Let’s see. Gordon Clapp played Detective Greg Medavoy in the groundbreaking TV drama “NYPD Blue” and won an Emmy for it in 1998. He portrayed real estate salesman Dave Moss in the Broadway revival of David Mamet’s high-powered “Glengarry Glen Ross” in 2005 and nabbed a Tony nomination for that.

He’s now stepping into a role identified with legendary actor Spencer Tracy, the character of Matt Drayton in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” And Clapp is taking on that part at the Ivoryton Playhouse.

The movie version of “Dinner,” of course, co-starred Katharine Hepburn and Katharine Houghton (who is Hepburn’s niece), and both actresses also performed on the Ivoryton Playhouse stage.

Clapp, by the way, is a graduated of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford.

Clapp is a New England guy; he grew up in New Hampshire and has a home now in Vermont. As a student at Williams College in Massachusetts, he met actor David Strathairn and writer-director John Sayles. They later worked together on films including “Eight Men Out” and “Return of the Secaucus Seven.”

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton; through May 12; 7:30 p.m. Wed. and Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. and Sun.; $55 for adtuls, $50 for seniors, $25 for students, $20 for kids 12 and younger; (860) 767-7318, www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.