linguistic:paraphrasing, structural:scholar_edition, quality:correction, stylistic:tone
Illness and death

Tracy's adult life of alcoholism, smoking cigarettes, taking pills and being overweight left him in poor health by the time he reached his 60s. On July 21, 1963, Tracy was hospitalized after a severe attack of breathlessness. Doctors found that he was suffering from pulmonary edema, where fluid accumulates in the lungs due to an inability of the heart to pump properly. They also declared his blood pressure dangerously high. From this point on Tracy remained very weak, and Hepburn moved into his home to provide constant care. In January 1965, he was diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease and also began treatment for a previously ignored diagnosis of Type II diabetes. Tracy almost died in September 1965: a stay in the hospital following a prostatectomy resulted in his kidneys failing, and he spent the night in a coma. His recovery the next day was described by his attending doctor as "a kind of miracle".

Tracy spent most of the next two years at home with Hepburn, living what she described as a quiet life: reading, painting, and listening to music. On June 10, 1967, 17 days after completing what was his last film role in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Tracy awakened at 3:00 am to make himself a cup of tea in his apartment in Beverly Hills, California. Hepburn described in her autobiography how she followed him to the kitchen: "Just as I was about to give a push, there was a sound of a cup smashing to the floor—then clump—a loud clump." She entered the room to find Tracy lying dead from a heart attack. He was 67. Hepburn recalled, "He looked so happy to be done with living, which for all his accomplishments had been a frightful burden for him." MGM publicist Howard Strickling told the media that Tracy had been alone when he died and was found by his housekeeper.

A Requiem Mass was held for Tracy on June 12 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in East Hollywood. Active pallbearers included George Cukor, Stanley Kramer, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, and John Ford. Out of consideration for Tracy's family, Hepburn did not attend the funeral. Tracy is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park, near his wife Louise, son John and daughter Susie.