It is probably too ambitious to call this My Favourite Scenes, mainly because I have more than a thousand to choose from, and if I decided to write about all of them, I would never see the end of it. So every now and then I will just write about the first scene that comes to mind that I remember fondly, for one reason or another.

The very first one I will write about is Spencer Tracy’s final speech from 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Tracy and his longtime partner Katharine Hepburn did nine films together, but this one has a special meaning. I first watched this movie after reading Hepburn’s biography, which was published shortly after her death in 2003, and the book explained how Tracy, whose health was declining, died of a heart attack only a couple of weeks after filming this scene I want to show you.

This scene, Tracy’s speech, is the final moment from the movie, and it shows Matt Draytton (Tracy) finally accepting the controversial upcoming marriage of his daughter to Sidney Poitier’s character. As he explains in it, the only thing that matters is that they love each other, and he culminates his lovely speech with a declaration of love to his wife, played by Hepburn. But when you see the clip, you will realise that he is talking about and to Hepburn herself. It is all so heartbreaking that I am already regretting having to watch it again…