He grew up in Bristol, England, as Archie Leach, the son of a clothing presser and a homemaker. His father, Elias, left the family for a job in Southampton, and there he took up with another woman. The couple soon had a child of their own. When he was 10 years old, Grant was told that his mother was dead while, in fact, she had been committed to an institution by his father.
Devastated by the loss, Grant was basically on his own, with little support from his father. At 13, he started hanging around a local theater, where he performed a few odd jobs. Grant then took up with Bob Pender's group of traveling performers, but his first attempt at a theatrical career was cut short by his father, who demanded that he return to school. Grant got himself expelled the following year and, this time with his father's permission, rejoined Pender's troupe.
He traveled with the group for two years, performing in all types of acts from juggling to comedy bits to acrobatics. In , Grant branched out on his own, leaving the troupe during its visit to New York City. There he struggled to make it into show business, even working as a stilt walker for a time.
By the late s, Grant had made several appearances on Broadway. He got the lead part in the musical Nikki with Fay Wray, playing a soldier named Cary who fights for Wray's affections. While the production proved to be short-lived, Grant's role garnered him enough praise to land a role in a short film, Singapore Sue. Finally experiencing some studio interest, Grant decided to move out to Los Angeles. Grant landed a contract with Paramount Studios and took on a new identity.
Archie Leach became Cary Grant at the studio's request. According to Hollywood legend, his first name came from his earlier stage role and his last name from a list given to him by the studio. He made his first feature film, This Is The Night , in , and more roles on the big screen soon followed. Grant starred opposite such famed leading ladies as Marlene Dietrich and Mae West.
By the late s, Grant had become an established leading man in Hollywood. He appeared in a range of movies, from war dramas to mysteries to comedies. His career, however, reached new heights starting in , with Topper. In this screwball comedy, Grant played a sophisticated spirit who, along with his late wife, decides to haunt an old friend. He had a gift for both physical humor and comic timing. In many of his roles, Grant played a similar type—a man with wit and polish.
He did, however, occasionally try to defy the audience's expectations of him. He played a potentially lethal husband opposite Joan Fontaine in the thriller Suspicion , which marked his first film with director and master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock.
In Penny Serenade , Grant balanced humor with grief as a husband who experiences both joy and heartbreak in his marriage. His work in the film netted him an Academy Award nomination.
Or more exactly, remet him. They had met aboard a luxury liner one time crossing from England. As with Virginia, when Cary was with Barbara Hutton he knew he was instantly in love. She was different from the other girls he'd always fallen for. Barbara was mostly solemn and Cary devoted himself to making her happy. He was forever taking her dancing, and he protected her as she wished to be protected.
She drove with the curtains pulled down on her cars. When they went to the movies or out nightclubbing Cary made it clear to theatre managers or headwaiters that the way was to be cleared for them. They would separate on leaving night spots, exiting through kitchens or even windows when no other exits were available. Once their romance began they saw one another continually. His zest for life was particularly vivid during his courtship of Barbara.
He talked incessantly. He loved to talk in Cockney dialect and sing ribald songs to his own piano accompaniment. Barbara was amused, but she was naturally quiet. All Barbara's friends were delighted. Of all her marriages, they felt this one had the best chance. Cary signed a pre-marital agreement that he wanted no claim on her fortune.
His love was visibly very tender toward her. He wanted only her love and happiness. It lasted four years. And they were four years of partings and reconciliations. Once Barbara flew to San Francisco and announced there was no chance of their getting back together. Cary had bought them a very beautiful house in Bel-Air, but by Barbara's standards it was simply a very little place.
She moved in with ten servants who had been with her for years, and most of whom spoke only French - which Cary didn't speak. She threw money away like mad; and it drove Cary frantic that she ordered double sets of newspapers, his and hers in effect. Waste, extravagance - both things that Cary was never able to tolerate.
But whenever she left him, he pursued her. The time she went to San Francisco, he finally got her on the phone. She agreed and he drove up there furiously. The next day they gave out a statement to the papers: "We are reconciled.
The truth of our misunderstanding and reunion is known only to us. Still, their marriage could not work. Barbara didn't like Hollywood and its gossip. She was not interested in Cary's career. When they finally agreed upon their divorce they never said a harsh world about one another. Cary said "Barbara is a fine woman. I blame myself entirely for the split-up with her.
People did not know her, the fine person underneath, because of the publicity about her money. Barbara said, "Cary is a dear. But he isn't interested in anything but his career and after all, when you are married to a man you must have something to talk about. What Barbara did once she was free of Cary was to move to the Ritz in Paris - and proceed to one unhappy marriage after another without pausing very long between husbands.
But Cary did not snap back so quickly. He went into periods of dark silence and many times he passed his friends, at the studios or in cafes, without recognizing them. Then he met Betsy Drake on shipboard. She was tall and blonde, and wham, he knew he was in love again.
He knew in one glace she was THE one. Betsy, except physically, was totally unlike Virginia, and completely different from Barbara. She came from an excellent family, yet she wanted so much to be an actress, she had subsisted on almost no money. The couple met on board the Queen Mary ship while returning from England. The pair split when Grant started having an affair with actor Sophia Loren.
Drake is responsible for introducing the multi-layered actor to LSD, which until was considered a legal substance. In , Grant gave marriage another try with actor Dyan Cannon.
The relationship ended in divorce in , and in a tell-all book, Cannon revealed that her abusive husband persuaded her to use LSD and criticized her every move, according to ABC News. She was yet another wife that learned firsthand about the controlling nature of the on-screen legend. Cary Grant passed away 32 years ago. In , Grant married his fifth and final wife, public relations executive Barbara Harris.
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