Cary Grant

Birthday: 18 January 1904, Horfield, Bristol, England, UK

Height: 6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Biography

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant," Grant is said to have replied, "So would I." His early years in Bristol, England, would have been an ordinary lower-middle-class childhood except for one extraordinary event. At age nine, he came home from school one day and was told his mother had gone off to a seaside resort. The real truth, however, was that she had been placed in a mental institution, where she would remain for years, and he was never told about it (he wouldn't see his mother again until he was in his late 20s). He left school at 14, lying about his age and forging his father's signature on a letter to join Bob Pender's troupe of knockabout comedians. He learned pantomime as well as acrobatics as he toured with the Pender troupe in the English provinces, picked up a Cockney accent in the music halls in London, and then in July 1920, was one of the eight Pender boys selected to go to the US. Their show on Broadway, "Good Times," ran for 456 performances, giving Grant time to acclimatize. He would stay in America. Mae West wanted Grant for She Done Him Wrong (1933) because she saw his combination of virility, sexuality and the aura and bearing of a gentleman. Grant was young enough to begin the new career of fatherhood when he stopped making movies at age 62. One biographer said Grant was alienated by the new realism in the film industry. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he had invented a man-of-the-world persona and a style--"high comedy with polished words." In To Catch a Thief (1955), he and Grace Kelly were allowed to improvise some of the dialogue. They knew what the director, Alfred Hitchcock, wanted to do with a scene, they rehearsed it, put in some clever double entendres that got past the censors, and then the scene was filmed. His biggest box-office success was another Hitchcock 1950s film, North by Northwest (1959) made with Eva Marie Saint since Kelly was by that time Princess of Monaco 

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1932	This Is the Night	Stephen	With Lili Damita, Charles Ruggles, and Thelma Todd
	Sinners in the Sun	Ridgeway	With Carole Lombard and Chester Morris
	Singapore Sue	First Sailor	Musical Comedy short subject
	Merrily We Go to Hell	Charlie Baxter	UK title: Merrily We Go to _____ With Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March
	Devil and the Deep	Lieutenant Jaeckel	With Tallulah Bankhead and Gary Cooper
	Blonde Venus	Nick Townsend	With Marlene Dietrich
	Hot Saturday	Romer Sheffield	With Nancy Carroll and Edward Woods
	Madame Butterfly	Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton	With Sylvia Sidney and Charles Ruggles
1933	She Done Him Wrong	Capt. Cummings	With Mae West and Noah Beery, Sr.
	The Woman Accused	Jeffrey Baxter	With Nancy Carroll
	The Eagle and the Hawk	Henry Crocker	With Fredric March and Carole Lombard
	Gambling Ship	Ace Corbin	With Jack La Rue and Glenda Farrell
	I'm No Angel	Jack Clayton	With Mae West
	Alice in Wonderland	The Mock Turtle	With W. C. Fields and Gary Cooper
1934	Thirty-Day Princess	Porter Madison III	With Sylvia Sidney and Edward Arnold
	Born to Be Bad	Malcolm Trevor	With Loretta Young (Heavily censored by the Hayes Office)
	Kiss and Make-Up	Dr. Maurice Lamar	With Helen Mack and the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1934
	Ladies Should Listen	Julian De Lussac	With Francis Drake and Edward Everett Horton
1935	Enter Madame	Gerald Fitzgerald	With top-billed Elissa Landi
	Wings in the Dark	Ken Gordon	With top-billed Myrna Loy
	The Last Outpost	Michael Andrews	With Claude Rains
	Sylvia Scarlett	Jimmy Monkley	Directed by George Cukor With Katharine Hepburn
1936	Big Brown Eyes	Det. Sgt. Danny Barr	With Joan Bennett and Walter Pidgeon
	Suzy	Andre	With Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone
	The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss	Ernest Bliss	US title: Romance and Riches Alt title: The Amazing Adventure
	Wedding Present	Charlie	With Joan Bennett
1937	When You're in Love	Jimmy Hudson	UK title: For You Alone With Grace Moore
	Topper	George Kerby	With Constance Bennett
	The Toast of New York	Nicholas "Nick" Boyd	With Edward Arnold and Frances Farmer
	The Awful Truth	Jerry Warriner	Directed by Leo McCarey With Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy Introduced the "Cary Grant persona"
1938	Bringing up Baby	Dr. David Huxley	Directed by Howard Hawks With Katharine Hepburn and Charles Ruggles
	Holiday	John "Johnny" Case	Directed by George Cukor With Katharine Hepburn UK title: Free to Live
1939	Gunga Din	Sgt. Archibald Cutter	Directed by George Stevens With Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
	Only Angels Have Wings	Geoff Carter	Directed by Howard Hawks With Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell and Rita Hayworth
	In Name Only	Alec Walker	With Carole Lombard and Charles Coburn
1940	His Girl Friday	Walter Burns	Directed by Howard Hawks Remake of The Front Page With Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy
	My Favorite Wife	Nick	Co-written by Leo McCarey Directed by Garson Kanin With Irene Dunne and Gail Patrick
	The Howards of Virginia	Matt Howard	UK title: The Tree of Liberty With Martha Scott
	The Philadelphia Story	C.K. Dexter Haven	With Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart
1941	Penny Serenade	Roger Adams	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Directed by George Stevens With Irene Dunne and Edgar Buchanan
	Suspicion	Johnnie	Directed by Alfred Hitchcock With Joan Fontaine
1942	The Talk of the Town	Leopold Dilg aka Joseph	With Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur
	Once Upon a Honeymoon	Patrick "Pat" O'Toole	Directed by Leo McCarey With Ginger Rogers
1943	Mr. Lucky	Joe Adams/Joe Bascopolous	With Laraine Day and Charles Bickford
	Destination Tokyo	Capt. Cassidy	With John Garfield and Dane Clark
1944	Once Upon a Time	Jerry Flynn	With Janet Blair
	Arsenic and Old Lace	Mortimer Brewster	With Priscilla Lane and Peter Lorre
	None But the Lonely Heart	Ernie Mott	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Written and directed by Clifford Odets With Ethel Barrymore
1946	Without Reservations	Himself (cameo)	With Claudette Colbert and John Wayne
	Night and Day	Cole Porter	Directed by Michael Curtiz
	Notorious	T.R. Devlin	Directed by Alfred Hitchcock With Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains
1947	The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer	Dick	UK title: Bachelor Knight With Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple
	The Bishop's Wife	Dudley	With Loretta Young and David Niven
1948	Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House	Jim Blandings	With Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas
	Every Girl Should Be Married	Dr. Madison W. Brown	With Betsy Drake
1949	I Was a Male War Bride	Capt. Henri Rochard	UK title: You Can't Sleep Here With Ann Sheridan
1950	Crisis	Dr. Eugene Norland Ferguson	With Jose Ferrer
1951	People Will Talk	Dr. Noah Praetorius	With Jeanne Crain
1952	Room for One More	George "Poppy" Rose	With Betsy Drake
	Monkey Business	Dr. Barnaby Fulton	Directed by Howard Hawks With Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe
1953	Dream Wife	Clemson Reade	With Deborah Kerr and Walter Pidgeon
1955	To Catch a Thief	John Robie	Directed by Alfred Hitchcock With Grace Kelly
1957	The Pride and the Passion	Anthony	With Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren
	An Affair to Remember	Nickie Ferrante	A same-script remake of Love Affair (1939 film), both directed by Leo McCarey With Deborah Kerr
	Kiss Them for Me	Cmdr. Andy Crewson	Directed by Stanley Donen With Jayne Mansfield and Suzy Parker
1958	Indiscreet	Philip Adams	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Directed by Stanley Donen With Ingrid Bergman
	Houseboat	Tom Winters	With Sophia Loren
1959	North by Northwest	Roger O. Thornhill	Directed by Alfred Hitchcock With Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau Famous scene of Grant being chased by a biplane
	Operation Petticoat	Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy With Dina Merrill and Arthur O'Connell
1960	The Grass Is Greener	Victor Rhyall, Earl	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Directed by Stanley Donen With Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons
1962	That Touch of Mink	Philip Shayne	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Directed by Delbert Mann With Doris Day and Gig Young
1963	Charade	Peter Joshua / Alexander Dyle / Adam Canfield / Brian Cruikshank	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Directed by Stanley Donen With Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau and James Coburn
1964	Father Goose	Walter Christopher Eckland	Directed by Ralph Nelson With Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard
1966	Walk, Don't Run	Sir William Rutland	With Samantha Eggar Remake of The More the Merrier