A Dinner to Remember

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, Katharine Hepburn, and Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton (in her debut film role). The film was one of the first of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as such marriages historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. Six months before the film was released, interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 states, and filming ended shortly before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967. 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, with the film being released six months later. Hepburn, who was Tracy's longtime romantic partner, stated she never saw the completed film, saying it would be too painful for her. 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". The film's Oscar-nominated score was composed by Frank De Vol.