Cary Grant
Active - 1932 - 1986 | Born - Jan 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England | Died - Nov 29, 1986 in Davenport, IA | Genres - Comedy, Romance, Drama, Film, TV & Radio [nf]| Height: 6’ 1½”
British-born actor Cary Grant (born Archibald Leach) escaped his humble Bristol environs and unstable home life by joining an acrobatic troupe, where he became a stilt-walker. Numerous odd jobs kept him going until he tried acting, and, after moving to the United States, he managed to lose his accent, developing a clipped mid-Atlantic speaking style uniquely his own. After acting in Broadway musicals, Grant was signed in 1932 by Paramount Pictures to be built into leading-man material. His real name would never do for marquees, so the studio took the first initials of their top star Gary Cooper, reversed them, then filled in the “C” and “G” to come up with Cary Grant. After a year of nondescript roles, Grant was selected by Mae West to be her leading man in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I’m No Angel(1934). A bit stiff-necked but undeniably sexy, Grant vaulted to stardom, though Paramount continued wasting his potential in second rate films.
Off-stage, most of Grant’s co-workers had nothing but praise for his craftsmanship and willingness to work with co-stars rather than at them. Among Grant’s yea-sayers was director Alfred Hitchcock, who cast the actor in three of his best films, most notably the quintessential Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest (1959). Seemingly growing handsomer and more charming as he got older, Grant retained his stardom into the 1960s, enriching himself with lucrative percentage-of-profits deals on such box-office hits as Operation Petticoat (1959) and Charade (1964). Upon completing Walk, Don’t Run in 1966, Grant decided he was through with film-making -- and he meant it. Devoting his remaining years to an executive position at a major cosmetics firm, Grant never appeared on a TV talk show and seldom granted newspaper interviews. In the 1980s, however, he became restless, and decided to embark on a nationwide lecture tour, confining himself exclusively to small towns in which the residents might otherwise never have the chance to see a Hollywood superstar in person. It was while preparing to lecture in Davenport, IA, that the 82-year-old Cary Grant suffered a sudden and fatal stroke in 1986.
Available Films:
Active - 1932 - 1986 | Born - Jan 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England | Died - Nov 29, 1986 in Davenport, IA | Genres - Comedy, Romance, Drama, Film, TV & Radio [nf]| Height: 6’ 1½”
British-born actor Cary Grant (born Archibald Leach) escaped his humble Bristol environs and unstable home life by joining an acrobatic troupe, where he became a stilt-walker. Numerous odd jobs kept him going until he tried acting, and, after moving to the United States, he managed to lose his accent, developing a clipped mid-Atlantic speaking style uniquely his own. After acting in Broadway musicals, Grant was signed in 1932 by Paramount Pictures to be built into leading-man material. His real name would never do for marquees, so the studio took the first initials of their top star Gary Cooper, reversed them, then filled in the “C” and “G” to come up with Cary Grant. After a year of nondescript roles, Grant was selected by Mae West to be her leading man in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I’m No Angel(1934). A bit stiff-necked but undeniably sexy, Grant vaulted to stardom, though Paramount continued wasting his potential in second rate films.
Off-stage, most of Grant’s co-workers had nothing but praise for his craftsmanship and willingness to work with co-stars rather than at them. Among Grant’s yea-sayers was director Alfred Hitchcock, who cast the actor in three of his best films, most notably the quintessential Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest (1959). Seemingly growing handsomer and more charming as he got older, Grant retained his stardom into the 1960s, enriching himself with lucrative percentage-of-profits deals on such box-office hits as Operation Petticoat (1959) and Charade (1964). Upon completing Walk, Don’t Run in 1966, Grant decided he was through with film-making -- and he meant it. Devoting his remaining years to an executive position at a major cosmetics firm, Grant never appeared on a TV talk show and seldom granted newspaper interviews. In the 1980s, however, he became restless, and decided to embark on a nationwide lecture tour, confining himself exclusively to small towns in which the residents might otherwise never have the chance to see a Hollywood superstar in person. It was while preparing to lecture in Davenport, IA, that the 82-year-old Cary Grant suffered a sudden and fatal stroke in 1986.
Available Films:
Trivia:
Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind.
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.
[on Katharine Hepburn] "She was this slip of a woman and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic woman 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."
"I have no rapport with the new idols of the screen, and that includes Marlon Brando and his style of Method acting. It certainly includes Montgomery Clift and that God-awful James Dean. Some producer should cast all three of them in the same movie and let them duke it out. When they've finished each other off, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and I will return and start making real movies again like we used to."
From 1932-44 he shared a house with Randolph Scott, whom he met on Hot Saturday (1932). Scott often jokingly referred to Grant as his spouse. The 1940 census report shows Scott as head of household and Grant as his partner. Many studio heads threatened not to employ them together, unless they lived separately. Grant’s marriage to Barbara Hutton permanently dissolved his living arrangement with Scott.
[on Katharine Hepburn] “She was this slip of a woman and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic woman 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.”
“Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”
“The only really good thing about acting is that there’s no heavy lifting.”
“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.”
Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind.
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.
[on Katharine Hepburn] "She was this slip of a woman and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic woman 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."
"I have no rapport with the new idols of the screen, and that includes Marlon Brando and his style of Method acting. It certainly includes Montgomery Clift and that God-awful James Dean. Some producer should cast all three of them in the same movie and let them duke it out. When they've finished each other off, James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and I will return and start making real movies again like we used to."
From 1932-44 he shared a house with Randolph Scott, whom he met on Hot Saturday (1932). Scott often jokingly referred to Grant as his spouse. The 1940 census report shows Scott as head of household and Grant as his partner. Many studio heads threatened not to employ them together, unless they lived separately. Grant’s marriage to Barbara Hutton permanently dissolved his living arrangement with Scott.
[on Katharine Hepburn] “She was this slip of a woman and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic woman 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.”
“Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.”
“The only really good thing about acting is that there’s no heavy lifting.”
“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.”
