Cary Grant

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)

Cary Grant was Hollywood's favourite romantic leading man for over 30 years, he was just as suave in his sixties as he had been in his thirties. He was also probably the finest light comedian ever, his unpretensious acting style wasn't flashy at all and he never won an a regular acting Oscar but Grant was a unique personality with many imitators but no equals (director Billy Wilder always wanted him for one of his films and made a back handed compliment to the actor with the Tony Curtis imitation in Some Like It Hot (1959)).

Early on Grant seemed to attract Hollywood's leading actresses. Marlene Dietrich and Mae West were among his early co-stars but Katharine Hepburn became his perfect partner starting with Sylvia Scarlett (1935). Grant was one of the first actors to be a free agent and not tied to a particular studio, his prowess with light comedy was first demonstrated in The Awful Truth (1937) directed by Leo McCarey co-starring Irene Dunne. He made two more films with Dunne : another comedy My Favourite Wife (1940) and the drama Penny Serenade (1941), interestingly he was nominated for an Oscar for this film and None but the Lonely Heart (1944) two of his more serious works but ignored by the Academy for his comedy roles.

Two of his greatest comedy roles came opposite Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940), he was also good in the slightly more dramatic Holiday (1938) again with Hepburn. Gunga Din (1939) was one of his rare action films. His Girl Friday (1940) saw Grant as Walter Burns trying to cling onto his star reporter Hildy Johnson played superbly by Rosalind Russell. It was one of his best films for director Howard Hawks who used Grant in a lot of his comedies.

Another important director in Grant's film career was Alfred Hitchcock. In their first film together Suspicion (1941) Hitchcock explored the darker side of Grant's persona by suggesting to the audience he was a sinister murderer. It has been suggested that Hitch liked using Grant because the dashing actor was what he would have liked to have been, their association included three more films : Notorious (1946) with Ingrid Bergman, To Catch A Thief (1955) with Grace Kelly and best of all North by Northwest (1959).

Director Stanley Donen caught some of the atmosphere of the Hitchcock films in Charade (1963) a thriller in which Grant co-starred with Audrey Hepburn, despite the difference in their ages Cary Grant remained the perfect romantic leading man. It was his last really good film though he continued working till 1966 then probably sensibly retired.

The fact that Bristol born Archibald Leach became the great romatic comedian Cary Grant is a minor miracle all true movie fans should be grateful for.