... An engagement is an agreement by a couple to enter into marriage at some future time, usually accompanied by a formal or informal announcement to friends and family. ...

Information

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for screenwriter, William Rose. (Katharine Hepburn also won the Academy Award for Best Actress.) The 1967 groundbreaking story dealt with the controversial subject of interracial marriage which had been illegal historically in most of the United States, and was still illegal in 17 Southern U.S. States up until June 12 of that year. Although legalized throughout the U.S. following the Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, the topic was still taboo in many areas. // The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ... William Rose (December 12, 1914 - February 10, 1987) was a major American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films. ... Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an iconic American actress of film, television and stage. ... Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ... An interracial couple is a romantic couple or marriage in which the partners are of differing races. ... Holding The Court declared Virginias anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restriction on marriage in the United States. ...

According to director Stanley Kramer, he and Rose intentionally debunked ethnic stereotypes; the young doctor, a typical role for the young Sidney Poitier, was purposely created idealistically perfect so that the only possible objection to his marrying Joanna would be his race, or the fact she only met him nine days earlier. Therefore, he has graduated from a top school, begun innovative medical initiatives in Africa, refused to have premarital sex with his fiancée despite her request, and leaves money on his future father-in-law's desk in payment for a long distance phone call he has made. Stanley Kramer (September 29, 1913 – February 19, 2001) was a Jewish-American film director and producer. ... For other meanings, see typecasting. ... For other uses, see Race (disambiguation). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

Stanley Kramer stated later that the principals believed so strongly in the premise that they agreed to act in the project even before seeing the script. Spencer Tracy was dying and insurance companies refused to cover him; Kramer and Hepburn put their salaries in escrow so that if he died filming could be completed with another actor. The filming schedule was altered to accommodate Tracy's failing health. This article is about the legal arrangement. ...

Criticism was more positive than negative, with most critics praising the elegant, understated performances. The film also attempted to touch upon black-on-black racism, as when both the doctor's father and the household cook Matilda 'Tillie' Binks, played by Isabel Sanford in a small but memorable role, take the young man to task for his perceived presumption. Colorism is a form of black-on-black racism, based on skin-tone, exemplified in terms such as high yellow as well as the brown paper bag test. There seems to be an implicit calculus behind this belief that makes the goodness of the individual inversely related to the darkness... Isabel Sanford (born as Eloise Gwendolyn Sanford August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004) was an American actress most famous for her role as Louise Weezie Jefferson on the CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971-1975) and The Jeffersons (1975-1985). ... A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue. ...

(Left to right) Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, and Katharine Hepburn in a pivotal scene from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The film was also memorable for being the last on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn (Tracy died seventeen days after the shooting ended). In Tracy's final speech of the film, Hepburn's tears were real—they both knew that this would be the last line of his last film, that he hadn't much longer to live. Hepburn never saw the completed film. She said the memories of Tracy were too painful. Image File history File links SkinGame2. ... Image File history File links SkinGame2. ... Sir Sidney Poitier KBE, (IPA pronunciation: ) (born February 20, 1927), is an Academy Award-winning Bahamian American actor, film director, and activist. ... Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film and stage actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. ... Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an iconic American actress of film, television and stage. ...

The film also featured Roy Glenn and Beah Richards as Mr. and Mrs. Prentice. Richards was nominated for an Oscar for her role but lost to Estelle Parsons. Virginia Christine is also featured as a co-worker of Christina's. Roy Glenn (born June 3, 1914 in Pittsburg, Kansas, died March 12, 1971) was an American character actor. ... Beah Richards (July 12, 1920 – September 14, 2000) was an American actress with a long career on stage, screen and television. ... Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927 in Marblehead, Massachusetts) is an Academy Award-winning American theater, film and television actress of Jewish descent. ... Virginia Christine as Mrs. ...

The original version of this film that played in theaters in 1967 contained the sarcastic one-liner "The Reverend Martin Luther King!", issued by the sassy black maid Tillie in response to the question, "Guess who's coming to dinner?", which is the key line of dialogue from which the film got its title. However, after the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968, this line was removed from the film, so by August 1968, almost all theater showings of this film had this line omitted. As early as 1969, the line was restored to many but not most prints, and the line was preserved in the VHS and DVD versions of the film as well. “Martin Luther King” redirects here. ...

In 1998, the American Film Institute rated Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as number 99 in its list of the 100 Greatest Movies of the past 100 years. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The first of the AFI 100 Years. ...

Awards

• 1967: Academy Award for Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn)
• 1967: Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay
• 1969: BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor (Spencer Tracy)
• 1969: BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn)

Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... // The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The film was loosely remade as Guess Who in 2005.
• In the Adult Swim series The Venture Bros. Episode 22 is entitled Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?
• In The Simpsons, the third episode of the eleventh season is entitled Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?
• In FRIENDS season 6.09 Monica asks Chandler " guess who is coming to dinner " and he jokingly replies " Sidney Poitier"
• In Adventures of the Gummi Bears, the title of the 16th episode was "Guess Who's Gumming to Dinner."

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Guess Who is a 2005 comedy film, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. ... Adult Swim is the name for an adult-oriented television programming network. ... The Venture Bros. ... The current version of this article or section is written in an informal style and with a personally invested tone. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Guess Whos Coming to Criticize Dinner? is the third episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. ... Disneys Adventures of the Gummi Bears was an American-Japanese cartoon that aired in the United States and other countries in the mid-to-late-1980s. ...

External links

• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at the Internet Movie Database