Cary Grant: A Class Apart

Cary Grant: A Class Apart
Graham McCann

The ultimate biography of this ever-popular star and icon, from a young Cambridge don who has already made his name with a much praised biography of Marilyn Monroe.Please note that this edition is text only and does not include illustrations.Cary Grant made men seem like a good idea. Tall, dark and handsome with a rare gift for light comedy, he played a leading man who liked to be led, a man of the world who was a man of the people. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s quintessential democratic gentleman. Born in England as Archie Leach, made famous in America as Cary Grant, he was a star for more than 30 years, in more than 70 movies, his popularity still intact when he brought his career to a close. He was never replaced: nobody else talked like that, looked like that, behaved like that. He was a class apart. Cary Grant never explained how he came to play ‘Cary Grant’ so well. ‘Nobody is every truthful about his own life,’ he said. ‘There are always ambiguities.’ This book explores the ambiguities in the life and work of Cary Grant: a working class Englishman who portrayed a well-bred American; the playful entertainer who became a powerful businessman; the intimate stranger who was often the seduced male. Thorough and meticulously researched, this book is a dazzling and entertaining account of Cary Grant’s broad and enduring appeal.

CARY GRANT

A Class Apart

Graham McCann

Copyright (#ulink_33ff325e-e9c0-5d3e-874a-332f0045482f)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

This edition published in 1997

First published in Great Britain in 1996 by Fourth Estate

Copyright © 1996 by Graham McCann

The right of Graham McCann to be identified as the author of this

work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Source ISBN: 9781857025743

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007378722

Version: 2016-02-08

Dedication (#ulink_49fdfcf0-39fb-5f8a-98bb-0f0fe12bec44)

For Silvanaand in memory of my dear grandparents,Frank and Florence Geary

Contents

Cover (#u074e71ef-c3c8-512f-8a8a-8fa439f91943)

Title Page (#u9c8ddc6e-7e79-5fc5-b372-78e86b9ee8f5)

Copyright (#u77e96e82-9838-54e0-b4f5-7b4ffd0beefe)

Dedication (#u110921c4-858a-5780-bb7f-911642c60146)

Epigraph (#u652ccd16-0768-5ddf-a768-e76330bce9fc)

PROLOGUE (#u7ad1eb01-b4d0-56f9-a58b-d5bd9bae630e)

BEGINNINGS (#uae73f619-52b1-5e2d-993f-d09eed9019cc)

I Archie Leach (#u6b78ef4c-ffc8-59b1-946f-c63378898420)

II A Mysterious Disappearance (#ue42e03a5-cf71-5ca9-ae04-219ef9408649)

III A Place to Be (#ub2c92d61-ffa4-5c27-b750-0c4598d4aaa6)

CULTIVATION (#u4fed9dfb-2cdf-53d7-bd09-5d0e81bace44)

IV New York (#u0bf7c5d5-2f51-5ef2-9b0a-f509ee8c8ff9)

V Inventing Cary Grant (#u9e484667-0608-5643-829d-60d8b9c7fbeb)

Hollywood (#ua3d4c5c7-2ac9-5afd-b797-fe6e0aba12d7)

STARDOM (#litres_trial_promo)

VII Never a Better Time (#litres_trial_promo)

VIII The Intimate Stranger (#litres_trial_promo)

IX Suspicions (#litres_trial_promo)

INDEPENDENCE (#litres_trial_promo)

X The Actor as Producer (#litres_trial_promo)

XI The Pursuit of Happiness (#litres_trial_promo)

XII The Last Romantic Hero (#litres_trial_promo)

RETIREMENT (#litres_trial_promo)

XIII The Real World (#litres_trial_promo)

XIV The Discreet Celebrity (#litres_trial_promo)

XV Old Cary Grant (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)