Grant, Cary

orig. Archibald Alexander Leach

born Jan. 18, 1904, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.

died Nov. 29, 1986, Davenport, Iowa, U.S.

British-born U.S. film actor.

He performed with an acrobatic comedy troupe in England before he found parts in stage musicals. He made his film debut in This Is the Night (1932) and earned stardom with Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933). His debonair charm and good looks, combined with a distinctive voice, made him a longtime popular star in sophisticated comedies such as Topper (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), and The Philadelphia Story (1941). He also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He received an honorary Academy Award in 1970.

Cary Grant, 1957

The Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archive, New York City

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▪ British-American actor

original name  Archibald Alexander Leach  

born January 18, 1904, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England

died November 29, 1986, Davenport, Iowa, U.S.

      British-born American film actor whose good looks, debonair style, and flair for romantic comedy made him one of Hollywood's most popular and enduring stars.

      To escape poverty and a fractious family, Archie Leach ran away from home at age 13 to perform as a juggler with the Bob Pender Troupe of comedians and acrobats. He made the United States his home during the company's American tour of 1920, and for the next several years he honed his performing skills in such disparate pursuits as a barker at Coney Island, a stilt walker at Steeplechase Park, and a straight man in vaudeville shows. His performances throughout the country in numerous stage musicals and comedies during the late 1920s and early '30s led to a contract with Paramount Pictures (Paramount Pictures Corporation) in 1932. Studio executives thought “Archie Leach” was an unsuitable name for a leading man and rechristened the actor Cary Grant, a name he would legally adopt in 1941. Grant first appeared in several short films and low-budget features for Paramount, and he attracted some attention with his role as a wealthy playboy in the Marlene Dietrich (Dietrich, Marlene) vehicle Blonde Venus (1932). The next year, Grant became a star when Mae West (West, Mae) chose him for her leading man in two of her most successful films, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (both 1933).

      Although he appears a bit reserved in these early films, Grant established a screen persona of debonair charm and an air of humorous intelligence. Widely regarded as one of the handsomest men in film history, Grant was an ingratiating and nonthreatening sex symbol. Adding to his appeal was his unique speaking voice: his not wholly successful efforts to rid himself of his natural Cockney accent resulted in a clipped, much-imitated speaking pattern. His screen success was helped in no small measure by the great number of classic films in which he appeared. Upon the expiration of his Paramount contract in 1935, Grant became one of the few top stars to freelance his services, allowing him control over his career and the freedom to choose his scripts carefully.

  During the late 1930s and early '40s, Grant established himself in the genres of screwball comedy and action-adventure. Katharine Hepburn (Hepburn, Katharine) and Irene Dunne (Dunne, Irene) were his frequent and highly effective costars. With Hepburn, he appeared in the drag comedy Sylvia Scarlett (1935), the classic screwball comedies Holiday (1938) and Bringing Up Baby (1938), and the upper-class satire The Philadelphia Story (1940); and with Dunne, Grant made the madcap farces The Awful Truth (1937) and My Favorite Wife (1940), as well as the comic tearjerker Penny Serenade (1941). Grant also proved himself capable of rugged action roles, with well-regarded performances in the popular Only Angels Have Wings and Gunga Din (both 1939). Other Grant classics from this period include his turns as a whimsical poltergeist in Topper (1937) and as the charmingly conniving newspaper editor Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940), which is regarded as one of the greatest comedies in movie history. Howard Hawks (Hawks, Howard), George Cukor (Cukor, George), Leo McCarey (McCarey, Leo), George Stevens (Stevens, George), Garson Kanin (Kanin, Garson), and Frank Capra (Capra, Frank) were some of the renowned directors for whom Grant worked during this time.

      Grant's association with Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock, Sir Alfred) resulted in some of the best work from both men. The director elicited some of the actor's best performances by casting him somewhat against type: the characters Grant portrays in the Hitchcock films have an underlying dark side that was compellingly juxtaposed with his characteristic suave demeanour. In their first collaboration, Suspicion (1941), Grant played an unsympathetic character who may or may not be a murderer. He gave a fascinating and appropriately disturbing performance as a callous American agent who uses the woman he loves (Ingrid Bergman (Bergman, Ingrid)) to his own advantage in Notorious (1946), one of Hitchcock's most-renowned films. In the next decade, Grant appeared in Hitchcock's lighthearted and stylish caper To Catch a Thief (1955), a film noted for its ad-libbed scenes, rife with double-entendres, between Grant and costar Grace Kelly (Kelly, Grace). North by Northwest (1959) was a career milestone for both Grant and Hitchcock and is regarded as a masterful blend of suspense and humour.

      Grant received Academy Award nominations twice—for Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart (1944)—and received an honorary Oscar in 1970, but he and Edward G. Robinson (Robinson, Edward G.) share the dubious distinction of being Hollywood's most highly regarded actors never to have won Oscars for acting. His performances in such memorable films as Mr. Lucky (1943), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), I Was a Male War Bride (1949), Monkey Business (1952), and An Affair to Remember (1957) have nonetheless stood the test of time far better than the work of many of his award-winning contemporaries.

      Grant's screen career extended into the 1960s, when he appeared in such films as the romantic farce That Touch of Mink (1962) with Doris Day (Day, Doris) and the stylish caper Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn (Hepburn, Audrey). Walk Don't Run (1966) inadvertently became his final film, as he was enmeshed in divorce (from fourth wife Dyan Cannon) and child-custody proceedings that dragged on until 1969 and consumed his attention; it is said that he lost much of his interest in filmmaking during that period. One of the few stars for whom the term “screen icon” is not mere hyperbole, Grant in 1999 ranked second (next to Humphrey Bogart (Bogart, Humphrey)) on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest film stars of all time.

Additional Reading

Warren G. Harris, Cary Grant: A Touch of Elegance (1987); Donald Deschner, The Films of Cary Grant (1973; also published as The Complete Films of Cary Grant, reissued 1995); Graham McCann, Cary Grant: A Class Apart (1996); Richard Schickel, Cary Grant (1983, reissued 1998).

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