Classic Hollywood From A to Z – C Is For Cary Grant

This weeks edition is brought to you by my awesome sister, Shannon. She’s the funnest person I know and a great blogger in her own right. You can find her at This Girl Friday.  Take it away Shannon!

 Archibald Alexander Leach was born in Bristol, England in 1904.  His family was relatively poor, but seemed happy enough, until one day Archie’s mother left, never to return.  (It was only after he was already a major Hollywood star that he learned she’d been in a mental institution for years and spent his time thereafter taking care of her.)  At the age of sixteen, Archie set out on his own and joined a traveling circus as a stilt-walker.  His experience with the circus and his acrobatic skills served him well as an actor, for Cary Grant’s (as he soon became) earlier work in the 1930’s often had him cast in a comedic role that played off his physicality.  The backflips in Holiday and the jiu-jitsu in The Awful Truth are all him!  I personally love Cary Grant’s comedic period.  He shined in these roles, having a knack for physical comedy and perfect comedic timing.  Yet Grant adapted over his near-fifty-year career as an actor and proved himself to be equally adept at dramatic roles.  Hitchcock counted him as a favorite leading actor and cast him in four films over the years.  I could go on and on, like I said.  But as always, the best way for you to discover an actor’s talent, in this case that of the dashing Cary Grant, is by watching his films.  And you can’t go wrong by watching his movies, no matter which genre you choose from.  Cary Grant remains one of the greatest actors of all time and his body of work attests to that.