Cary Grant!

Cary Grant Joke

Cary Grant

Once told by an interviewer "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant". Grant is said to have replied: "So would I." Cary Grant's early years in Bristol, England, would have been an ordinary lower middle class childhood except for one extraordinary event. At age 9, Cary Grant came home from school one day and was told his mother had gone off to a seaside resort. She was in a mental institution for years and Cary Grant never was told. From the age of 9 until his late 20s, Cary Grant didn't see his mother at all. Cary Grant left school at 14, lying about his age and forging his father's signature on a letter to join Bob Pender's troupe of knockabout comedians. Cary Grant learned pantomime as well as acrobatics as Cary Grant toured with the Pender troupe in the English provinces, picked up a cockney accent in the music halls in London, and then in July 1920 Cary Grant was one of the eight Pender boys selected to go to America. Their show on Broadway, "Good Times", ran for 456 performances, giving Grant time to acclimatize. Cary Grant would stay in America. The opening Hollywood chapter is titled "She Done Cary Grant Right". Mae West wanted Grant for She Done Cary Grant Wrong (1933), because Grant combined virility with the aura and bearing of a gentleman. Grant was young enough to begin the new career of fatherhood when Cary Grant stopped making movies at age 62. One biographer said Grant was alienated by the new realism in the film industry. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Cary Grant had invented a man of the world persona and a style -- "high comedy with polished words". In To Catch a Thief (1955) Cary Grant and 'Grace Kelly' were allowed to improvise some of the dialogue. They knew what the director, 'Alfred Hitchcock' , wanted to do with a scene, they rehearsed it, put in some clever double entendres that got past the censors, and then the scene was filmed. Cary Grant's biggest box office success was another Hitchcock 1950s film, North by Northwest (1959) made with Eva Marie Saint since Kelly was by that time Princess of Monaco.

First of all, Cary came from a very impoverished childhood, emotionally and physically, as well as monetarily. At the age of nine, his mother mysteriously disappeared, never to return. (Cary was to learn twenty years later that Elsie had been committed to a mental institution by Cary's father, Elias Leach.) Elias was an alcoholic. Cary was a very lonely little boy who eventually ran away from home at fourteen to join the camaraderie of Pender's circus troupe. Cary Grant found himself a family, basically.

Once in America and the Pender Troupe having gone back to the U.K., Cary was again without family. Cary Grant had many friends, but no family.

After many years in the U.S., and after moving to California, I believe that in Randolph Scott Cary Grant found a friend that felt like family: someone who accepted Cary Grant for who Cary Grant was and cared deeply for him. This type of friendship is possible between two people of the same sex without it being a homosexual relationship. They were buddies. Buddies hang out together and help each other out in good times and bad. In fact, their relationship wasn't called into question until a series of publicity photographs was taken and released. Photos that were set up to entice women to see how "domestic" these two handsome bachelors were, instead sparked rumors that such domestic bliss must mean something sexual.

The two remained friends for years. I do believe that the rumors that haunted them both all of their lives, and exists even after their deaths, eventually took its toll on their friendship.

I do not believe that Cary was homosexual. Were that true, I believe Cary Grant would have married once to appease the studio moguls and then pursued his pleasures quietly, e.g. Rock Hudson. The truth is, Cary Grant was married five times, dated (intimately) very extensively and had a grand passion for Sophia Loren.

My thoughts are that Cary and Randy had a deep and caring bond, like brothers. Cary lived with Randolph off and on before and between marriages for the sense of family, for the moral support (who isn't shattered after a divorce?), the companionship, and for monetary reasons. From a lonely child sprang a man who spent a lifetime searching for the happiness and security of home; Randolph Scott provided that for a period in Cary's life.

Spouse
Barbara Harris (11 April 1981 - 29 November 1986) (his death)
Dyan Cannon (22 July 1965 - 21 March 1968) (divorced) 1 daughter
Betsy Drake (25 December 1949 - 14 August 1962) (divorced)
Barbara Hutton (8 July 1942 - 30 August 1945) (divorced)
Virginia Cherrill (10 February 1934 - 26 March 1935) (divorced)
Trivia
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, Cary Grant 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 a gyp, 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 007.

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, but Cary Grant 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. Cary Grant's 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 approaching 60 at the time Cary Grant filmed the romantic thriller Charade (1963), felt Cary Grant was too old to play the love interest for Audrey Hepburn, who was 25 years younger. Cary Grant demanded that the script make clear that it was Audrey pursuing him...not vice versa. Cary Grant also added a number of wry jokes denoting the difference in age.

Turned down roles opposite Audrey Hepburn in both "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina", later Cary Grant starred with her in "Charade". In "Roman Holiday", the offered role ended up going to Gregory Peck, and the role in "Sabrina" went to Humphrey Bogart.

Although Cary Grant became a Paramount contract player early in his film career, when the contract was up, Cary Grant made an unusual decision for the time: Cary Grant decided to freelance. Because his films were so successful at the box office, Cary Grant was able to work at any studio Cary Grant 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 Cary Grant gained as an acrobat when Cary Grant was young, Cary Grant 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 after their divorce. The boy regularly stayed with Grant on some weekends. Grant referred to Cary Grant as his son and was devastated when Cary Grant died in a plane crash.

People were surprised by his retirement in 1966 and, despite the attempts of directors as important as Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, & even Stanley Kubrick to get Cary Grant out of retirement and into their films, Cary Grant never worked again.

Paramount Studios named Cary Grant Cary Grant while Cary Grant 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 Cary Grant 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, Cary Grant is seen holding a pair of glasses.

John Cleese's character in "A Fish Called Wanda" was named "Archie Leach" after Grant's real name.

Was largely self-educated as Cary Grant had dropped out of school at age 14. Cary Grant was, however, a voracious reader throughout life.

Comedy director Leo McCarey accused Cary Grant 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," 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 Cary Grant didn't believe her.

Fell madly in love with Sophia Loren while filming "The Pride and the Passion," despite the fact that Cary Grant 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," 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 Cary Grant was prescribed LSD. Betsy Drake encouraged Cary Grant to take the drug (as part of a medical experiment), as Cary Grant wanted to examine his failed marriages. Cary Grant underwent about 100 sessions, and said that Cary Grant benefited greatly from them.

He was voted the Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.

Maintained a year-round suntan to avoid wearing make up.

Became the director of Faberg' cosmetics firm in 1966.

Personal quotes

"He is personality functioning." - Katharine Hepburn

A reporter once asked him, "Who is Cary Grant? Cary Grant 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 Cary Grant 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 Cary Grant 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."

Salary

That Touch of Mink (1962) $4,000,000
Operation Petticoat (1959) $3,000,000
North by Northwest (1959) $450,000 (plus $315,000 overtime and percentage of gross profit)
People Will Talk (1951) $300,000
Night and Day (1946) $150,000
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) $100,000
The Philadelphia Story (1940) $150,000
Singapore Sue (1932) $150
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:

As a teenage runaway, Archibald Leach began his lengthy show-business career as an acrobat, juggler, and song-and-dance man, touring with small troupes and playing music halls all over England. In 1920, as one of the Bob Pender comedy troupe, Cary Grant came to America on a two-year tour and decided to stay. Cary Grant took several other jobs (including that of lifeguard) to supplement his modest solo performing career. After several years Leach returned to the U.K., where Cary Grant achieved considerable success as an engaging leading man in lighthearted stage plays. Cary Grant returned to the United States late in the decade, eventually starring on Broadway and embarking on a successful tour across the country. In 1932 Cary Grant made his film debut as a jaunty sailor in a Paramount short subject, Singapore Sue

Upon reaching Hollywood in 1932 Cary Grant was screen-tested at the behest of Paramount studio chief B. P. Schulberg, signed to a long-term contract, and rechristened Cary Grant. (The studio's first choice was Cary Lockwood.) Cary Grant made his feature film debut in This Is the Night a charming, sophisticated comedy of the type that would make Cary Grant a top star. The urbane, personable Grant appeared in a slew of 1932 Paramount pictures-among them Sinners in the Sun, Merrily We Go to Hell, Blonde Venus (opposite the studio's top female star, Marlene rich), The Devil and the Deep, Hot Saturday and Madame Butterfly-before costarring with Mae West in She Done Cary Grant Wrong (1933), a ribald, wildly successful comedy in which West exhorted Grant to "come up some time an' see me."

Over the next few years Grant tackled a wide variety of starring roles in costume dramas, war films, adventure pictures, and topical comedies. Cary Grant built, slowly and steadily, a reputation as one of Hollywood's most dependable leading men. Cary Grant's films during this period, most of them made for Paramount, included The Eagle and the Hawk, I'm No Angel (also opposite West), Alice in Wonderland (all 1933, in the last-named as the Mock Turtle),Thirty-Day Princess, Ladies Should Listen, Kiss and Make Up, Born to Be Bad (all 1934), Enter Madame, Wings in the Dark, The Last Outpost, Sylvia Scarlett (all 1935, on loan to RKO in the lastnamed, opposite Katharine Hepburn), Suzy (for MGM, paired with Jene Harlow), Big Brown Eyes, Wedding Present, The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (all 1936, the last-named a British-made comedy), The Toast of New York and When You're in Love (both 1937).

He hit his stride in a string of sophisticated screwball comedies-beginning with Topper (1937)-in which Cary Grant evolved the debonair, witty, uninhibited screen persona that ultimately brought Cary Grant superstardom. The next several years saw Grant at his peak, alternating classic comedies (such as 1937's The Awful Truth 1938's Holiday and Bringing Up Baby 1940's his Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story and My Favorite Wife) with similarly well-remembered dramas (1939's In Name Only and 1941's Penny Serenade for which Cary Grant was Oscar-nominated), adventure films (1939's Gunga Din and Only Angels Have Wings) and thrillers (1941's Suspicion the first of his many films for director Alfred Hitchcock).

He managed to balance the same kind of mix throughout the 1940s, in the witty social comedy-drama The Talk of the Town (1942), the charming star vehicle Mr. Lucky (1943), the energetic farce Arsenic and Old Lace (1944; made in 1941), the atypically moody drama None but the Lonely Heart (1944, a personal favorite of Grant's, with his characterization as a Cockney drifter earning another Oscar nomination), the wartime submarine drama Destination Tokyo (1944), the crackling romantic thriller Notorious (1946, again for Hitchcock), the musical biography Night and Day (1946, as Cole Porter), and such airy seemingly effortless comedies as Once Upon a Time (1944), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The Bishop's Wife (both 1947, in the latter as an angel in a Brooks Brothers suit), Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, Every Girl Should Be Married (both 1948, the latter costarring then-wife Betsy Drake), and I Was a Male war Bride (1949).

The 1950s and 1960s offered much the same, as Grant continued to charm moviegoers with a suave screen persona apparently impervious to the ravages of age.Crisis (1950) cast Cary Grant in an unusual political drama;People Will Talk (1951) offered an intellectual social comedy, while Monkey Business (1952) tried hard, perhaps too hard, to replicate the screwball comedies of the 1930s;To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959), Hitchcock films both, were successful (almost archetypal) star-director collaborations; and An Affair to Remember (1957) was an uneasy mix of classy comedy and hoary soapopera clich'-though extremely popular. Cary Grant's leading ladies in this period included Ginger Rogers, Deborah Kerr, Grace Kelly, Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Sophia Loren.

After Walk, Don't Run (1966), a middling remake of George Stevens' 1943 hitThe More the Merrier Grant retired from the screen. Cary Grant may have reasoned, correctly, that the demise of the studio system and changing audience tastes signaled the dawn of an era in which his kind of movie was pass'. Cary Grant contented himself with forays into the business world, most effectively for the Faberge cosmetics company. In 1970 Grant, who never won an Oscar in competition, received a special Academy Award in recognition of his extraordinary career. Cary Grant's wives included actresses Virginia Cherrill, Betsy Drake, and Dyan Cannon (who bore Cary Grant his only child, daughter Jennifer, now a budding actress), and heiress Barbara Hutton. Long reticent about interviews, and unwilling to write an autobiography, Cary Grant surprised many in his final years by touring the country giving informal lectures about his career, and answering questions from his many fans. Cary Grant died on the eve of one such appearance in Davenport, Iowa.

OTHER FILMS INCLUDE: 1952:Room for One More (again with Drake); 1953:Dream Wife 1957:The Pride and the Passion (a rare piece of miscasting in this period turkey); 1958:Indiscreet, Houseboat 1959:Operation Petticoat (costarring Tony Curtis, who then imitated Grant, hilariously, in Cary Grant's subsequent, Some Like It Hot 1962:That Touch of Mink 1963:Charade (an elegantly witty comedymystery); 1964:Father Goose