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Civil Rights Movement

Film

In the Heat of the Night

Interracial Marriage Laws

The 1960s in America

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

by Cynthia Young

Released 1967

Director Stanley Kramer

The most popular Hollywood film to tackle the subject of interracial marriage. This film sought to assuage white, liberal fears of racial integration and the widening generation gap.

The Work

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner chronicles a pivotal day in the life of an interracial couple, Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) and Joanna “Joey” Drayton (Katharine Houghton). John and Joey, who met and fell in love in Hawaii, arrive in San Francisco to ask for Joey’s parents’ blessing before flying to Geneva, Switzerland, to be married. Twenty-one-year-old Joey naively assumes that her upper-middle-class, liberal parents will have no objection to the relationship, but she soon learns otherwise. Although initially shocked, Joey’s mother, Christina (Katherine Hepburn), quickly comes to share her daughter’s excitement; however, her irascible father, Matt (Spencer Tracy), views John with anxiety and suspicion. Sensing this, John privately informs the Draytons that he will end the relationship if they do not approve. The rest of the day, Matt wrestles with his fear, hypocrisy, and racism, struggling to come to terms with the impact of an interracial marriage on his family and society at large.

To add to the drama, Joey has invited the Prentices to dinner. The Prentices assume that Joey is African American, so when they arrive, the tension builds. John argues with his father (Roy E. Glenn, Sr.), who vehemently opposes the match. Christina and John’s mother (Beah Richards) fear that their husbands’ disapproval will destroy the couple.

Joey, however, excitedly packs for Geneva, unaware that her future hangs in the balance. At last, Matt assembles everyone in the living room to announce his decision. With pent-up emotion, he declares that he does not object to the marriage and hopes John and Joey’s love is strong enough to overcome the hurdles they will face. Having given his blessing to the union, Matt escorts the still grumbling Mr. Prentice, the relieved wives, and the happy couple into the dining room for the long-awaited dinner.

Impact

Amid widespread social upheaval and militant calls for civil and economic rights for African Americans, the melodramatic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner with its sentimental aura and well-known stars made racial integration palatable to a white, middle-class audience. John and Joey’s union reinforces rather than threatens the social order. Poitier, an established symbol of integration, plays the perfect man an extremely successful Harvard-educated doctor who just happens to be African American. Joey, innocent and unable to see race as a problem between people, represents the idealism of 1960’s youth. The Draytons and the Prentices are the older generation, bewildered and frightened by the rapid pace of social change but able to adapt given time. Although the Draytons find their liberal principles tested, they ultimately live up to them. Despite the refusal of many southern theaters to show the film, it was a popular and critical success. Hepburn won an Oscar for Best Actress and the film won the Best Screenplay Award.

Related Work

In the Heat of the Night (1967), also starring Poitier, dealt with race relations in the South.

Additional Information

A Special Kind of Magic (1967), by Roy Newquist, chronicles the making of the film and includes interviews and candid photos taken on the set.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Young, Cynthia. "Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner." The 1960s in America, edited by Carl Singleton, Salem Press, 1999. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1960_4030021222.
APA 7th
Young, C. (1999). Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In C. Singleton (Ed.), The 1960s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Young, Cynthia. "Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner." Edited by Carl Singleton. The 1960s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 1999. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.