Cary Grant: a Biography Free

FREE CARY GRANT: A BIOGRAPHY PDF Marc Eliot | 435 pages | 27 Sep 2005 | Three Rivers Press (CA) | 9780307209832 | English | New York, NY, United States Cary Grant - Movies, Spouse & Career - Biography On the night Cary Grant: A Biography April 7,four years after starring in his last feature film, sixty-six-year-old Cary Grant, who had never won an Oscar, was awarded a Cary Grant: A Biography noncompetitive Academy Award for his lifetime of achievement in motion pictures. Although to his great legion of fans it was an honor scandalously overdue, for a number of reasons, some less obvious than others, it very nearly did not happen. Mayer, who in came up with the idea of an interstudio house union open to all studio employees, including actors, run by moguls, to offset the growing problem of independent trade organization in Cary Grant: A Biography. The notion of annual awards was meant to placate those employees who sought the more practical benefits of better salaries, job security, health insurance, and retirement plans. At the time virtually everyone connected to the motion picture industry, from set painters, costume makers, and prop men to screenwriters, actors, and directors, was subject to the whims and fancies of the sweatshop mentality of the pioneering generation of Hollywood moguls. The first actor to successfully break the hitherto ironclad contract system for performers was Cary Grant, who became a freelance actor-for-hire on a per film basis inafter his original five-year exclusive deal with Paramount expired as had the studio itself, in its first incarnation as Paramount Publix. Money, however, was not the only reason Grant chose not to remain a contract studio player. It was a Cary Grant: A Biography Grant desperately wanted to be in, believing it would be the one to finally make him a major star. When Adolph Zukor, the head of Paramount, refused to allow the loan-out, MGM gave the role instead to its own relatively unknown contract player, Franchot Tone. Grant never forgave Zukor, and a year later, when his contract was up, he refused to re-sign with a reorganized Paramount, then surprised everyone when, after fielding offers from all the majors, he announced he was Cary Grant: A Biography going to sign an exclusive studio contract with any and instead would sell his services on a nonexclusive per film basis. To underscore the finality of his decision to go independent, he canceled his membership in the Academy, an action everyone in Hollywood considered professional suicide. At the time no one except Charlie Chaplin had been able to survive without the security of a weekly paycheck in Academy-dominated Hollywood, and to do it he had to start his own studio, United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, D. Griffith, and Mary Pickford. No one, that is, until Cary Grant. To the Cary Grant: A Biography moguls, he was now officially an outsider, an enemy of their system, as reviled as any independent trade union activist. Menu More Topics. Get the App. Cary Grant: A Biography. Marc Cary Grant: A Biography. Cary Grant - Wikipedia Actor Cary Grant ran away from home at 13 to perform as a juggler with a comedy troupe. They later toured the United States, where he honed his acting skills. In the s he signed with Paramount Pictures. He made films well into the s, establishing a debonair persona that made him a screen icon. Sometimes referred to as the "epitome of elegance," Grant exuded style, charm and sophistication. But that on-screen Cary Grant: A Biography was a carefully crafted image, one that hid a very difficult personal life. He died inhaving received an honorary Oscar in Grant was born on January 18, He grew up Cary Grant: A Biography 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 Cary Grant: A Biography 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. InGrant 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 Cary Grant: A Biography 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 Cary Grant: A Biography his first feature film, This Is The Nightinand 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 inwith 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 Suspicionwhich marked his first film with director and master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. In Penny SerenadeGrant balanced humor with grief as a husband who experiences both joy and heartbreak in his marriage. His work in Cary Grant: A Biography film netted him an Academy Award nomination. His greatest dramatic leap was in 's None but the Lonely Heart. Directed and co-written by Clifford Odets, the film featured Grant as a wandering prodigal son who returns home to help his sick mother Ethel Barrymore. He picked up his second Academy Award nomination for this now mostly forgotten film. It was reportedly one of his personal favorites, saying "the part seemed to fit my nature better than the light-hearted fellows I was used to playing. By the early s, Grant became one of the first actors to land status as a free agent, choosing not to be under contract to one of the many film studios that ruled Hollywood at the time. Instead, he picked his own parts, becoming increasingly selective about what roles he'd take. One of his first decisions as a free agent was to appear in another Hitchcock film—'s Notorious. Two of Grant's most memorable later roles had him once again working with Hitchcock. He played a reformed criminal accused of a robbery he didn't commit in 's To Catch a Thief. In the film, Grant starred opposite Grace Kelly. Hitchcock then put Grant through his paces in 's North by Northwest. As an advertising man who gets mixed up in murder and espionage, his character is on the run from sinister forces and battling for his Cary Grant: A Biography for much of the movie. Grant also teamed up with Audrey Hepburn for the humorous and romantic thriller Charadewhich gently poked fun at the genre. For his final film, Walk Don't Runhe had moved from romantic lead to mature matchmaker in this comedy. Grant retired from filmmaking after this movie. After walking away from Cary Grant: A Biography, Grant still appeared in public. Grant received numerous honors for his contributions to film in his later years, including a special Academy Award in for his "unique mastery of the art of screen acting. Grant agreed to a special public appearance in Davenport, Iowa, on November 29,but he never made it to the theater that night. He suffered a fatal stroke in his hotel room. As he had in life, Grant continued to seek privacy after his death. No Cary Grant: A Biography funeral was held for the great star, but many who knew him expressed their grief over his passing. Cary Grant: A Biography Ronald Reagan said Cary Grant: A Biography "He was one of the brightest stars in Hollywood and his elegance, wit and charm will endure on film and in our hearts. Unlike his suave film characters, Grant Cary Grant: A Biography to struggle in his romantic life off-screen. He was married five times and went through four divorces.

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