Cary Grant

Cary Grant
1904-1986

There’s a new book out about Cary Grant, written by his daughter Jennifer Grant, entitled ‘Good Stuff.’  Consequently, Cary Grant tributes and articles are popping up here and there. So, I figured I would do one, too.  The words that are often used to describe this quintessential Hollywood star are debonair, charismatic, handsome, and charming.   But even those words don’t do justice to the joy one feels watching him on the screen.  Even today, Cary Grant is so much fun.

He was born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England on January 18, 1904.  After a rough childhood, he joined a theatrical troupe as a stilt walker at the age of 16.  The troupe toured the United States where Leach expanded his skills with juggling and acrobatics.  When the troupe returned to England, Leach stayed on and entered the world of vaudeville, honing his comic timing.  In 1931, he went to Hollywood, signed with Paramount Pictures, and changed his name to Cary Grant.  While his appearances opposite Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I’m No Angel (1933) made him a star, it wasn’t until The Awful Truth (1937) that the ‘Cary Grant’ persona first appeared.  From then on, Cary Grant was the man every woman wished she had and every man wished he was.  Cary Grant once said “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant—even I want to be Cary Grant."

Cary Grant made over 80 movies during his thirty-five-year film career.  While most of them are light-hearted comedies, he also appeared in adventure movies (e.g. Gunga Din (1939)), suspense thrillers (including four Hitchcock’s thrillers, notably North by Northwest (1959)), and weepy romances (e.g.  An Affair to Remember (1957)).  While many of his co-stars had equally blinding star power, Grant always complemented them and made them look their best.  His sense of teamwork can be seen in The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart.

Here are my favorite Cary Grant movies:

North by Northwest (1959)

Hitchcock perfects his ‘innocent man on the run’ story with this big-budget suspense thriller.  Grant plays Roger Thornhill, who is mistakenly identified as the hotly pursued George Kaplan.  Phillip Vandamm, a shady exporter of microfilmed secrets, wants Kaplan dead, sending Thornhill on a generally north-by-northwest route across the country to find the real Kaplan before Vandamm succeeds.  A brief encounter with a sexy blond on a train adds to the mystery. A stabbing at the United Nations, a murderous crop duster, and a finale on the face of Mount Rushmore make this ‘the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures’.    This film is #40 on American Film Institute’s ‘100 films…100 movies’ list. 

Charade (1963)

I said above that Grant made movies in the comedy, suspense thriller, and romance genres. Well, he does all three in this movie.  Cary Grant stars alongside Audrey Hepburn, James Coburn, Walter Matthau, and George Kennedy.  The plot involves Reggie (Hepburn) and Peter (Grant) trying to find the missing fortune of Reggie’s dead husband Charles before Charles’ ex-war-buddies do.  The plot twists and turns as the war-buddies turn up dead and Peter keeps changing names.  Charade has been called the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made.  It has a great score by Henry Mancini, a beautiful Parisian setting,  and crackling dialog between Hepburn and Grant.  The age difference between Hepburn and Grant makes one a bit uncomfortable and it’s easy to see why Grant was starting to reject romantic roles.  Nonetheless, it’s a heck of ride.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Cary Grant attributed his comic timing to his years on the stage as part of various comedy teams.  There is no better example of this timing than this screwball masterpiece directed by Howard Hawks.  Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant toss lines back and forth like knife-jugglers.  The plot involves the search for a missing leopard named Baby.  But the story is secondary to the extraordinary interplay, both verbal and physical, of the two leads. This film is #14 on AFI’s ‘100 years…100 laughs’ list. 

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse (1948)

Okay, not a great movie but who cares?  It’s based on a very popular 1946 novel that captured the post-war suburban dreams of a generation.  Cary Grant and Myrna Loy star as Jim and Muriel Blandings who set out to build their dreamhouse.   What can go wrong, of course, does with comic results.  This film is #72 on AFI’s ‘100 years…100 laughs’ list. 

Notorious (1946)

The second of four movies Alfred Hitchcock made with Cary Grant.  Co-starring Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains, the film is about a government agent and the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy trying to expose the head of the spy ring before he disappears to Brazil.  A wine cellar, a missing key, and what’s really in those wine bottles make up this taut suspense drama.  Notorious is notorious for its long, long kiss scene, carefully choreographed by Hitch to get around the three-second kiss rule.  Also, watch for the vertical tracking shot from way up on the balcony above the crowd to the key in Bergman’s hand.

His Girl Friday (1940)

Another rat-a-tat screwball comedy by Howard Hawks.  It’s based on the Broadway hit The Front Page with the lead reporter, Hildy Johnson changed from a male to a female (and played by the great Roselind Russell.)  The overlapping dialog is so fast that it makes your head spin.  But what a blast!  Watch Grant watch the others and make little comments.  Priceless.  This movie is #19 on AFI’s ‘100 years…100 laughs’.

Cary Grant was chosen as the second Greatest Male Star of All Time by AFI (Bogart was #1).  He was nominated twice for the Best Actor Academy award and five times for a Golden Globe but never won.  After Walk, Don’t Run (1966) he simply walked away from moviemaking.  I’m sure he had his reasons but it’s fun to speculate what kind of movies he might have made had he continued, the way John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda did.  In 1970, he received an honorary Oscar “for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues.”  For the rest of us, I’ll add “and thanks for the great time.”

Question of the Day:  I've named the second and last movies Hitchcock made with Cary Grant.  What were the first and third and who were his female co-stars?