Cary Grant is one of my favorite “chicken soup” actors. Similar to Jimmy Stewart and Gene Kelly, his amiable appearance and affable screen persona is always a welcome addition to a lazy Sunday afternoon of movie watching.
In honor of Mr. Grant – star of such classics as Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic and Old Lace, North By Northwest, and Charade – I present to you five bits of info about the man you might not know.
1. Let’s get this one out of the way – most likely, Grant swung for both teams. Over the years, there were a number of rumors, sightings, and stories (some stemming from Grant’s first two wives), accusing him of being a homosexual…or, at the very least, bi-sexual.
Funnily enough, aside from pornography, 1931’s Bringing Up Baby, is cited as the first work of fiction to use the word “gay” in a homosexual context…and Grant ad-libbed the line. Perhaps his purported relationship with actor Randolph Scott was on his mind. For the remaining four bits, follow the jump…
2. His real name was Archibald Leach…not very smooth for a movie star. John Cleese’s character in A Fish called Wanda, Archie Leach, was named in honor of him. Cary Grant himself even references an off-screen character by that name in His Girl Friday.
3. In the early 1960’s, Cary Grant dropped more LSD than Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison combined. The drug, which was legal at the time, was part of his therapy sessions aimed at finding inner peace, truth, and happiness. His third wife, Betsy Drake, apparently introduced him to the drug…which had mixed results.
4. Ian Fleming, author and creator of James Bond, once admitted that he had the suave, genial characteristics of Cary Grant in mind when he created the super spy character. Sean Connery was cast for similar qualities.
5. Perhaps the most famous line attributed to Cary Grant is, “Judy, Judy, Judy” or rather, “Juday, Juday, Juday,” in reference to Judy Garland. However, Grant denies ever saying it in any film throughout his career. Nowadays, the line has attached itself to Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm fans.
For more information on Grant, check out Cary Grant: A Biography by Marc Eliot and the documentary about his life available on the Bringing Up Baby two-discer.
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I am a huge Cary Grant fan! So glad you posted this. I had no idea about the LSD! Funny how currently illegal drugs used to be used in therapy. Cocaine was also heavily prescribed by Freudian therapists.
Yeah, thanks for posting this Chris! This reminds me of when you posted that article about Jimmy Stewarts horse, Pie (that article brought a tear to my eye.) I love when you post articles like this for your fellow cineastes!
I think he was supposed to be Carrie Fisher’s rehab mentor at one point too.
rather new listener/reader, first time commenter-
love Cary Grant.
seems a little TMZ to talk about his sexuality (same goes for the many books that devote many pages to the subject)
how could you leave out To Catch a Thief?
how about the fact that he was a trained acrobat?
big fan of the podcast, have always loved the art of trailers (and obviously film) keep up the good work!
Creth,
Thank you for your comment…and thank you for your listenership…but I don’t feel it’s too “TMZ” to reference Grant’s sexuality. We can respectfully agree to disagree…I believe it’s a large part of a person’s life.
Grant lived and worked in an era when it was absolutely verboten to be an open homosexual. Times have certainly changed.
Today, every other movie or television show has a gay character/actor, and no one blinks an eye…and that’s a wonderful thing.
Regarding “To Catch a Thief,” the purpose of the brief blog wasn’t to list every great film he’s ever been in, or I would have also referenced “Gunga Din” and “An Affair To Remember.”
In regards to his Hitchcock work, my opinion is “North By Northwest” is his strongest…followed by “Notorious”…and then, “To Catch A Thief.”
But that’s just my opinion.
And you are right, he was a trained acrobat, which I think is why he was so damn good in those screwball, physical comedies.
Thanks again for bringing these points up…no offense intended.
Wow Chris this is sort of crazy for me because JUST yesterday my sister and I had an all day Cary Grant marathon and he truly solidified himself as one of my all time favorite actors. Watching the films like Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth, you can just feel how much they influenced the romantic comedies of today. It’s incredible and I recommend to everyone to watch his films in chronological order just to see how much he grew as an actor over time and examine where he’s choosing to really stretch himself as an actor and take chances. I agree he does his strongest work with Hitchcock and it culminates in North by Northwest.
anyways long LONG time listener. love you guys
ps.
I also agree that it’s in no way “tmz” to discuss his sexuality. True or not, it followed him his whole life from sharing the house with Randolph Scott for all those years to extremely late in his life when comedian Chevy Chase made a cracks about him and Grant promptly took him to court.
WHAT a fabulous post. I didn’t know that about the LSD! How cool!
It was always interesting to me how Grant looked MORE gay (yes, I said looked–I may be bi, but am I also a lookist?) the older he got, at least to me.