Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | |
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Directed by | Stanley Kramer |
Written by | William Rose |
Produced by | Stanley Kramer |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Sam Leavitt |
Edited by | Robert C. Jones |
Music by | Frank De Vol |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 108 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million[2] |
Box office | $56.7 million[2] |
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American romantic comedy drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton.
The film was one of the few of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.
The film was the ninth and final on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn. Tracy was very ill during filming but insisted on continuing. Filming of his role was completed just 17 days before his death in June 1967.[3] Hepburn never saw the completed film, saying it would be too painful for her.[4] The film was released in December 1967, six months after Tracy's death.
In 2017, on its 50th anniversary, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6] The film's Oscar-nominated score was composed by Frank De Vol.[7]