Line #8 Creator/CaryGrant


1	[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cary_grant.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant."''
4	-->-- '''Archie Leach''' on [[StageName Cary Grant]]
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6	Archibald Alexander Leach (18 January 1904 – 29 November 1986) was a handsome and athletic, if fairly typical, English bloke. Following the bizarre (and bizarrely literal[[note]]His father had her committed to a mental institution for her depression when their son was 9, but told the world she was dead. Not until age 31 did he learn he had not actually lost his mother in the more traditional sense. He got her released a few years after learning this.[[/note]]) loss of his mother at an early age, he ran away from home and went into acting. After a stint touring Britain, he crossed the Atlantic to Broadway and from there [[LimeyGoesToHollywood ended up in Hollywood]], which projected him onto the silver screen as [[StageName Cary Grant]], the 20th Century's screen epitome of suave sophistication.
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8	Over a career that lasted more than thirty years, he appeared in over seventy films. Among the more famous of these were the screwball comedies ''Film/HisGirlFriday'', ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'' and ''Film/BringingUpBaby'', the action-adventure films ''Film/GungaDin'' and ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'', the comedy-soap opera ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'', the classic romance ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'', and [[GentlemanThief several collaborations]] with the director Creator/AlfredHitchcock, most notably ''Film/{{North by Northwest}}''. A poll by the Creator/AmericanFilmInstitute named Grant the second-greatest leading man in Hollywood history, behind only Creator/HumphreyBogart.
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10	Grant retired from acting in 1966, feeling--perhaps correctly--that the movie world was beginning to pass him by as he aged, and unwilling to accept the sort of supporting character roles that older stars usually have to settle for. In 1970, he happily accepted an honorary UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for his body of work, but he never again appeared on-screen. In his later years, he married a succession of beautiful younger women--most famously Creator/DyanCannon, who was [[MayDecemberRomance 33 years his junior]]--and experimented with [=LSD=] (back when it was still legal) as a means of confronting his inner demons.
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12	One of Grant's most famous (and easily imitated) characteristics was [[VerbalTic his rhythmic speech pattern]] and transatlantic accent, which his fans thought added an air of sophistication of his characters. Ironically, he spoke that way to keep his native [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents working-class Bristol accent]] at bay. (On the rare occasions when he played a working-class character, like ''Gunga Din'' or ''Film/NoneButTheLonelyHeart'', he let the Bristol accent out.) In the film ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', Creator/TonyCurtis does a riff on Grant's deliberate cadencing when his character pretends to be a millionaire playboy, prompting Creator/JackLemmon's character to call him out on it: "Where did you get that phony accent? No-bawdy tawks loik theht!"[[note]]''Some Like It Hot'' is a period film taking place in TheRoaringTwenties, before Grant became famous. Part of the humor is that while everybody watching it would know Tony Curtis was impersonating Cary, none of the characters in the movie would.[[/note]]
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14	No, he [[BeamMeUpScotty never actually said]] "Judy, Judy, Judy!", a line oft-used by the aforementioned impressionists. According to one {{urban legend}}, a fan magazine sent him a telegram to inquire "''HOW OLD CARY GRANT?"'', to which he replied ''"OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"'' Sadly, Grant denied that this ever happened, though he acknowledged that it would have been awesome if it had.
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16	Legend also has it that Creator/IanFleming at least partially modeled his famous Literature/JamesBond character on Grant. In fact, when Creator/HowardHawks was thinking about filming ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' at the start of TheSixties, Grant was his choice to play Bond.
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18	Grant was married five times, and fathered his only child, Jennifer Grant, with Cannon (his fourth wife) at the age of 62. He died of a stroke twenty years later. Jennifer Grant named her son Cary too in his honor.
19	----
20	!!Cary Grant films with pages on this wiki:
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22	[[folder:Film roles]]
23	* ''Film/BlondeVenus'' (1932)
24	* ''Film/MerrilyWeGoToHell'' (1932)
25	* ''Film/ThisIsTheNight'' (1932)
26	* ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1933)
27	* ''Film/TheEagleAndTheHawk'' (1933)
28	* ''Film/SheDoneHimWrong'' (1933)
29	* ''Film/SylviaScarlett'' (1935)
30	* ''Film/{{Suzy}}'' (1936)
31	* ''Film/TheAwfulTruth'' (1937)
32	* ''Film/TheToastOfNewYork'' (1937)
33	* ''Film/{{Topper}}'' (1937)
34	* ''Film/BringingUpBaby'' (1938)
35	* ''Film/{{Holiday}}'' (1938)
36	* ''Film/GungaDin'' (1939)
37	* ''Film/{{In Name Only\|1939}}'' (1939)
38	* ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'' (1939)
39	* ''Film/HisGirlFriday'' (1940)
40	* ''Film/MyFavoriteWife'' (1940)
41	* ''Film/PennySerenade'' (1941)
42	* ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'' (1940)
43	* ''Film/{{Suspicion}}'' (1941)
44	* ''Film/TalkOfTheTown'' (1942)
45	* ''Film/DestinationTokyo'' (1943)
46	* ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'' (1944)
47	* ''Film/NoneButTheLonelyHeart'' (1944)
48	* ''Film/{{Night and Day\|1946}}'' (1946)
49	* ''Film/{{Notorious\|1946}}'' (1946)
50	* ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer'' (1947)
51	* ''Film/TheBishopsWife'' (1947)
52	* ''Literature/MrBlandingsBuildsHisDreamHouse'' (1948)
53	* ''Film/IWasAMaleWarBride'' (1949)
54	* ''Film/{{Monkey Business\|1952}}'' (1952)
55	* ''Film/DreamWife'' (1953)
56	* ''Film/ToCatchAThief'' (1955)
57	* ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'' (1957)
58	* ''Film/{{Houseboat}}'' (1958)
59	* ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'' (1959)
60	* ''Film/OperationPetticoat'' (1959)
61	* ''Film/ThatTouchOfMink'' (1962)
62	* ''Film/{{Charade}}'' (1963)
63	* ''Film/FatherGoose'' (1964)
64	* ''Film/WalkDontRun'' (1966) -- his last film
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	----
68	!!Tropes in his work:
69	* TheCastShowoff:[[invoked]] Before he became an actor, Cary trained in London as acrobat, so he often did his own stunts.
70	* TheCharmer: It's rare to find a character of his who wasn't this. To this day, he remains one of the most charismatic romantic leading men ever to grace the silver screen.
71	* DeadpanSnarker: Most of his characters' trademark.
72	* TheEveryman: Grant had the charisma to make the majority of his characters this even if they weren't in relatable professions (his scientist roles in ''Bringing Up Baby'' and ''Monkey Business'', for example).
73	* FakeAmerican:[[invoked]] It was rare when he wasn't. It became [[IronyAsSheIsCast incredibly ironic]] whenever his characters would stubbornly have monologues about [[{{Eagleland}} American values, and boast about the patriotism they wore on their sleeve]], especially in ''The Talk of the Town'' when his character (who'd been framed for arson and broke out of jail) was cold towards the extremely [=WASPy=] lawyer played by Creator/RonaldColman (who was also English) for being too out of touch.
74	* ItsAllAboutMe: Along with ManipulativeBastard, some of Cary's characters (particularly in his screwball comedy films) were {{jerkass}}es that would do anything to get their own way. Most famously was C. K. Dexter Haven from ''The Philadelphia Story'', who pulled a few strings by sending {{intrepid reporter}}s to spite ex-wife Tracy's engagement, and this was taken up a notch in ''His Girl Friday''.
75	* LanternJawOfJustice: His cleft chin is often referenced and lampshaded in his films. Most memorably, Creator/AudreyHepburn in ''Charade'' stroked it and said, "How do you shave in there?"
76	* MrFanservice: He was the male sex symbol of the 30's and 40's.
77	* NoStuntDouble: Due to his time as an acrobat as a young man, he was very strong and athletic and did many of his own stunts.
78	* SharpDressedMan: Grant is forever one of the few men in Hollywood history who [[MrFanservice oozed sex appeal]] without taking his three-piece suit off.
79	* ShowerScene: An admittedly-strange trait in a few of his movies is showing him either showering or bathing.
80	* SilverFox: His good looks didn't fade at all as he got older or as his hair became grey and then completely white.
81	* TallDarkAndHandsome: One of the most famous examples of Hollywood's Golden Age, along with Creator/ClarkGable. If Grant's character was in a love triangle, the other suitor didn't stand a chance.

Context Creator / CaryGrant