British-American film actor, the quintessential handsome sophisticated male movie star of Hollywood’s Golden Era. In 34 years of work, Grant appeared in 72 films, comedies, dramas and tragedies, all with an apparently effortless display of easygoing charm that became his film trademark.
Grant was the only son of Elisie Kingdom and Elias James Leach, his dad a half-Jewish pants presser and tailor’s assistant. Living in despair and poverty, his father had his mother committed to Fishponds mental institution. The father deceived his son on his mom’s whereabouts and took up with his mistress and an illegitimate son. At 13, Grant ran away from home and joined a group of traveling acrobats. By the time he was 17, he worked his way to America taking various jobs as a stilt-walker in Atlantic City and a song and dance man in Philadelphia. He made his Hollywood debut in 1932 with “This is the Night” and appeared in seven more films in the same year. His handsome good looks got him important roles in Marlene Dietrich’s “Blonde Venus” and Mae West’s “She Done Him Wrong.” Grant began to develop his aristocratic screen image persona that would eventually typecast the actor as a light comedian with a smooth “mid Atlantic” accent and glib delivery.
In 1936, he made his first major breakthrough film with Katherine Hepburn in “Sylvia Scarlett.” He defined American style, taste, and sophistication with “Topper,”1937, “His Girl Friday,” 1940, “Gunga Din,”1939 and “The Philadelphia Story” in 1940. Grant also played characters with emotional depth and was praised with two Academy award nominations in “Penny Serenade,” 1941 and “None But the Lonely Heart” in 1944. In the ’50s and ’60s, he worked with suspense thriller British director Alfred Hitchcock. He retired from films in 1966 with “Walk, Don’t Run.”
Grant married his first wife, actress Virginia Cherrill, the leading lady in “Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights,” in 1934. He was a physically abusive husband and they were divorced within a year. Grant’s second marriage was to the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in July 1942 at Lake Arrowhead. The marriage ended in a divorce after three years. Though wags called them “Cash and Cary,” he was the only husband of Hutton’s many who took no financial settlement. He married actress Betsy Drake on 12/25/1949 and the nuptials lasted ten years. Grant grew bored of Drake’s company and after the studio day’s work refused to talk to his wife. In his boredom, Grant began to chase after the female co-stars in his films. He pursued Grace Kelly during shooting of “To Catch a Thief,” 1955, Sophia Loren during the filming of “Houseboat” in 1958 and Audrey Hepburn in 1963 with “Charade.” He married his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon in July 1965. At 62, his only child, Jennifer Diane was born on 2/26/1966. Cannon divorced Grant in 1967 claiming that he an overbearing husband and control-freak who made her take the experimental drug LSD with him. For a period in the hippie ’60s, he explored his realities and consciousness with many acid trips. Highly controlling, he would yell, scream and spank her. In the late 1970s, Grant pursued his fifth wife, Barbara Harris, a press agent for the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. They married in 1981 and lived in his $5 million French-style farmhouse on top of Benedict Canyon overlooking Beverly Hills. Grant enjoyed being a part of the Hollywood community. He was a regular at the Hollywood race track and shared exclusive box seats with Frank Sinatra and Gregory Peck at the Los Angeles Dodgers stadium. He went to all the best parties in Los Angeles.
Grant feared returning back to poverty and lived an economical life in Hollywood. In 1932, he acted as his own agent without a studio contract. He accepted a minimal salary plus 10% of the film’s gross. Grant introduced the practice of using his own wardrobe on the movie set and then charging the studio a hefty wardrobe fee. He had script, director, still photograph publicity and cast approval on his films. He sued the comedian actor Chevy Chase when the actor questioned Grant’s masculinity on a TV show. Grant accepted a hefty out-of-court settlement from Chase. Despite his millions, Grant limited his household budget to $100 per week for food. When throwing out his shirts, he would meticulously save the buttons. His favorite meal was a turkey sandwich. At his death, his estate was estimated between $40 and $60 million.
Grant spent his last years traveling around the U.S. with his young wife, Barbara introducing college students to his work in films. It was at his “Conversation with Cary Grant” show in Davenport, Iowa the actor suffered a massive stroke on 11/29/1986 and died.
After his death, books have been written that question Grant’s sexuality. When he was a young man living in Greenwich Village, he roomed with gay Australian tie painter, John Kelly. Kelly later moved west and became Orry-Kelly, the Hollywood dress designer. In the early 1930s, Grant and the handsome actor Randolph Scott shared rooms around Hollywood. At the time, the movie community gossiped about the relationship between the two actors but soon each married their wives and the rumors were put to rest until Grant’s death in 1986.
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