Upon reaching Hollywood in 1932 he 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.) He made his feature film debut in This Is the Night a charming, sophisticated comedy of the type that would make him 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 Dietrich), The Devil and the Deep, Hot Saturday and Madame Butterfly-before costarring with Mae West in She Done Him 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. He built, slowly and steadily, a reputation as one of Hollywood's most dependable leading men. His 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 Jean 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 he evolved the debonair, witty, uninhibited screen persona that ultimately brought him 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 he 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 him 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 cliché-though extremely popular. His 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. He 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 passé. He 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. His wives included actresses Virginia Cherrill, Betsy Drake, and Dyan Cannon (who bore him his only child, daughter Jennifer, now a budding actress), and heiress Barbara Hutton. Long reticent about interviews, and unwilling to write an autobiography, he surprised many in his final years by touring the country giving informal lectures about his career, and answering questions from his many fans. He 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 his subsequentSome Like It Hot 1962:That Touch of Mink 1963:Charade (an elegantly witty comedymystery); 1964:Father Goose
Personal Quote:
"He is personality functioning." - Katharine Hepburn
"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."
"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."
"Mostly, we have manufactured ladies -- with the exception of Ingrid(Bergman), Grace(Kelly), Deborah(Kerr) and Audrey(Hepburn)."
Trivia
Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind. Grant turned down the role.
Refused the part of Humbert in Lolita (1962).
Turned down roles opposite Audrey Hepburn in both Roman Holiday (1953) and Sabrina (1954), later he starred with her in "Charade". In Roman Holiday (1953), the offered role ended up going to Gregory Peck, and the role in Sabrina (1954) went to Humphrey Bogart.
He never said "Judy, Judy, Judy" in the movies, but he did say "Susan, Susan, Susan" in Bringing Up Baby (1938).
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. His 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)
Grant, who was approaching 60 at the time he filmed the romantic thriller Charade (1963), felt he was too old to play the love interest for Audrey Hepburn, who was 25 years younger. He demanded that the script make clear that it was Audrey pursuing him...not vice versa. He also added a number of wry jokes denoting the difference in age.
Although he became a Paramount contract player early in his film career, when the contract was up, he made an unusual decision for the time: he decided to freelance. Because his films were so successful at the box office, he was able to work at any studio he chose for the majority of his career.
Thanks mainly to the strength and physical dexterity he gained as an acrobat when he was young, he did a majority of his own stunts during his film career (far more than people would think).
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 him out of retirement and into their films, he never worked again.
The late Christopher Reeve said that he 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.
John Cleese's character in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) was named "Archie Leach" after Grant's real name.
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 he didn't believe her.
Fell madly in love with Sophia Loren while filming The Pride and the Passion (1957), despite the fact that he 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 (1957)_ , Grant inundated her with dozens of phone calls and hundreds of flowers - even though she had called the affair off.
Later,
Kenaz
