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(FILM.) FRANK TUTTLE (Attributed to).
“The Drayton Home” from Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner? Watercolor and gouache on
board. 241x578 mm; 9
1
/
2
x22
3
/
4
inches, sight. Unsigned but captioned in matte margin along
bottom. Set design for the film. Matted and framed.
[250/350]
Tuttle’s large and colorful design for the main set of the classic film “GuessWho’s Coming to Dinner”
directed and produced by Stanley Kramer and starring Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, and
Katharine Hepburn.
The film was Tracy’s final screen performance. Because of his ill health and general exhaustion, 90%
of the film was shot on one set, the Drayton home, which was created on a sound stage designed by
Tuttle (and for which he was nominated for an Oscar).To work around the actor’s limited stamina,
Hepburn helped with lighting and direction to limit shoot takes and they only shot for a few hours
each morning. He died only ten days after the film was completed. The movie went on to become
Columbia Studio’s highest grossing film to date as well as turned Poitier into their first African-
American box office star—TCM film notes archives.
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