Sunday, September 9, 2012

Classic Film Actor Spotlight: September: Cary Grant

Cary Grant


One of my all time favorites classic film leading men has to be Cary Grant. Funny thing is that I have only seen a small handful of his films, but honestly every time I get a chance to watch a "new' one I am again awed by his talents as an actor as well as his on-screen persona.

Born Archibald Leach on January 18, 1904 in Bristol England, he was an only child and his mother was placed into an institution because she suffered from depression. His father remarried and started a new family with his young wife leaving young Archie in various schools. He did not learn about his mother and the fact that she was alive (his father told him otherwise) until he was 31 years old!!

He joined a the "Bob Pender Stage Troupe" and was a stilts performer. He performed with this group for two years and traveled all about. In 1920 he was processed at Ellis Island and decided to stay in America and continue his stage career. He became a part of the vaudeville world and eventually worked on Broadway. Grant went to Hollywood in 1931 and that is when they asked him to change his name. He choose Cary after a character he played on Broadway and then Grant from a list of selected surnames. He figured the initials CG worked for both Clark Gable and Gary Cooper and that they might bring him some luck as well.


Grant's film career started in 1932 with This is the Night and ended in 1966 with Walk, Don't Run. He retired from acting at 62 years old in order to be a full time father to his only child, Jennifer Grant

Grant worked with a bevy of amazing, talented, and beautiful starlets; Grace Kelly, Mae West, Ingrid Bergman, Irene Dunne, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, and Sophia Loren, just to name a few. I will be making a separate post about Grant and his leading ladies because there is just too much awesomeness to share!!!

Grant was married five times; first to Virginia Churchill (1934-1935), Barbara Hutton (1942-1945), Betsy Drake (1949-1962), Dyan Cannon (1965-1968), and lastly Barbara Harris (1981-1986).

Like I stated above, Grant only had one child, Jennifer Grant who he had a tremendously close relationship with and devoted his life to raising. His daughter wrote a book about her life with her very famous father called, Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant. I have been wanting to read this book for a very long time and finally was able to order via Amazon. I got it for 10 cents (yes you read right!) with a shipping of 3.99-you cannot beat that kind of deal. I will be happily reviewing this book for you all once it comes in and I am able to finish it. My favorite book written about a classic film star so far has been from Sean Hepburn Ferrer, but we shall see how this one goes. I hope to learn things about Grant that I never knew or heard of before.

Grant seemed to lead a rich life and I don't mean money, but his relationships with people. It seems as though he worked with everyone in Hollywood and dating everyone too hehe Or rather he married them!

Grant would often poke fun at the dashing, leading man image he created for himself and yes it was a creation. He would say this, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant—even I want to be Cary Grant. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point." 

Cary Grant is truly a Hollywood Movie Star. He lived a fairly drama free existence-minus his divorces and such and passed away on November 29, 1986 at the age of 82.

I look forward to sharing some of my spotlights on his films with you all! What are some of your favorite Cary Grant movies???

xox

12 comments:

  1. That is so interesting to know that he was married five times and only had one child. Amazing:) He certainly was a handsome chap:))

    ReplyDelete
  2. loooove cary grant. charade is one of my favorite of his movies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love him. I too haven't seen an exuberant amount of his films, but I just adore him! I've got Monkey Buisness set to record...Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe....what's not to love?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Goodness I havent seen that one either...good grief I need like a week alone and 100 dvds in my hands with some popcorn and then I will be set heheh xox

      Delete
  4. *Tries to snap out of Cary Grant induced swoon* :)

    Wonderful post about one of Hollywood's absolute best leading men of all time. Cary is one of those people that I think I could watch simply read the phone book and still be thoroughly engaged by.

    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cary Grant is one of my favorite actors! So much so, in fact, that I've had to divide my favorite movies with him by genre because I can't choose just one. However, with much difficulty I'd have to say my top five are "Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House" (which he also did for Lux Radio Theater), "To Catch a Thief", "Bringing Up Baby", "Charade", and "Penny Serenade".

    You have a wonderful blog!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awww thank you so much! Dang it-youre the second person the mention "Charade"--I really have to see it this week!!! Thank you for your list! xox

      Delete
  6. North by Northwest is one of my favourite films ever. We watched it again last week as our family movie night (my kids are 15, 9 & 6)
    But I also love his less serious films like That Touch of Mink with Doris Day.
    I only live 20 miles from Bristol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh lucky! Pack me up and send me to the UK! Hehehe I love it there-how neat-did you ever see his statue that they have of him there?? Awww you have three babies too-cool! I love "That Touch of Mink"...so many to love!! xox

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...