During a four-decade career filled with
outstanding performances (The Awful Truth; The Philadelphia
Story; Notorious; North by Northwest; Charade),
Grant's greatest creation was the illusion that the suave Cary Grant
really existed offscreen. Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, in
1904, he was traumatized at 10 when told of his mother's death. Eighteen
years later, he learned she was alive (his father had committed her to an
asylum). Grant nonetheless succeeded in Hollywood. After making 24 films
in five years, he refused to re-sign with Paramount and, in 1936, became
one of Hollywood's first freelance actors. On-screen and off, Grant was
pursued by women, but his openly gay relationship with Randolph Scott
lasted until both were pressured by studios to marry. Marc Eliot, who has
coauthored memoirs with Donna Summer, Barry White and Erin Brockovich,
convincingly alleges that Grant was pressured by the FBI to spy on his
second wife, heiress Barbara Hutton, in 1942 in return for American
citizenship. Eliot's fascinating, sympathetic portrait is of a consummate
performer who hid inner demons and used filmmaking to distance himself
from reality (and four of his five wives). After years of therapy, weekly
LSD treatments and retirement from films, he had a daughter (at age 62), a
later happy marriage (he was 74, she 25) and some inner peace before his
1986 death.
black and white, borderless 8x10" Picture of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, who starred in the movie," To Catch a Thief," together. Cary Grant as a former thief suspected of a new series of crimes and Grace Kelly as the woman who romances him. Released on August 5, 1955 (USA).
