Cary Grant: The Leading Man | The Hollywood Collection

Are you ready? Uno, due, tre! He was an original. In the history of motion pictures, no one, before or since, has seemed quite as debonair, as sophisticated, and yet with it all, as human. For over 30 years, he was Hollywood's most sought-after leading man, acknowledged as one of its truly great comedians. He was the star everyone loved. He was also the star few really knew. His name was Cary Grant. I remember him mostly, and I think most people do, as a person who lights up a room. Women adored him. They loved looking at him, they loved listening to him, and they loved watching him in action. The most striking thing about Cary is how fantastically good he was. He was such an attractive man that people presumed, well, maybe he doesn't have very much depth. People who knew him terribly well said there were great storms going on inside. He needed desperately, I think, not only to be liked, that was something else, but for him to be approved of. He had to make you love him. That was very important to him. Bristol, England, today. There still stand the places he knew as a child, the street on which he was born, the school he attended, and most important, the theater that became his entranceway to the world. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Good evening! He was born January 18th, 1904, Archibald Alexander Leach. His mother was overpossessive in his very young days. A few years earlier, she had had another son who died shortly before his first birthday. It was said that she never got over that shock. Like many Victorians, Archie's mother was class conscious. Elsie Leach felt she had married beneath her. Her husband, Elias, worked hard as a pants presser and was rarely home. Pampered and immaculately dressed, Archie was the center of Elsie's life. But that would suddenly end. He was only ten years old when he came home from school one day to find his mother gone. His father had her committed to a local mental hospital where she remained for the next 21 years. He was told she was gone for a rest, she would be back, but it was all very vague. And he was then left with all these self-doubts as to whether he had been the cause of it. Why had his mother walked out on him? It was to have, I feel, a profound effect on him for most of his life. He rarely saw his father and often went to the Bristol docks and dreamed of running off as a cabin boy. He joined the Boy Scouts and was later remembered as a loner who always looked neglected. Archie was 14 when he was expelled for the childish prank of peeking into the girls' bathroom. It marked the end of his formal education. He was hauled in front of the entire school. It was cruel, to say the least. But Archie was a survivor, and a chance visit backstage to Bristol's Hippodrome Theatre would change his life. Please yourself. Don't you feel like you're in a company? And you! It was like nothing he believed possible. The show, the lights, the music. Archie got a job calling actors to the stage. It was magical. He saw the men and women who emerged from these dressing rooms transformed before an audience into performers. They were cheered, applauded, adored. It was an experience Archie would never forget. And he was hooked. Within weeks, Archie became a member of Pender's Knockabout Comedians, learning the art of pratfalls, stilt-walking, pleasing an audience. Archie had found himself a new family. In two years, the Pender troupe would be on its way to perform in New York City, and 16-year-old Archie would be with them. New York was a far cry from Bristol, England. The Jazz Age was being born, and Archie reveled in it. When the Pender lads headed for home, Archie decided he had nothing to go back to. His chance for a future was here, and he was going to make the most of it. When he couldn't find a job on stage, he survived by walking stilts in Coney Island to advertise the Steeplechase Amusement Park. He told me he was very poor, and he used to sell ties on the sidewalk, on Broadway, out of a suitcase, and he was forever looking for the police. And if he saw a cop, he would quickly close the suitcase and run. I had written a skit for vaudeville, and I needed a very, very handsome man to carry out the plot. And he came in, and my partner said, oh, we saw him already, and he isn't any good for us. He has a Cockney accent, and he has a very peculiar walk, and no acting experience whatsoever. And I said, well, it doesn't make any difference to me. He's the only really good-looking man who's come in in the last week. And I just fell madly in love with him. He was handsome, imposing, young blade around Broadway. He'd been on the road for the Shuberts and several musicals. He was always around looking for work. In 1929, he managed to get a screen test from Paramount Pictures. He was rejected. The reason, bull legs and what was described as a thick neck. Archie refused to accept that verdict. I will die. Boy, what a great day to have good Einstein. This short, Singapore Sioux, made in New York City, was the start of one of the great screen careers of all time. Hello, Judy. You're my doll. Sing it for me. There it is. And a beautiful shiny girl for you. How about a kiss for the both of us? It was 1931. Archie Leach was 27 years old and determined to succeed. He drove to Hollywood with all his possessions crammed into his first Packard and soon got another screen test. This time, Paramount gave him a contract and with it, a new name. Archie Leach would be no more. He was now Cary Grant. His early films, he made opposite people like Nancy Carroll and Marlene Dietrich, Sylvia Sidney, of course. He was there to look tall, dark and handsome. Gary Cooper or Freddie March, they were actors. Cary Grant, he was kind of a stick. He was a leading man. I'd heard the usual legendary stories about how Cary Grant became... Cary Grant. For instance, I'd heard that he fashioned himself after Douglas Fairbanks and after Noel Coward with that elegant style. I think it started a different way. The first time I remember him making any impact was when he was Mae West's leading man. Now, Mae West, being the powerful, powerful personality that she was, just obliterated anyone else who was on the screen with her. But apparently, she liked him. Why don't you come up sometime and see me? I'm home every evening. And he liked her. Yeah, but I'm busy every evening. And she gave him a pretty good room in which to operate. You see, we're holding meetings in Jacobson's Hall every evening. Anytime you have a moment to spare, I'd be glad to have you drop in. You're more than welcome. I heard you. You ain't kidding me, Annie. Come up, I'll tell you fortune. You can be had. She needed an opposite, not somebody from the streets, but somebody with elegance that would play against her character. So all this is your famous collection, eh? Oh, this is just my summer jewelry. You ought to see my winter stuff. They always seemed so cold to me. They have no warmth, no soul. I'm sorry you think more of my soul than you do of my diamonds. Maybe I ain't got no soul. Ah, yes, you have. But you keep it hidden under a mask. Haven't you ever met a man that could make you happy? Sure. Lots of times. And he had his own way of talking. And it was so unique that it stamped him as a personality. After she'd done him wrong, Cary Grant was acknowledged by Paramount as being among their more important leading men. He was our man. But success had its price. Cary was expected to participate in every publicity stunt that came along, whatever his personal feelings on the subject. Hello, Annalise. I came up to tell you how much I enjoyed your song. Oh, I bet you wouldn't fool me, would you, huh? No, no kidding. All jokes aside, I'm serious. I really mean it. Why don't you come up and we'll sit down sometime, huh? About this time, Cary found out that his mother was still alive and in a mental hospital. He would buy her a new home and would visit her regularly. But the pain of her disappearance would never be forgotten. It's difficult to appreciate what a stigma attached to mental instability in the first 30 years or so of Cary's life. So it's not entirely surprising that Elias Leach decided not to tell his son about his mother's illness. She, of course, had no idea that by now he was world famous. Elsie Leach also had no idea Cary had fallen in love and was planning to marry Virginia Cherrill, an actress who played opposite Charlie Chaplin in City Lights and opposite Cary in this PR short. Hello, darling. Have a nice trip? Lovely. Hey, where'd you get the flowers? I delivered your flowers, all right, Mr. Grant. Cary and Virginia were married in London in February 1934. They appeared to be the ideal Hollywood couple. He's been a bridegroom of two months. At a meeting for exhibitors at the Paramount studio, Cary affected the casual good humor that would become his trademark. It's nice to see you. It's on the level. I have to get back to the set. This tan isn't on the level. Bye-bye. But the actor who would show such ease with women on screen would have a more difficult time in his personal life. In December 1934, Virginia Cherrill would file for divorce, accusing Cary of extreme possessiveness. For Cary, it would mean a replay of the old feelings of being abandoned. He tried to focus all his energies on his career, but again and again, he was cast in uninspiring roles. In 1936, Paramount lent him out to RKO for Sylvia Scarlet, directed by George Cukor and co-starring Katharine Hepburn. And the next thing you knew, Cary was so far away from anything that he had done in his Paramount tall, dark, and handsome leading man days that that got people thinking, hey, this man's a comedian. Suddenly, Cary knew that his only hope for better parts lay outside Paramount. So, in 1937, he made a bold decision. He bought out his contract and became one of the few major Hollywood stars to voluntarily go freelance. Away from Paramount, secondary studios would take a chance on someone who had just been a leading man. And, of course, Cary became a star with a vengeance. In 1937, Cary signed on for the Hal Roach comedy, Topper, and struck gold. But it was in Columbia Pictures' The Awful Truth, released the same year, that Cary's true brilliance as a comedian was established. From day one, it was a madcap production. Leoma Cary, one of the greatest directors of all time, said, do you know Home on the Range? And I said, yes, but I can't sing it. He said, that's great. Come on over here. We went over to a grand piano and Irene Dunn had some sheet music and she was trying to bang out Home on the Range. She said, Leo, I don't read music. I can't, I'll never get this. And he said, do the best you can. Ralph, you sing it. Belt it out. At the end of the first day, Irene was crying. She didn't know what kind of a part she was playing. Cary said, let me out of this and I'll do another picture for nothing. From then on, McCary came in with sometimes a piece of brown wrapping paper in his hand and he'd say, you come in here, you come in over there and I'll run the dog through here and then you come in or whatever. And that's the way we made the picture. We never had a script. Here's my husband coming along. Cary caught on quickly. Hello, folks. Hello. This is Dixie Bell Lee. This is Mrs. Wariner and this is Mr. Leeson, the gentleman that Mrs. Wariner is going to marry. It was right in his groove, his kind of comedy of humor. Now, are you sure we're not intruding? What do you mean? He could laugh with you as you were watching him. He knew you were laughing and he was encouraging it. Ah, so you're going to live in Oklahoma, eh, Lucy? How I envy you. Oklahoma. We're going to live right in Oklahoma City. Lucy, you lucky girl. New York's all right for a visit, but I wouldn't want to live here. I know I'll enjoy Oklahoma City. But of course, and if it should get dull, you can always go over to Tulsa for the weekend. And he started to play this more and more comfortably, and, of course, effectively. Take it. By the time the picture was over, he had found a persona that he could cling to and make more and more his own. And then, of course, he developed into perhaps the brightest comedian on the horizon. Gary had a field day, playing once more opposite Katharine Hepburn in the zany 1938 Bringing Up Baby. I don't believe you, Susan. But you have to believe me. I've been a victim of your unbridled imagination once more. All the way, all the way. No, but if you'd only wait while I explain, I just gave you my personal... No, no, no, no. Look, I'm just trying to tell you that you've told... Oh, no, I didn't. Why, if you hadn't been in such a hurry and had waited for my explanation... Not my coat. ...your coat would still be perfectly all right. Wild confusion was made art in this movie that would go on to become a Hollywood classic. That same year, the Grant Hepburn magic was again at work in Holiday. Cary was hailed for his performance as a romantic who found himself engaged to the wrong sister. Don't worry about it, dear. If I'm going to get stuck with a rich girl, I'll just grit my teeth and make the best of it. Oh, but darling, you're going to make millions yourself. Oh, but darling, no, I'm not. Oh, yes, you are. Oh, no, I'm not. Oh, yes. No. Is life wonderful where you are? Well, I don't call well. I mean doing living. And what do you recommend for yourself, Doctor? A holiday. How long? As long as I need. You mean just to play? I want to know how I stand, where I fit into the picture, what it's all going to mean to me. I can't find that out sitting behind some desk in an office, so as soon as I get enough money to get her, I'm going to knock off for a while. Quit? Quit. I want to save part of my life for myself. There's a catch to it, though. It's got to be part of the young part. And the more successful he became as an actor, the harder he worked. The bigger a star he became, the harder he worked. It wasn't only to get there, but to stay there. With Gunga Dean, Carey extended his range well beyond the drawing room. What do you want? I think one of the secrets of his success was that he was such an unselfish actor. Take your hands off that man. Carey said that he was interested in Gunga Dean, and I said, well, which part did you want me to play? He said, well, we'll toss a coin as you play this until I play that. And it was decided in as simple a fashion as that. Darling, please don't go. The trouble is, you don't want a man for a husband. You want a coward who'll run out on his friends when there's danger. Well, that's not me, and never was, and never will be. And that's how it happened that I won the girl. Gunga Dean was the box office smash of 1939, and Carey Grant had become one of the most exciting male stars in Hollywood. The 1940 His Girl Friday, co-starring Carey Grant with Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy, revealed screwball comedy at its best. This other fellow, well, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see him. I'm more or less particular about whom my wife marries. Where is he? Oh, he's right on the top waiting for me out there. Do you mind if I meet him? Oh, no, Walter. It wouldn't do any good, really. Oh, now, you're not afraid, are you? Afraid? Of course not. Well, then, come on. Let's see this paragon. Is he as good as you say? Why, he's better. Now, what does he want with you? Oh, now you got me. Thank you. Oh, I am sorry. Here, the Oxford Brewster. What's your name? Paul, I suppose he opens doors for you. He does. Well, this is the lady. He takes the kettle. Oh, I am. This is the lady he waits for. Oh, well, in that case. Allow me. Must be some mistake. I'm already married. Already married? He had wonderful humor and it developed into a style, a comic humorous style that was very appealing. More than appealing, it was wonderful. Congratulations again, Mr. Baldwin. Oh, no, sir. My name is... Excuse me, will you? I'm terribly busy. Just leave your card with the boy. What did you say, Mr. Baldwin? My name is... Mr. Burns. Some other time. I'm busy with Mr. Bruce Baldwin here. I didn't hear what you said, Mr. Baldwin. I was going to say, it's my name. Now, look, what is it with you? I'm Bruce Baldwin. Oh, you're Bruce Baldwin? Yes. Well, who is he? Who are you? My name is Pete Davis. Well, Mr. Davis, is this any concern of yours? No. Well, from now on, I'll thank you to keep your nose out of my affairs. And don't let it happen again. Mr. Baldwin, I'm terribly sorry about this mistake. This is indeed a pleasure. With the Philadelphia story, in which he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant established himself as Hollywood's foremost light comedian. But events abroad would change what brought people into theaters, and Cary Grant would have to find a way of adapting to that change. The war in Europe seemed about to consume the world, a time of bombings and sacrifice. In 1941, when Bristol was suffering its greatest from air raids, hundreds of people were being killed. It was that precise moment that Cary decided to become an American citizen. Critics unkindly suggested it might be to avoid war service. The suggestion was very hurtful because he was doing a great deal. During the war, he made a whole picture every year and gave all of his salary to British war charities back in his own country. He never, ever felt that he wanted to really remove himself completely from his origins, but he loved America and he loved being a U.S. citizen. Visiting U.S. Army camps, Cary found a ready welcome for the actor who had done so much to cheer millions during the Depression. But these were different times, and the appetite for the zany and the screwball was gone. The 1941 Penny Serenade was a reflection of that change. What a grip. For a girl, I mean. The first time I saw her, she looked so little and helpless. I didn't know babies were so little. And then when she took hold of my finger and held onto it, she just sort of walked into my heart, Judge, and she was there to stay. I didn't know I could feel like that. I'd always been, well, kind of careless and irresponsible. I wanted to be a big shot. Look, I'm not a big shot now. I'll do anything. I'll work for anybody. I'll bake. I'll borrow. Please, Judge, I'll sell anything I've got until I get going again. I mean, she'll never go hungry and she'll never be without clothes, not as long as I've got two good hands to help me. For his performance, Cary received his first Academy Award nomination. He was searching for something, and I think that's what got him into the darker period, so to speak, of his life with a picture such as Suspicion. But there wouldn't have been a Suspicion with Cary Grant unless he could trust the man who was making the movie, Hitchcock. There was something strange about Johnny A. Scott. I knew it long before I married him. It was our first meeting on a hilltop. Now, what did you think I'd do, kill you? Nothing less than murder could justify such a violent self-defense. Even his reassurances seemed almost sinister. I want nothing but to spend the rest of my life with you. And if you were to die first, I... Hitchcock saw in that face something besides a handsome leading man. I think he saw in the face the potential to be menacing, to be equivocal, to be mysterious. From that moment on, my life was filled with fear. The thought of Johnny, I loved him too much to really be afraid. But the fear of not knowing, the agony of waiting, of wondering how it would happen, of waking in the middle of the night, shaking with terror and finding myself praying that whatever it was, it would be done quickly and with mercy. Originally, Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary to play the part of a killer. But Cary feared enacting a murderer would damage his image. And so the ending of this film was changed. Cary was a devout believer in keeping to and following the kind of image that you have built up. That's the trick of film stardom. If an actor or an actress tries to create a different person, a different personality for every single role, then the audience doesn't have anything to latch on to except the creative talent of that player. He always kept Cary Grant. That's exactly what a movie-going public wants. He never became a murderer or a killer or a mean person. They do not want a movie star to be anything but his own or her own self that they have come to admire and to love. In 1942, moviegoers were surprised to learn that Cary Grant, the former vaudevillian who had worked since he was a boy of 14, had married one of the world's richest women, Barbara Hutton. Critics suggested he was after her money. He was known then as Cash and Cary, a phrase which was to wound him for years. What had not been realized, he had inserted in the marriage arrangements. Whatever happened, he was in no way to benefit from her fortune. In 1944, Cary risked the greatest departure he would ever make from his image to play a character whose world could have been that of Archie Leach. The film was None But the Lonely Heart. Anything in the shop needs mending, Ma? None of the need your help, Bernie, sweet. Cary was a man of infinite experimentation with his own character. Mean to do my best by you, Ma, love. Happy couple, aren't we? He was constantly striving, it seemed to me, to become better. Peace. That's what us millions want. Not having to snatch it from the smaller dogs. Peace to be not a hound and not a hare. But peace with pride to have a decent human life. Unfortunately, the roles that he ventured out on, such as None But the Lonely Heart, were not his most successful pictures. And I think it made him step back a little bit from playing real character parts. Though critics praised None But the Lonely Heart and he received his second Academy Award nomination, Cary measured success by box office results. And there the film was a disappointment. In his private life, Cary would also suffer a sense of failure. In 1945, after three years of marriage, Barbara Hutton sued for divorce. She had a lot of titled friends and they would come to their house for dinner and Cary would sit through the dinner but he didn't really, she said he didn't feel at ease with these titled people and that immediately after dinner he'd go up to his room upstairs and turn on the radio. But it must have been a great turmoil inside him because he manufactured himself into this great idol from a man who had a very difficult background. The following year in Hitchcock's Notorious, Cary played a disillusioned secret agent who falls deeply in love in spite of himself. A man doesn't tell a woman what to do, she tells herself. You almost had me believing in that little hokey-pokey miracle of yours that a woman like you could ever change her spots. Oh, you're rotten. That's why I didn't try to stop you. The answer had to come from you. Well, you never believed in me anyways, what's the difference? It wouldn't have been pretty if I believed in you, if I'd figured she'd been made over by love. What love? Listen, you chalked up another boyfriend, that's all, no harm done. I hate you. There's no occasion to you doing good work. With Ingrid Bergman, Cary created a romantic screen partnership that became legendary. Why didn't you tell me this? I know. I didn't see straight or think straight. I was a fat-headed guy full of pain. It tore me up not having you. I met Cary working on the RKO a lot after he made Notorious. He was very genial, easy to approach. He told me of his great ambition at the time was to own a freighter and just kind of drift around the world. And I said to him, Cary, why don't you do it? And he said, maybe someday I will and then I'll live the life I want to. On another kind of sea voyage during one of his frequent trips to Europe, Cary met an aspiring actress, Betsy Drake. Annabelle, do you mean you're going to deliberately set out to trap him? Well, I know it's dreadful, but this is the kind of thing men force us to do. Why have you been chasing after me for the past two weeks? You? Really, Dr. Brown, I've heard of conceited in my time, but you absolutely take the cake. And you'll know just how many candles go on it. Betsy and Cary were married the following year, 1949. Cary's sense of what would be right for him at the box office had generally proved correct. But when some of his films were less than successful, Cary thought it might be time to retire. Betsy was opening new worlds to him in philosophy and in self-knowledge, and at last he was able to fulfill his ambition. Together they took tramp steamers to explore distant ports and more than ever, the private Cary Grant seemed to resemble the image he had created on the screen. But if he wondered whether to enter permanent retirement, the question was answered by Alfred Hitchcock. The film was the 1955 To Catch a Thief. Who brought you up here? The police. And we would have caught you too if my dress hadn't gotten caught all over the steering wheel and gear shift. But it was only 20 minutes ago I said goodbye. As quickly as you could. Didn't I thank you? Politely. Well then. Oh John, you left in such a hurry you almost ran. I had work to do up here. Were you afraid to admit that you just can't do everything by yourself? Cary liked his partners to be distinguished ladies. He chose always women who had a certain breeding. It was very important to him. I think he was very, very fond of Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly. Cary Grant and this year's Academy Award winner Grace Kelly. Two exciting personalities who were made for each other. He liked his partners to be tall, slim, to wear jewels beautifully. Look John. Hold them. Diamonds. Have you ever had a better offer in your whole life? One with everything. With his leading ladies he had this wonderful rapport. Courtesy and tenderness but with a great deal of humor. Just like on the screen. It was really very pleasant. It was like going out with a gentleman. I guess I'm not the lone wolf I thought I was, Francie. Well, I just wanted to hear you say that. Thank you. And women. Oh, women. You've known quite a few. And I suppose they've all been madly in love with you. I doubt it. But you haven't had much respect for them. No, on the contrary. Still, you've always been very fair in your judgments. Yes, I've been more than fair. I idealize them. Every woman I meet I put up there. Even when he was having fun and laughing and making jokes at which he was excellent at he was still, there was still this remoteness. There was still this keeping something a secret. Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories. We've already missed the spring. Yes. Well, this is probably my last chance. Mine too. It's now or never. There was a most unexpected vulnerability in Carey. If I said fear, that wouldn't be right. But he was wary of relationships with women. I just want to be worthy of asking you to marry me. Oh, Nicky, that's just about the knife if your voice cracked. Oh, well, that's because I... Yes, I know, I know. And that didn't stop him from loving all his leading ladies. And by loving, I mean he was fond. It's the biggest night of the year in Hollywood as Oscar steps into the spotlight for the 29th time. By now, Carey made a point of avoiding most public events. But in 1957, he agreed to accept the Academy Award on behalf of Ingrid Bergman for her performance in Anastasia. Won by Ingrid Bergman, accepted on her behalf by Carey Grant. When most of Hollywood turned against Ingrid for leaving her husband and child for director Roberto Rossellini, Carey remained one of her staunchest friends. In 1958, Indiscreet brought these old friends together again. What do you mean? I mean we'll go on as before. And not be married? That's right. Well, that's the most improper thing I ever heard. What? I can hardly believe my ears. But what are you so shocked about? I didn't think you were capable of it. But what is different? We are not married. We weren't before. But you didn't know I wasn't married. You knew. I knew you didn't know. What's the matter with you? How could you ask me to do such a thing? Hadn't you been following what I've been saying? Oh, I tell you, women are not the sensitive sex. That's one of the great delusions of literature. Men are the true romanticists. What are you crying about? Don't cry, Anna. I'd love you. Everything would be all right. You'll like being married. You will. You'll see. It was 1958. For over 25 years, Cary Grant had been everybody's favorite leading man. You know, the man that every woman would like to love and that every man would like to be. And he played that part over and over again and played it beautifully. In many ways, the best was yet to come. With the 1959 Hitchcock classic North by Northwest, Cary Grant's career seemed to have found its jewel. I'm an advertising man, not a red herring. I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives, and several bartenders dependent upon me. And I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself slightly killed. Cary Grant, running for his life, searching for a man who doesn't exist and a secret nobody knows and finding a blonde who has all the answers. Hello there. Tell me, why are you so good to me? Shall I climb up and tell you why? I was fascinated by the combination of Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant because although they were very different in the facade, they were very classy gentlemen. Very classy. The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her. What makes you think you have to conceal it? She might find the idea objectionable. Then again, she might not. Think how lucky I am to have been seated here. Well, luck had nothing to do with it. Faith? I tipped the steward five dollars to seat you here if you should come in. I just found him to be a very giving actor. And you just always felt that he was with you every minute, not only for his close-ups, but for your close-ups. I had the feeling that he was very happy I was working with him. And when he talked with me, I felt at that moment I was the only woman in the whole wide world. And when I would be with him, the rush of the people, I was almost frightened by it because although people recognized me, it wasn't that incredible, adoring feeling that they had for him. He felt imposed upon sometimes by crowds. And yet, I never knew anyone who could behave as well as he did in a crowd. Actually, if you asked almost any man in those days who would he like to be, you'd often get the answer, Cary Grant, much more often than you would get the answer, the President of the United States. By the way, he charged 25 cents per autograph. One of the things we used to tease him about was that he was very careful with money. He was renowned, you know, for never sending flowers at Christmas or presents at Christmas. I never received a Christmas present from him. And he told the people it went to the Actors Fund. But I received presents from him, gifts, not because it was Christmas, but because it was Tuesday or Monday or some other day. And I was afraid to do that myself because I was just, well, I wasn't sure they'd come up with the 25 cents. In 1959, Cary had another huge hit, if not with the critics, then certainly with audiences, Operation Petticoat. It would be his highest grossing picture. Women, wow. Now, for the next few days, we'll all be living in fairly close contact with each other. Excuse me. Now, you being women and the men, that is, the crew being men, well... What are you going to do about it, sir? I know, it works, doesn't it? Yeah, but I'm here all day. That thing going up and down, that's undecent. Well, what I mean to say is... We know what you mean to say, Captain. We're well acquainted with the facts of life. So are the men, Major. I simply try to avoid any exchange of information. Good morning. Mr. Holden's been showing me around, explaining how everything works. Now, he's been explaining. We're just on our way to the maneuvering room. I'm afraid Mr. Holden won't be able to maneuver this morning. Don't you have a book to read? Yes, sir. I'm on chapter five, actually. Care and Operation of the Bilge Pump. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Oh, you'll like it. It turns out happily. They get each other in the end. Twenty-eight of Cary's films opened at New York's largest and most prestigious theater, Radio City. He was again and again acknowledged as the movie house's top box office draw. When he exhibited himself, he was Cary Grant, the handsome, leading man, star incarnate. Grant never gave the appearance of being commercial, and he was probably his commercial and actor who's ever lived. Now the producer of his own films, Cary knew the value of publicity. But when he cooperated, it was in his own way. He would say, let the public and the press know nothing but your public self. A star is best left mysterious and just show your work on film and let the publicity people do the rest. In 1961, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Carr, and Gene Simmons appeared with Cary in The Grass is Greener. The film's director was Stanley Donnan. He played the part of a husband whose wife cheats on him or wants to cheat on him. Understood that she might have had some desire for this other man. He's not just another man, darling. He's a millionaire. Donna, you see my Bible anywhere? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were alone. Isn't it by your bed? No, it isn't. You're from the press, are you? No, I'm not. Well, you've got a camera. You just took a photograph. Mr. Delacroix is an American. Oh, I see. I thought you were from good housekeeping or something. And of course, in that story, as perhaps in life it could happen that way, when he said to her, go ahead and do it, the thrill was gone. So I can only suggest that we declare a sort of moratorium. How do you mean? An armistice, an intermission, call it what you like. Whatever you do, you do. If you decide to go off with him, I'll just have to wait here until you get back. And he won her back. You mean you'd be willing to do that? That was a lot of Carrie in that. After a prolonged separation, Betsy Drake divorced Carrie in 1962. The marriage had lasted 13 years, and they would remain friends to the end of Carrie's life. By 1963, Carrie had enacted the role of leading man for over 30 years. Now he was approaching his 60th birthday. One more time, darling. Where is it? Your husband was mixed up in something. What was it? At any minute now he could be assassinated. Oh, I don't know who he is. Reggie, I beg you, just trust me once more. Why should I? I can't think of a reason in the world why you should. When we made Charade, he was concerned that the age difference between Audrey Hepburn and Carrie and himself was too great. Here you are. Where? On the street where you live. How about once more around the park? How about getting out of here? Come on, child, out. Won't you come in for a minute? No, I won't. I don't bite, you know. Unless it's called for. How would you like a spanking? How would you like a punch in the nose? Stop treating me like a child. Well, then stop behaving like one. Do you know what's wrong with you? No, what? Nothing. And I thought Carrie and Audrey were as romantic a couple as you would ever find in a movie. I still believe that. I think the picture today, if you look at it, one of the joys is just those two people in that movie. Hey, you don't look so bad in this light. Why do you think I brought you here? I thought maybe you wanted me to see the kind of work the competition was turning up. Pretty good, huh? I taught them everything they do. Oh, did they do that kind of thing way back in your day? Sure. How do you think I got here? Not allowed to kiss back, huh? Oh, no. Doctor said it was bad for my thermostat. Well, when you come on, don't you? Well, come on. Carrie Grant had this image of a very suave, sophisticated man, considered the most brilliant comedian in Hollywood. By the time Carrie Grant came to shoot Father Goose, he wanted to change his image. Mr. Eklund is a rude, foul-mouthed, drunken, filthy beast. This is the filthy beast speaking. If you think I'd want to get involved with an undisciplined, self-indulgent escapist like you... Well, that's better than being a frustrated spinster. What was he like? She who? The lady who drove you to this. Drove me to what? Drink. Oh, there was no lady. That was your wife. I think he was quite disappointed when the public didn't... didn't want Carrie Grant to be with a beard and sloppy and say a few dirty words. That was upsetting for him. And he... gave up soon after that and retired. There were lots of children on the film. He was very interested in children. Drink something. Give him something to drink. Quick. Drink. Hold it. Kenny! Well, how strange. Why? That you should bring me this. I've done it before. No, you haven't. Yes, I have. Shut up. He was always asking me about mine and how I raised them. He had a... a very paternal attitude towards children. It was rather touching. As a matter of fact, he was courting Diane Cannon during the film and it's soon after the film that they married and she gave him a child. That was the happiest thing in his life. It's also the only occasion when he departed from our normal agreement. We had always promised that we would never go to talk to his mother about anything to do with him. But suddenly, he asked us would we take a wire picture so she could see her new grandchild. Walk Don't Run was released the same year that Jennifer was born, 1966. But this time, Kerry did not play the leading man. He had made 72 films and this would be his last. He told me, look, I've produced Jennifer, the most marvelous girl in the world. What could compare with that? Certainly no movie. Kerry's marriage to Diane Cannon was soon headed for the divorce courts. But Kerry's devotion to his daughter was unwavering. As if recalling the unhappiness of his own childhood, Kerry was determined his daughter would never, for a single moment, doubt his love for her. In 1970, Kerry Grant received an Honorary Academy Award for nearly 35 years of achievement. At last, the Academy was paying tribute to one of Hollywood's greatest stars. He no longer appeared on the screen, but even as he aged, the Kerry Grant legend continued to grow. He joined the board of major corporations. He addressed the 1976 Republican Convention. To introduce to you and to the nation, the president's first and our first lady, Betty Ford. Hi. He received one of his adopted country's highest honors, presented by an old Hollywood friend. Although at the time he ran off to be an acrobat, he was known as Archie Leach. Some actors had to change their names to become successful. Others didn't. The eager young vaudevillian from Bristol had indeed come a long way. But always it was the public Kerry Grant on display. The private man still kept himself beyond reach. I think he was somebody who liked a very quiet life and probably liked eating in the kitchen better than at Maxim's. In 1981 he proved that in real life he was still the leading man and could still win the beautiful girl. At 77, Kerry married a young English woman, Barbara Harris. The extraordinary thing about Kerry is that he became nobler looking in age. I'm not talking about handsomeness. I'm talking about the thing that's called soul. He grew with maturity. He got to know himself better probably as we all do. It seemed that Kerry had at last found the family he yearned for and with it a way to deal with the old unhappy memories. Just three years before his death, the wheel had turned full circle. A lady colleague of mine took him on a tour of Bristol. He spoke of the Saturday mornings. His mother took him shopping. He pointed out the cinema where he'd seen his first pearl white cereals and even insisted on being taken to his favorite fish and chip shop. At the end of it all, he told me, I wish she'd asked me more. I was enjoying it so much. At that moment, I felt at last Archie Leach had come happily home. The Hippodrome Theater, where it had all started. A call from Kerry was always an event. That voice was unmistakable. Kerry said, John, I'm going to do kind of a variation on that series that you once wanted me to do. I'm just going to do it around a few little places, show a few film clips, and then just talk to the people. It was a total departure for him. There was no prepared script. It was built simply as a conversation with Kerry Grant. It was that. Not with the image, the creation, the persona. The public and the private man. They were at last one and the same. He died, I'm told, talking about himself, answering any of the questions that any of the sometimes impertinent newspaper people asked him about his private life, about his loves. And I think it's kind of a realization that he came to that he belonged to the public. Even though he withdrew from them, he was still theirs, and I think he always will be. And from Archie Leach to Kerry Grant, what a giant step. And yet he became Kerry Grant. He really became him. He sort of said, I actually have grown into the person that I wanted to be. © BF-WATCH TV 2021