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Cary Grant
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Archibald Alexander Leach
18 January 1904, Horfield, Bristol, England
29 November 1986, Davenport, Iowa
If I had known then what I know now, if I had not been so utterly stupid, I would have had a hundred children and I would have built a ranch to keep them on.
Cary Grant
In 1999 Cary Grant was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time of American cinema, after Humphrey Bogart, by the American Film Institute.
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Ranked #7 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
His only child is Jennifer Grant whose mother is Dyan Cannon.
Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind.
Suffered a major stroke prior to performing in his one man show "An Evening With Cary Grant" at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa, on November 28, 1986. Died later that night at St. Luke's Hospital at 11:22 p.m.
From 1933 onwards, he occasionally shared a house with Randolph Scott. There were many rumors about their relationship. Scott often referred to himself, jokingly, as Grant's wife. Many studio heads threatened not to employ them unless they lived separately.
Ashes scattered in California, USA.
He gave his entire fee for The Philadelphia Story (1940) to the British war effort.
He once phoned hotel mogul Conrad Hilton in Istanbul, Turkey, to find out why his breakfast order at the Plaza Hotel, which called for muffins, came with only one and a half English muffins instead of two. When Grant insisted that the explanation (a hotel efficiency report had found that most people ate only three of the four halves brought to them) still resulted in being cheated out of a half, the Plaza Hotel changed its policy and began serving two complete muffins with breakfast. From then on, Grant often spoke of forming an English Muffin-Lovers Society, members of which would be required to report any hotel or restaurant that listed muffins on the menu and then served fewer than two.
Turned down the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962), believing himself to be too old at 58 to play the character.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#22). [1995]
Donated his entire salary for Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) ($100,000) to the U.S. War Relief Fund.
Refused the part of Humbert in Lolita (1962).
He never said "Judy, Judy, Judy" in the movies, which he credits to Larry Storch, but he did say "Susan, Susan, Susan" in Bringing Up Baby (1938).
Was a great fan of Elvis Presley, and attended his Las Vegas shows.
On American Film Institute's list of top 100 U.S. love stories, compiled in June 2002, Grant led all actors with six of his films on the list. His An Affair to Remember (1957) was ranked #5; followed by: #44 The Philadelphia Story (1940) #46 To Catch a Thief (1955) #51 Bringing Up Baby (1938) #77 The Awful Truth (1937) #86 Notorious (1946)
Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued 15 October 2002.
Grant, who was 59 at the time he filmed the romantic thriller Charade (1963), felt he was too old to play the love interest for Audrey Hepburn, who at 33 was 26 years younger than him. He demanded that the script make clear that it was Audrey pursuing him, not vice versa. He also added a number of wry jokes denoting the difference in age.
Turned down roles opposite Audrey Hepburn in both Roman Holiday (1953) and Sabrina (1954); later he starred with her in Charade (1963). In Roman Holiday (1953), the offered role ended up going to Gregory Peck, and the role in Sabrina (1954) went to Humphrey Bogart.
Although he became a Paramount contract player early in his film career, when the contract was up, he made an unusual decision for the time: he decided to freelance. Because his films were so successful at the box office, he was able to work at any studio he chose for the majority of his career.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 191-193. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Thanks mainly to the strength and physical dexterity he gained as an acrobat when he was young, he did a majority of his own stunts during his film career (far more than people would think).
Douglas Fairbanks was his boyhood idol, with Fairbanks' "healthy" tan being the inspiration for Grant's constantly dark skin.
He remained close to Barbara Hutton's son Lance Reventlow after their divorce. The boy regularly stayed with Grant on some weekends. Grant referred to him as his son, was devastated when he died in a plane crash and helped Barbara with the funeral arrangements.
People were surprised by his retirement in 1966 and, despite the attempts of directors as important as Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, and even Stanley Kubrick to get him out of retirement and into their films, he never worked again.
Paramount Studios named him Cary Grant while he began his film career, because the similarity of the name to Gary Cooper, their biggest male star, (C.G. being an inversion of G.C.) and possibly because Clark Gable had the same initials. Gable and Cooper were born with their last names, however, with Grant having been born Archibald Leach.
Was named #2 on The Greatest Screen Legends actor list by the American Film Institute.
According to his will (dated 26th November 1984), his body was to be cremated and no funeral service held. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
He was voted the 6th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
The late Christopher Reeve said that he based his portrayal of Clark Kent in the Superman films on Grant in the early part of his career.
In His Girl Friday (1940), his character remarks, "The last man who messed with me was Archie Leach," a reference to his real name.
Was hyperopic or "far-sighted." That is why in many publicity stills, he is seen holding a pair of glasses.
John Cleese's character in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) was named "Archie Leach" after Grant's real name.
Was largely self-educated as he had dropped out of school at age 14. He was, however, a voracious reader throughout life.
Comedy director Leo McCarey accused him of ripping off his persona during the time that they shot The Awful Truth (1937) and using it as his own to become world-famous. What McCarey failed to notice was that many aspects of Cary's image were already developed in Sylvia Scarlett (1935) an otherwise poor Katharine Hepburn-George Cukor picture made 2 years before The Awful Truth (1937), and that his comic timing and versatility as an actor were all his own. Although ill at ease about it, they collaborated again several times.
Often spoke of his relationship with Sophia Loren as one of the most passionate romances in his life.
Was still in love with Loren when it came time for them to film "Houseboat" (1958). She went to director Melville Shavelson, in tears, complaining that Grant was chasing her again - she had told Grant she was in love with Ponti, but he didn't believe her.
Fell madly in love with Sophia Loren while filming The Pride and the Passion (1957), despite the fact that he was married to actress Betsy Drake. However, Loren was seriously involved with producer Carlo Ponti, and her passion fizzled when the film wrapped.
When Sophia Loren visited Los Angeles during the filming of "An Affair to Remember (1957)_, Grant inundated her with dozens of phone calls and hundreds of flowers - even though she had called the affair off.
Participated in an experimental psychotherapy program in which he was prescribed LSD. Betsy Drake encouraged him to take the drug (as part of a medical experiment), as he wanted to examine his failed marriages. He underwent about 100 sessions, and said that he benefited greatly from them.
Premiere Magazine ranked him as the #1 Movie Star of All Time in their "Stars in Our Constellation" feature (2005).
Maintained a year-round suntan to avoid wearing make up.
Became the director of Fabergé cosmetics firm in 1966.
Alfred Hitchcock once toyed with the idea of casting him as Hamlet (in what would have been a modern-dress film version of Shakespeare's play), but he never got around to it.
In 1957, he accepted the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on behalf of Ingrid Bergman, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony
Is portrayed by John Gavin in Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980) (TV) and by Michael-John Wolfe in The Aviator (2004)
Replaced James Stewart as the hapless ad man Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959). Stewart very much wanted the part, but director Alfred Hitchcock decided not to cast him because of the box office failure of Vertigo (1958), which Hitchcock unfairly blamed on Stewart for looking "too old" and chose Grant instead. In reality, Grant was four years older than Stewart.
Was the original choice to play Rupert Cadell in Rope (1948), but he was unavailable, so the part went to James Stewart instead (whom Grant would later replace as the lead in _North By Northwest (1959)_). Rope (1948) features references to Grant and the earlier Hitchcock film he appeared in Notorious (1946) with Ingrid Bergman.
Introduced First Lady Betty Ford at the Republican National Convention in 1976.
On April 18, 1947, King George VI awarded Grant the King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom, citing his "outstanding service to the British War Relief Society."
His performance as T.R. Devlin in "Notorious" (1946) is ranked #16 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His performance as Dr. David Huxley in Bringing Up Baby (1938) is ranked #68 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
His favorite after-shave was Aqua DePalma.
When his daughter Jennifer was born, he gave wife Dyan Cannon a diamond and sapphire bracelet as a keepsake.
He had one of his daughter Jennifer's first baby teeth encased in Lucite.
Writer Sidney Sheldon used Grant as the prototype for Rhys Williams, a character in the novel "Bloodline."
One of his favorite poems was a bit of doggerel: "They bought me a box of tin soldiers,/I threw all the Generals away,/I smashed up the Sergents and Majors,/Now I play with my Privates all day."
He was a big baseball fan, originally supporting the New York Giants and then the L.A. Dodgers.
At one time, he owned a Sealyham terrier called Archie Leach.
He became an American Citizen on June 26, 1942, under naturalization certificate #5502057.
As a child, he had a fear of knives and a fear of heights.
He always wore a gold chain around his neck with three charms attached. The three charms represented the religions of each of his former wives: a St. Christopher for Virginia Cherrill (Roman Catholic), a small cross for Barbara Hutton and Betsy Drake (Protestants), and a Star of David for Dyan Cannon (Jewish. (Donaldson)
Was considered one of the best-dressed men in the United States of America. George Francis Frazier, Jr., in "The Art of Wearing Clothes" (published in 'Esquire' magazine, September 1960), wrote "Although Grant, who is fifty-six, favors such abominations as large tie knots and claims to have originated the square-style breast-pocket handkerchief, he is so extraordinarily attractive that he looks good in practically anything. He insists upon tight armholes in his suit jackets, finds the most comfortable (and functional) of all underwear to be women's nylon panties." Other best-dressed American men cited in the article were Miles Davis, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Clark Gable and Walter Pidgeon.
If you look closely at his teeth, you'll find that he only has one incisor (front tooth). Apparently when he was a boy he knocked out a tooth while ice skating. Rather than get into trouble with his father, he opted to go to a nearby dental college and have them gradually push his other teeth together to fill in the gap. Only one person (an eagle-eyed cinematographer) ever noticed and mentioned it to him. It's described in depth in the book "Evenings with Cary Grant".
Hated his performance in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), saying it was way too over the top and that it was his least favorite film.
Was the only actor Alfred Hitchcock was said to "love." Hitch said that James Stewart was the "everyman", but never cast Stewart after Vertigo (1958) flopped, which he blamed on Stewart now looking too old to draw in the crowds.
Initally accepted his role in Houseboat (1958) because he was dating Sophia Loren, whom he was madly in love with. After she went and married someone else, Cary, heartbroken, wanted to back out. He couldn't, but the director made sure the production was a smooth one.
Initially refused Stanley Donen's offer to appear in Charade (1963), but-realizing that it was a great part-accepted it after a while. He made one stipulation: Audrey Hepburn had to chase him, not visa-versa.
Was very hurt when he lost his two Academy Award nominations, particularly None But the Lonely Heart (1944), which he thought was his best performance. This is why he was so excited when he accepted his Honarary Academy Award in 1970.
Said Indiscreet (1958), to be his personal favorite film.
He gave serious consideration to retiring in 1953, because he believed the success of Marlon Brando and Method acting meant his own kind of acting was a thing of the past. Eighteen months later he was lured back to make To Catch a Thief (1955), and therefore delayed his retirement until 1966.
Maintained good physical health until becoming ill with high blood pressure in the late 1970s. In October 1984 he suffered a minor stroke, which limited his appearances thereafter.
Received Kennedy Center honors in November 1981. President Ronald Reagan wrote how pleased he was to be able to honor his friend, while Grant stated that he was glad James Stewart was at the ceremony.
Held a press conference announcing his retirement from acting early in 1953, saying he was very angry over Hollywood's treatment of director Charles Chaplin, who had recently been blacklisted for his liberal political beliefs.
Attended the state funeral of his friend Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma at Westminster Abbey in August 1979, and openly wept during the service.
Alfred Hitchcock originally planned to cast Grant in the role of the publisher and Montgomery Clift as Brandon Rope (1948). However the established homosexual relationship between Leopold and Loeb, and the tacit recognition of a similar tie between Hamilton's killers, persuaded Grant and Clift to steer clear of the project to avoid long term commercial repercussions.
His final appearance at the Academy Awards was in 1985 to present James Stewart with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
Although fifty when To Catch a Thief (1955) was filmed, Grant was still playing a character of thirty-five.
He never played a villain.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 346-348. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
After being widely criticized for playing the romantic lead in Charade (1963) opposite the much younger Audrey Hepburn, Grant resolved never to play such a part again. He turned down Gregory Peck's role in Arabesque (1966) opposite Sophia Loren.
Although he had been considered a liberal during his career, after his retirement from acting he emerged as a major supporter of Richard Nixon in the late 1960s.
Smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day until 1952, when his third wife Betsy made him give up in order to protect his voice. However, she recalled occasionally catching him smoking outside the house, so he probably never stopped completely.
Considered for the leading role of "Ladri di biciclette" (1948).
Grant eagerly sought William Holden's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), but the producers decided he wasn't right for the part, and in any case they felt he was too old at 53.
He was director Howard Hawks's first choice to play the lead in Man's Favorite Sport? (1964), but he turned it down because he was 59 and leading lady Paula Prentiss was 25 years old.
Turned down the role of gunfighter Cherry Valance, which was to have been much larger, in Howard Hawks' epic western Red River (1948) opposite John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. The part went to John Ireland instead.
Was very close friends with Ingrid Bergman, his co-star in both Indiscreet (1958) and Notorious (1946). Grant was one of the few who supported her throughout her notorious affair with Rossellini, and while Bergman was in exile in Italy he accepted her Best Actress Oscar in 1958.
Always cited his To Catch a Thief (1955) co-star Grace Kelly as his favorite leading lady. He attended her state funeral in 1982 and wept throughout the televised service.
At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $60 million.
His mother died in January 1973 at the age of 94.
Underwent a hernia operation in the spring of 1977.
Had a benign tumor removed from his forehead in 1957.
Became seriously ill with infectious hepatitis and jaundice in 1948, and doctors gave him a less than ten per cent chance of survival. The problem was the damage that years of heavy drinking had done to his liver. Grant took more than six months to recover.
Eagerly sought the role of Midshipman Roger Byam in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), but the part went to Franchot Tone instead.
Turned down James Mason's role in A Star Is Born (1954).
Turned down James Mason's role in Lolita (1962) because he considered the film "depraved".
He turned down the role of Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1964) because he felt he would either not be as good as Rex Harrison, who had originated the part on the London stage and on Broadway, or he would be accused of imitating Harrison. He told producer Jack L. Warner that unless Harrison was cast, he would not even go to see the film.
In later years he always said the character he played in Father Goose (1964) came closest to his real self.
He and his fifth wife Barbara Harris renewed their wedding vows on 11 April 1986, the fifth anniversary of their marriage.
For a scene in The Grass Is Greener (1960), he refused to wear a smoking jacket, fearing he would immediately lose the support of the audience if he were seen dressed like that. The director later recalled that an old-fashioned kind of comedy had died that day, and it never came back.
After The Howards of Virginia (1940) flopped at the box office, Grant turned down all offers for historical epics until The Pride and the Passion (1957), which was also a failure.
He initially decided to end his 1953 retirement just to make To Catch a Thief (1955). When the film proved to be a huge success he agreed to make further films.
In March 1968 he was involved in a serious car crash in New York, but fortunately escaped with only minor injuries.
Elton John recalled that one of the highlights of his 1976 tour of the United States was meeting Grant backstage after a concert.
For several years he had toyed with the idea of playing Hamlet in an attempt to prove to his critics that he could act. This idea was finally scuppered by Laurence Olivier's film Hamlet (1948).
He actively sought James Stewart's role in Bell Book and Candle (1958), and Clark Gable's role in Teacher's Pet (1958).
In keeping with his wishes, there was no funeral service.
Cary Grant and Charlton Heston attended a dinner at 10 Downing Street honoring the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom they both greatly admired. Afterward Heston said to his wife Lydia, "You know I sat next to Mrs Thatcher." She replied, "That's nothing - I got to sit next to Cary Grant!".
He voted for Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, Gerald Ford in 1976 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
Once shared a house with his close friend Noel Coward early in his Hollywood career.
He considered himself to be miscast in The Howards of Virginia (1940), None But the Lonely Heart (1944) and The Pride and the Passion (1957).
Once lived with the silent movie star William Haines.
A reporter once asked him, "Who is Cary Grant? He replied: "When you find out, tell me."
A reporter in search of information wired Grant's agent: "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?" Grant happened to read the message himself, and wired back "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"
I have spent the greater part of my life fluctuating between Archie Leach and Cary Grant, unsure of each, suspecting each.
Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.
[Talking about Burt Reynolds]: "As well as being my, and the world's favorite light comedian, Burt is a very considerate and thoughtful man".
"My screen persona is a combination of Jack Buchanan, Noel Coward and Rex Harrison. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and, finally, I became that person. Or he became me".
I improve on misquotation.
Divorce is a game played by lawyers.
To succeed with the opposite sex, tell her you are impotent; she can't wait to disprove it.
The only really good thing about acting is that there's no heavy lifting.
1970 Honorary Oscar acceptance speech: "You know that I may never look at this without remembering the quiet patience of directors who were so kind to me, who were kind enough to put up with me more than once, some of them even three or four times. I trust they and all the other directors, writers and producers and my leading women have forgiven me for what I didn't know. You know that I've never been a joiner or a member of any particular social set, but I've been privileged to be a part of Hollywood's most glorious era."
I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.
My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.
My father used to say, 'Let them see you and not the suit. That should be secondary.'
Mostly, we have manufactured ladies -- with the exception of Ingrid, Grace, Deborah and Audrey.
It takes 500 small details to add up to one favorable impression.
Actors today try to avoid comedy because if you write a comedy that's not a success, the lack of success is immediately apparent because the audience is not laughing. A comedy is a big risk. This is a tremendously costly business and to put money into a picture that might not come off -- oh, that's pretty risky.
This, I love. I enjoy talking back and forth to people. You know, otherwise, I wouldn't get to meet the people.
I tell you, in films, one doesn't really meet the audience. You don't get the impact or spirit of your audience, whereas when you are out in the public, you do.'
I've often been accused by critics of being myself on-screen. But being oneself is more difficult than you'd suppose.
It's important to know where you've come from so that you can know where you're going. I probably chose my profession because I was seeking approval, adulation, admiration and affection.
[on Irene Dunne] "Her timing was marvelous. She was so good that she made comedy look easy. If she'd made it look as difficult as it really is, she would have won her Oscar."
I know they nicknamed us 'Cash and Cary,' but I never asked Barbara Hutton for a penny. I never married a woman for money, that's the God's truth. I may not have married for very sound reasons, but money was the least of them.
On his many marriages: "It seems that each new marriage is more difficult to survive than the last one. I'm rather a fool for punishment - I keep going back for more, don't ask me why."
[Charlie] Chaplin is waiting a long time at a trolley car stop. He's the first in line of what turns out to be a huge crowd. The trolley finally arrives, he's the first one on, but then the crowd behind him surges through the door and pushes him right through the door on the other side. And that's a lot like what Hollywood is like. When you're a young man, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. is driving. Wally Beery is the conductor, and Chaplin's got a front row seat. You take your seat, and back behind you is Gary Cooper. He has got his long feet stuck out in front of one of the exit doors, and people keep tripping over him and onto the street. Suddenly a young man named Ty Power gets on. He asks you to move over. You make a picture with Joan Fontaine. You think you do a good job, but she wins the Oscar, and you get nothing. And pretty soon more and more people get on, it's getting very crowded, and then you decide to get off. When you get off the trolley, you notice that it's been doing nothing but going around in circles. It doesn't go anywhere. You see the same things over and over. So you might as well get off.
On Katharine Hepburn: "She was this slip of a women and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic women I'd ever seen, and probably ever seen since. You had to look at her, you had to listen to her, there was no escaping her.
For more than thirty years of my life I had smoked with increasing habit. I was finally separated from the addiction by Betsy, who, after carefully studying hypnosis, practiced it, with my full permission and trust, as I was going off to sleep one night. She sat in a chair near the bed and, in a quiet, calm voice, rhythmically repeated what I inwardly knew to be true, the fact that smoking was not good for me; and, as my conscious mind relaxed and no longer cared to offer a negative thought, her words sank into my subconscious; and the following day, to my surprise I had no need or wish to smoke. Nor have I smoked since. Nor have I, as far as I know, replaced it with any other harmful habit.
Everyone tells me I've had such an interesting life, but sometimes I think it's been nothing but stomach disturbances and self-concern.
I think making love is the best form of exercise.
I'd like to have made one of those big splashy Technicolor musicals with Rita Hayworth.
There are only seven movie stars in the world whose name alone will induce American bankers to lend money for movie productions, and the only woman on the list is Ingrid Bergman.
"I have nothing against gays, I'm just not one myself." (1980)
I don't like to see men of my age making love on the screen. Being a father will make me more free than I have ever been. It will be a great experience. I can't wait. (1965)
There is no doubt I am aging. My format of comedy is still the same as ever. I gravitate toward scripts that put me in an untenable position. Then the rest of the picture is spent in trying to squirm out of it. Naturally, I always get the girl in the end. It may appear old-fashioned. There seems to be a trend toward satirical comedy, like The Apartment (1960). Perhaps it is because young writers today feel satirical living in a world that seems headed for destruction. (1961)
I can't portray Bing Crosby, I'm Cary Grant. I'm myself in that role. The most difficult thing is to be yourself - especially when you know it's going to be seen immediately by 300 million people.
The secret of comedy is doing it naturally under the most difficult circumstances. And film comedy is the most difficult of all. At least on stage you know right away if you're getting laughs or not. But making a movie, you have no way of knowing. So you try to time the thing for space and length and can only hope when it plays in the movie theaters months later that you have timed the thing right. It's difficult and it takes experience. I'll always remember the great actor, A.E. Matthews, who said on his death bed, 'Dying's tough - but not as tough as comedy.'
Chaplin has given great pleasure to millions of people, and I hope he returns to Hollywood. Personally, I don't think he is a Communist, but whatever his political affiliations, they are secondary to the fact that he is a great entertainer. We should not go off the deep end.
[on Betsy Drake] Betsy was a delightful comedienne, but I don't think Hollywood was ever really her milieu. She wanted to help humanity, to help others help themselves.
I have no plans to write an autobiography, I will leave that to others. I'm sure they will turn me into a homosexual or a Nazi spy or something else. (1981)
I asked James Stewart recently if he had thought about dying. He said he hadn't at all. But I have. (1983)
My intention in taking LSD was to make myself happy. A man would be a fool to take something that didn't make him happy.I took it with a group of men, one of whom was Aldous Huxley. We deceived ourselves by calling it therapy, but we were truly interested in how this chemical could help humanity. I found it a very enlightening experience, but it's like alcohol in one respect: a shot of brandy can save your life, but a bottle of brandy can kill you.
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Archibald Alexander Leach[2] (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English-American actor.[3] With his distinctive yet not quite placeable Mid-Atlantic accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man: handsome, virile, charismatic, and charming.
He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. His popular classic films include The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Suspicion (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Notorious (1946), To Catch A Thief (1955), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959), and Charade (1963).
At the 42nd Academy Awards the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with an Honorary Award "for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues".
Archibald Alexander Leach was born in Horfield, Bristol, to Elsie Maria Kingdon (1877–1973) and Elias James Leach (1873–1935).[4][5] An only child, he had an unhappy childhood, attending Bishop Road Primary School. His mother had suffered from depression since the death of a previous child. His father placed her in a mental institution, and told his nine-year-old son only that she had gone away on a "long holiday"; it was not until he was in his thirties that Grant discovered her alive, in an institutionalized care facility.
He was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918. He subsequently joined the "Bob Pender stage troupe" and travelled with the group to the United States as a stilt walker in 1920 at the age of 16, on a two-year tour of the country. He was processed at Ellis Island on July 28, 1920.[6] When the troupe returned to the UK, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career.
Still using his birth name, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931); Music in May (1931); Nina Rosa (1931); Rio Rita (1931); Street Singer (1931); The Three Musketeers (1931); and Wonderful Night (1931).
After some success in light Broadway comedies, he went to Hollywood in 1931, where he acquired the name Cary Lockwood. He chose the name Lockwood after the surname of his character in a recent play called Nikki. He signed with Paramount Pictures, but while studio bosses were impressed with him, they were less than impressed with his adopted stage name. They decided that the name Cary was acceptable, but Lockwood had to go due to a similarity with another actor's name. It was after browsing through a list of the studio's preferred surnames, that Cary Grant was born. Grant chose the name because the initials C and G had already proved lucky for Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, two of Hollywood's biggest movie stars.
Already having appeared as leading man opposite Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus (1932), his stardom was given a further boost by Mae West when she chose him for her leading man in two of her most successful films, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (both 1933). I'm No Angel was a tremendous financial success and, along with She Done Him Wrong, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Paramount put Grant in a series of unsuccessful films until 1936, when he signed with Columbia Pictures. His first major comedy hit was when he was loaned to Hal Roach's studio for the 1937 Topper (which was distributed by MGM).
Grant starred in some of the classic screwball comedies, including Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Katharine Hepburn, His Girl Friday (1940) with Rosalind Russell, Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) featuring Priscilla Lane, and Monkey Business (1952) opposite Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe. Under the tutelage of director Leo McCarey, his role in The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne was the pivotal film in the establishment of Grant's screen persona. These performances solidified his appeal, but it was The Philadelphia Story (1940), with Hepburn and James Stewart, that made him a star.
Grant was one of Hollywood's top box-office attractions for several decades. He was a versatile actor, who did demanding physical comedy in movies such as Gunga Din (1939) with the skills he had learned on the stage. Howard Hawks said that Grant was "so far the best that there isn't anybody to be compared to him".
Grant was a favorite actor of Alfred Hitchcock, notorious for disliking actors, who said that Grant was "the only actor I ever loved in my whole life". Grant appeared in the Hitchcock classics Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959). Biographer Patrick McGilligan wrote that, in 1965, Hitchcock asked Grant to star in Torn Curtain (1966), only to learn that Grant had decided to retire after making one more film, Walk, Don't Run (1966); Paul Newman was cast instead in Torn Curtain, opposite Julie Andrews.
In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Grantley Productions, and produced a number of movies distributed by Universal, such as Operation Petticoat (1959), Indiscreet (1958), That Touch of Mink (co-starring with Doris Day, 1962), and Father Goose (1964). In 1963, he appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963). His last feature fim was Walk, Don't Run (1966) with Samantha Eggar.
Grant was the first actor to "go independent", effectively bucking the old studio system, which almost completely controlled what an actor could or could not do. In this way, Grant was able to control every aspect of his career. He decided which movies he was going to appear in, he often had personal choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times, even negotiated a share of the gross, something uncommon at the time.
Grant was nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940s. Grant received a special Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970. In 1981, he was accorded the Kennedy Center Honors.
In 1962, a few years before retiring, Time reported that he had once received a telegram from a magazine editor asking him "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?" Grant was reported to have responded with "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"
Never self absorbed, he even poked fun at himself with statements such as, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant—even I want to be Cary Grant".
Although Grant had retired from the screen, he remained active in other areas. In the late 1960s, he accepted a position on the board of directors at Fabergé. By all accounts this position was not honorary, as some had assumed, Grant regularly attended meetings and his mere appearance at a product launch would almost certainly guarantee its success. The position also permitted use of a private plane, which Grant could use to fly to see his daughter wherever her mother, Dyan Cannon, was working. He later joined the boards of Hollywood Park, Western Airlines (now Delta Air Lines), and MGM.
In the last few years of his life, Grant undertook tours of the United States in a one-man show. It was called "A Conversation with Cary Grant", in which he would show clips from his films and answer audience questions. Grant was preparing for a performance at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa on the afternoon of 29 November 1986 when he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He had previously suffered a minor stroke in October 1984. He died at 11:22 pm in St. Luke's Hospital.
In 2001 a statue of Grant was erected in Millennium Square, a regenerated area next to the harbour in his city of birth, Bristol, England.
In November 2004, Grant was named "The Greatest Movie Star of All Time" by Premiere Magazine. Richard Schickel, the film critic, said about Grant: "He's the best star actor there ever was in the movies."
Grant was married five times, and was dogged by rumors that he was bisexual. He wed Virginia Cherrill on February 10, 1934. She divorced him on March 26, 1935, following charges that Grant had hit her. He married Barbara Hutton and became a father figure to her son, Lance Reventlow. The couple was derisively nicknamed "Cash and Cary", although in an extensive prenuptial agreement Grant refused any financial settlement in the event of a divorce. After divorcing in 1945, they remained lifelong friends. Grant always bristled at the accusation that he married for money: "I may not have married for very sound reasons, but money was never one of them."
On December 25, 1949, Grant married Betsy Drake. He appeared with her in two films. This would prove to be his longest marriage, ending on August 14, 1962. Drake introduced Grant to LSD, and in the early 1960s he related how treatment with the hallucinogenic drug—legal at the time—at a prestigious California clinic had finally brought him inner peace after yoga, hypnotism, and mysticism had proved ineffective.
He eloped with Dyan Cannon on July 22, 1965 in Las Vegas. Their daughter, Jennifer Grant, was born prematurely on February 26, 1966. He frequently called her his "best production", and regretted that he had not had children sooner. The marriage was troubled from the beginning and Cannon left him in December 1966, claiming that Grant flew into frequent rages and spanked her when she "disobeyed" him. The divorce, finalized in 1968, was bitter and public, and custody fights over their daughter went on for nearly ten years.
On April 11, 1981, Grant married long-time companion, British hotel public relations agent Barbara Harris, who was 47 years his junior. They renewed their vows on their fifth wedding anniversary. Fifteen years after Grant's death, Harris married former All-American quarterback David Jaynes in 2001.
Grant was a Republican, but did not think movie stars should publicly make political declarations. Grant described his politics and his reticence about them this way:
I'm opposed to actors taking sides in public and spouting spontaneously about love, religion, or politics. We aren't experts on these subjects. Personally I'm a mass of inconsistencies when it comes to politics. My opinions are constantly changing. That's why I don't ever take a public stand on issues.
Throughout his life, Grant maintained personal friendships with colleagues of varying political stripes and his few political activities seemed to be shaped by personal friendships. Repulsed by the human costs to many in Hollywood, Grant publicly condemned McCarthyism in 1953 and vocally defended his friend Charlie Chaplin when the latter was blacklisted, insisting that Chaplin's artistic value outweighed political concerns.
Grant was also a friend of the Kennedy brothers and made one of his rare statements on public issues following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, calling for gun control.
In 1976, after his retirement from movies, Grant made his one overtly partisan appearance, introducing his friend Betty Ford, the First Lady, at the Republican National Convention, but even in this he maintained some distance from partisanship, speaking of "your" party, rather than "ours" in his remarks.
In 1958 Grant himself was criticized by right-wing columnist Hedda Hopper for vacationing in the Soviet Union after filming Indiscreet (1958). He appeared to inflame the controversy by remarking to an interviewer "I don't care what kind of government they have over there, I never had such a good time in my life".
