Cary Grant

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach in a suburb of Bristol, England.  His mother encouraged him to sing and dance as well as introducing him to the cinema.  However, when he was nine, his father had his mother committed due to chronic depression.  Grant was first told that she had taken an extended holiday and, later, that she had died.  He only learned of the lie twenty-two years later when his father confessed on his deathbed.  Young Archie joined a troupe of actors called “The Penders” or the “Bob Pender Stage Troupe” and began performing as a stilt walker and in other capacities.  Expelled from school in 1918, he joined the troupe full time at the age of fourteen.

The Penders toured the United States in 1920.  When the group returned to England, Archie stayed behind.  He toured with a vaudeville group for a time, then played a variety of roles on Broadway.  During this time, his accent changed to the distinct “mid-Atlantic” accent he became known for.  He tested with Paramount but was rejected.  After a few more years performing on vaudeville and Broadway, he was offered another screen test, and this time, was offered a contract.

It did not take long for Paramount to recognize the potential star power of their new actor, now renamed Cary Grant. He was cast in a series of roles, often playing a sophisticated playboy, in films such as Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), Devil and the Deep (1932) and Hot Saturday (1932). These films showed his potential and he gained added attention when he starred opposite Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I’m No Angel (1933). It’s hard to call any film his breakthrough but Grant considered it to be Sylvia Scarlett (1935). In 1936, he decided not to renew his contract with Paramount and, after a short attempt at freelancing, signed with both RKO and Columbia, which allowed him to choose his projects.

Grant was now one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and began the first of two very successful runs that occurred during his career. The period featured a series of classic comedies including The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). His roles were not entirely comedic and included the adventure film Gunga Din (1939) and the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece Suspicion (1941). He was nominated for his first Oscar for his performance in Penny Serenade (1941) and once again for None But The Lonely Heart (1944).  This remarkable streak of hits also included the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), one of his most memorable performances. 

Grant’s success continued through the 1940s, but his career slumped in the early 1950s.  He briefly quit the film industry until his career took off again in 1955.  That year, he starred opposite Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955).  This began another spectacular run of films where Grant typically played sophisticated older men speaking clever dialog and romancing attractive and often much younger female leads. Along with To Catch a Thief, this run of films included An Affair to Remember (1957) with Deborah Kerr, Indiscreet (1958) with Ingrid Bergman, That Touch of Mink (1962) with Doris Day, and Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn.  This period also included what may be his most fondly remembered performance in North by Northwest (1959)(read our review), where he played an advertising executive on the run from international villains and the police while romancing Eva Marie Saint.  The film was the biggest box office success of his career and produced one of the most memorable scenes in Hollywood history when he dodged an airplane in a cornfield.

Grant’s last role was Walk Don’t Run (1966). He retired after this film at the age of 62. He felt he was too old to continue playing leading men and did not think his fans wanted to see him in supporting roles. He remained busy during retirement, actively serving on the board of Faberge, MGM Films, MGM Hotels, Western Airlines and several other firms. During the 1980s he toured the United States as a one-man show called A Conversation with Cary Grant.  During the show, he showed clips from his movies and took audience questions. It was while rehearsing for a performance of A Conversation with Cary Grant in Davenport, Iowa, that he suffered a stroke.  He died that evening, November 29, 1986, at the age of 82.

When watching a film with Cary Grant, you might be struck at how effortless his performance appears.  When he played intelligent, good-looking, charming and witty characters it was almost as if he was playing himself. While he never appeared to take himself so seriously that he could not go with the flow and earn a laugh from the audience, he also paid careful attention to how he looked and spoke. Even his accent was a sophisticated blend of American and British English that seemed to fit him perfectly. 

Cary Grant was nominated for two Best Actor awards.  In 1941, he was nominated for Penny Serenade but lost to Gary Cooper who won for his performance in Sergeant York (1941).  In 1944, he was nominated for None But The Lonely Heart but lost to Bing Crosby who won for his performance in Going My Way (1944).   When the American Film Institute (AFI) compiled its list of 50 Greatest American Screen Legends in 1999, Cary Grant was named the second greatest male legend behind only Humphrey Bogart.  Three of his films, The Philadelphia Story (1940), North by Northwest (1959), Bringing Up Baby (1939) appear on the AFI’s list of 100 Greatest Films. 

For more on Cary Grant, see this month’s review of North by Northwest.