NAME Cary Grant — born Archibald Alexander Leach He legally changed his name to Cary Grant when he became a naturalized United States citizen on June 26, 1942.
WHAT FAMOUS FOR One of classic Hollywood’s most elegant leading men: a suave screen actor known for his debonair persona, impeccable comic timing and romantic leads in films of the 1930s–1960s. He was honoured with an Honorary Oscar in 1970 (presented by Frank Sinatra) for his contribution to cinema.
BIRTH Grant was born on January 18, 1904, at 15 Hughenden Road in Horfield, a suburb of Bristol, England.
FAMILY BACKGROUND Grant came from an impoverished working-class family in Bristol. He was the second child of Elias James Leach and Elsie Maria Leach (née Kingdon). His father worked as a tailor's presser at a clothes factory, while his mother worked as a seamstress. His older brother John William Elias Leach had died of tuberculous meningitis two days before his first birthday in 1900.
His paternal grandfather John Leach, born in 1842, was recorded as a potter on the 1881 census. After John's death in 1890 at age 48, his widow Elizabeth became a tailoress to support her large family of ten children. Two of her sons followed her into the tailoring industry, with Elias working as a tailor's presser. Grant's maternal family background included the surname Kingdon.
CHILDHOOD Grant had an extremely traumatic and unhappy childhood marked by poverty and family tragedy. When he was nine years old, his father placed his mother in Glenside Hospital, a squalid mental institution, and told him she had gone away on a "long holiday," later declaring that she had died.
Cary Grant did not discover the truth about his mother's confinement until he was 31 years old, shortly before his father's death in 1935. Until that time, Grant believed his mother had either left the family or died, as his father had told him she was "gone on a long holiday" and later claimed she was dead. The revelation — that his mother had survived 20 years in a mental asylum (Glenside Hospital and then other institutions), abandoned and hidden by his father — haunted him profoundly for the rest of his life and deeply affected his personal relationships and sense of identity. After learning the truth, Grant arranged for her discharge and cared for her until her death
After his mother's institutionalization, Grant and his father moved into his grandmother's home in Bristol. When Grant was ten, his father remarried and started a new family. Grant's wife Dyan Cannon later described his childhood as "just horrendous".
Archibald found solace in the theatre, working evenings at Bristol playhouses while still at school. He befriended a troupe of acrobatic dancers known as The Penders or the Bob Pender Stage Troupe and in 1917, at just 13 years old, he forged a letter “purportedly from my own father” to Bob Pender, enclosing a snapshot of himself. In the letter, he conveniently neglected to mention that he was under fourteen and therefore not legally allowed to leave school. Using this deception, he briefly joined Pender’s troupe in Norwich, but his father found him and hauled him back to Bristol.
EDUCATION Grant attended Bishop Road Primary School from age 4 when his mother sent him there in 1908. The school, which opened in 1896, was notable for educating both Cary Grant and Nobel Prize winner Paul Dirac.
In 1915, Grant won a scholarship to attend Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, although his father could barely afford to pay for the uniform. He was capable in most academic subjects but excelled at sports, particularly fives.
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| Fairfield Grammar School by Sharon Loxton |
On March 13, 1918, the 14-year-old Grant was expelled from Fairfield for various infractions including being discovered in the girls' lavatory. Grant's expulsion ended his formal education, and he rejoined Bob Pender's acrobatic troupe three days after being expelled.
CAREER RECORD Began as a stage performer with Bob Pender’s Stage Troupe — initially a stilt walker, learning pantomime and acrobatics.
At 16 (1920) he travelled to the United States on the RMS Olympic for a two-year tour; the troupe’s Broadway show Good Times ran for 456 performances.
After the troupe returned to Britain he chose to stay in the U.S., embedding himself in vaudeville, then moving into films and becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
APPEARANCE Grant was 6 feet 0.5 inches (1.84 m) tall with strikingly handsome features and dark hair that made him one of Hollywood's most attractive leading men. He was known for his signature tan and immaculately groomed appearance. His good looks were evident from an early age, making him a popular figure at school. Grant's appearance was carefully maintained throughout his career, contributing to his status as the epitome of masculine glamour.
A childhood skating accident left him one tooth short; a dentist later pushed the remaining teeth together to hide the gap — an idiosyncratic detail behind that famously perfect grin. (1)
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| Cary Grant in 1958 By farid_s_v. - Flickr. |
FASHION Cary Grant was regarded as a timeless style icon, embodying an effortless kind of elegance that never went out of fashion. His approach to dressing was rooted in refinement, simplicity, and flawless tailoring. He preferred slim-cut, single-breasted navy suits worn with crisp white shirts and spread collars, a combination that became a signature look. For warmer months, he turned to lightweight blazers in neutral tones, pairing them with sleek leather oxfords and understated accessories such as tortoiseshell frames and simple gold cufflinks. His ties were typically 3 to 3.5 inches wide, chosen in solid colors or discreet patterns that complemented rather than distracted.
Grant’s philosophy was to let good tailoring and restraint do the work, resulting in outfits that could be formal or casual, but always polished, never fussy.
CHARACTER Beneath Cary Grant’s polished exterior lay a man plagued by insecurity and self-doubt. His confidence, so dazzling on screen, was in many ways a careful construction. Privately, he wrestled with the lifelong question of how Archie Leach had become Cary Grant, never fully at ease with the persona he created. His traumatic childhood left him wary of intimacy, and he was known to be controlling in relationships, struggling to form lasting attachments. Though his public image was one of charm, wit, and sophistication, in private he was complex and often conflicted.
Accounts describe him as meticulous to the point of stinginess—charging for autographs, keeping exhaustive expense records, even counting logs on the fire and bottles of liquor—yet he could also be strikingly generous, as when he donated his earnings from The Philadelphia Story to the British war effort.
Later in life, he turned to psychotherapy and became a vocal proponent of LSD therapy in the 1950s, using it in an attempt to probe the roots of his failed marriages and unresolved childhood trauma. The contrast was stark: publicly urbane and debonair, privately restless and searching.
SPEAKING VOICE His voice was instantly recognizable: a smooth, cultured, and transatlantic accent. It was a careful blend of his native Bristolian working-class dialect and the polished American speech he cultivated to sound more sophisticated. His accent was not put on for movies but developed organically as he lived and performed in both the UK and US when young.
SENSE OF HUMOUR Grant possessed natural comedic talent that contributed significantly to his success. He was known for his perfect comic timing and ability to excel in screwball comedies. Grant could be dangerous, mysterious, lovable, romantic, hilarious, extremely sexy, and just plain gorgeous, often throwing all of that at audiences at once. His sense of humor was evident both on and off screen, and he was known for his quick wit and ability to deliver dialogue with perfect timing.
Grant was a master of physical comedy, a testament to his vaudeville training.
RELATIONSHIPS Cary Grant was married five times.
Virginia Cherrill: Married on February 9, 1934, at the Caxton Hall register office in London. Cherrill was a British actress, best known for her role in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. They divorced in March 1935 following charges that he had hit her.. The divorce case was bitter with Cherrill demanding $1,000 a week from him in benefits from his Paramount earnings and widely reported in the press
Barbara Hutton: Married in 1942, location reportedly California. Hutton was the Woolworth heiress and one of the wealthiest women in the world - the press dubbed them “Cash and Cary.” They divorced in 1945, but remained fond friends..
Betsy Drake: Married on December 25, 1949, in a private ceremony aboard the ocean liner SS Île de France in the Atlantic Ocean while en route to Europe. An American actress and writer, she co-starred with Grant in several films. Drake and Grant separated in 1958, divorcing on August 14, 1962. It was his longest marriage
Dyan Cannon: Married on July 22, 1965 at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. An actress and singer, she was 33 years younger than him. Dyan Cannon described her first dinner at Cary Grant’s house “the strangest date of my life.” Instead of a candlelit table, Grant instructed her to eat her meal perched on his bed while they watched the medical drama Dr. Kildare on television. (1)
They had a daughter, Jennifer Diane Grant, Grant's only child, born February 26, 1966, when he was 62.
Grant was abusive towards Cannon and they divorced in March 1968.
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| Jennifer and Cary Grant, Century Plaza Hotel - President's Suite 1976 |
Barbara Harris: Married on April 11, 1981 in California. A British hotel public relations agent 46 years his junior., they first met in 1976 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, where Harris was working at the time and Grant was attending a Fabergé conference. They remained together until his death.
Grant had numerous affairs and relationships, including an intense affair with Sophia Loren while married to Betsy Drake.
He shared a house with actor Randolph Scott for ten years after meeting him on the set of Hot Saturday in 1932.
MONEY AND FAME Grant was known as one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood and the first actor to work as an independent, not on contract with a film studio. He made around $300,000 per film as a freelance actor.
Grant invested his money well and served on the board of Rayette-Fabergé for 18 years after retiring from acting. He was extremely wealthy at the time of his death, with a net worth of around $60 million (approximately $130-166 million in today's money).
Despite his wealth, he was notoriously frugal and accused of being a cheapskate. He charged fans 15 cents for an autograph, kept detailed logs about his spending, and never picked up restaurant tabs.
His marriage to Barbara Hutton associated him briefly with one of the era’s great fortunes and tabloid storylines.
FOOD AND DRINK He had a recipe for award-winning oven barbecued chicken, and was known to enjoy quintessential American foods.
Food anecdotes are part of his lore: his favourite foods included Nathan’s Coney Island hot dogs and classic fish and chips. When visiting the UK he would stop at Rendezvous Fish Bar in Bristol to buy fish and chips and eat them in his Rolls-Royce. (1)
Grant's favorite drink was a "Port Wine Sangaree," which he regularly ordered at Delmonico's restaurant. The cocktail featured port, rum, brandy, bitters, and maple syrup. (2)
Grant was photographed with cigars and cigarettes but actually despised smoking, as it was one of the risk factors typically associated with strokes.
MUSIC AND ARTS His mother had taught him song and dance when he was four and was keen on his having piano lessons.
Grant's early exposure to the arts came through visiting the theater with his father, particularly pantomimes at Christmas. At age 13, he was responsible for the lighting for magician David Devant at the Bristol Empire in 1917. .
Grant enjoyed performances of Charlie Chaplin, Chester Conklin, Fatty Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Mack Swain, and Broncho Billy Anderson at the cinema.
His early experiences in the theatrical world honed his skills in timing, stage presence, and audience engagement.
MOVIE CAREER If you were to draw up a list of unlikely training grounds for one of Hollywood’s most elegant leading men, an acrobatic troupe from Bristol would surely be near the top. Yet that’s exactly where Cary Grant—then still plain Archie Leach—got his start. As a teenager he signed on with Bob Pender’s troupe, the kind of outfit that specialized in tumbling, pratfalls, and the sort of daredevil antics designed to make mothers wince. The group toured America, where Archie quickly fell in love with vaudeville, Broadway lights, and the distinct possibility that show business might be a lot more fun than working in the Bristol docks.
By the early 1920s, he was in New York for good, popping up in productions like Good Times and Shubert’s Boom-Boom. He wasn’t yet Cary Grant, but audiences noticed the comic timing, the athletic grace, and the way he seemed to glide through scenes as if he’d been born wearing tap shoes. It was here—in chorus lines, comedy sketches, and endless nights on the boards—that Archie Leach began fine-tuning the wit and polish that would one day make him Hollywood’s suavest leading man.
Grant’s film debut came in 1932’s This Is the Night, where he was cast as a javelin thrower—a part he didn’t much care for but which prompted critics to remark on his striking looks and screen presence.
The 1930s brought a series of dramas and comedies, but it was the Mae West pairings (She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel) that gave him the nudge into stardom. West had a way of making her co-stars memorable, and Cary was no exception.
By the late 1930s, he’d found his sweet spot in screwball comedy, the genre in which he positively sparkled. Films like The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and The Philadelphia Story showcased his unmatched comic rhythm and “light touch.” He could tumble across a room in pursuit of Katharine Hepburn’s leopard one moment and then deliver a line so silky you barely noticed he’d just upended a chair.
Unlike most stars of his time, Grant had the temerity to break away from studio contracts. Becoming Hollywood’s first major freelance actor, he picked his own scripts and negotiated profit shares—moves that were both revolutionary and wonderfully self-serving.
The 1940s and ’50s saw him seamlessly hop between high drama (Penny Serenade, None but the Lonely Heart), which earned him two Oscar nominations, and lighter adventures with Ingrid Bergman (Indiscreet), Sophia Loren (Houseboat), and Audrey Hepburn (Charade). His collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock—Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and North by Northwest—are still regarded as some of the most stylish marriages of suspense and sophistication in cinema.
By the time he retired after Walk, Don’t Run in 1966, Grant had starred in 76 films and established himself as the patron saint of debonair charm. He left the screen not with a grand farewell, but simply to enjoy family life—proof that even Hollywood’s most polished leading man preferred a quiet exit.
LITERATURE Cary Grant was a lifelong reader with broad intellectual interests, who was especially drawn to books about philosophy, psychology, and self-help.
Grant worked on an unpublished autobiography that provided insights into his life and career. Excerpts from his unpublished autobiography were featured in documentaries about his life.
NATURE Grant had a fondness for the ocean and enjoyed spending time on his yacht. During his marriage to Barbara Hutton in the 1940s, the couple traveled and entertained aboard the famous yacht "Lady Hutton" (also known as Mälardrottningen), which Hutton had received as a gift and later sailed with Grant.
PETS Grant was known to be a dog lover who owned several pets throughout his life. Among the dogs he owned were a Scottish Terrier named Archie Leach (his own real name) and a dachshund.
He was photographed walking a Siamese cat in Beverly Hills in 1955 (see below).
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| Source Reddit |
HOBBIES AND SPORTS Grant excelled at sports during school, particularly fives — a kind of handball played against the walls — and his early apprenticeship with an acrobatic troupe left him with a toolkit few leading men could boast: pantomime, juggling, slapstick sketches, and a knack for balancing on stilts. These skills were not just parlor tricks. They threaded through his career, surfacing in pratfalls, nimble escapes, and, most famously, in North by Northwest, where at 54 he was still sprinting across open fields with unnerving speed for a man in a tailored suit.
His comic timing in films like The Awful Truth even hinted at martial arts training — Grant once slipped a move resembling judo or karate into a tussle without breaking a sweat.
Offscreen, he carried his love of movement into tennis and golf, staying fit with the same dedication he brought to polishing his on-screen persona.
Later, as wealth and celebrity settled around him, his hobbies expanded into the leisurely pursuits of yachts, cars, and extended voyages, though he never quite lost the physical poise that began with cartwheels and circus tricks back in Bristol.
PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Grant was a student of philosophy and self-improvement and underwent LSD therapy in the 1950s and 1960s as a means of addressing his "prolonged emotional detachment" issues. The therapy was seen as Grant's way of addressing his deep psychological issues and finding some form of spiritual or emotional healing.
POLITICS Grant was politically conservative and a Republican, but preferred to keep his political views relatively private.. He introduced First Lady Betty Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention, where he spoke about equal rights for women and expressed his support for women being treated as "intelligent equals".
SCANDAL Grant faced persistent rumors throughout his career about his sexuality, particularly regarding his 12-year cohabitation with actor Randolph Scott. The 1934 photo shoot of Grant and Scott depicted them as a happy couple, which caused panic at Paramount Studios and forced Grant into his first marriage. His daughter Jennifer Grant has consistently denied rumors about his sexuality, stating she never saw evidence of homosexuality and would have supported him if he had been gay. Grant openly admitted that each of his ex-wives had accused him of being homosexual.
Grant has been accused of abusing two of his wives, with allegations that he "threw" his first wife Virginia Cherrill "to the floor" and "beat" his third wife Dyan Cannon "with his fists." (3)
His openness about LSD use and public therapy was eyebrow-raising at the time.
MILITARY RECORD Grant did not serve in the military during World War II. However, he worked for the British Security Coordination (BSC) during World War II, a covert organization established by British MI6. Grant was involved in efforts to monitor suspected Nazi sympathizers within the Hollywood community.
Grant donated his entire salary from The Philadelphia Story (1940) to the British war effort and after becoming an American citizen in 1942, his salary from Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) to U.S. War Relief.
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Grant maintained excellent physical condition throughout much of his life, with his acrobatic training contributing to his athletic abilities. He was a proponent of a healthy diet and regularly exercised.
He suffered from anxiety and depression throughout his life.
HOMES Grant's primary residence was a Beverly Hills estate that he purchased in 1946 for approximately $46,000. The property was located on nearly 3 acres with sweeping views from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. Grant continuously renovated the circa-1940s house throughout his ownership, though he later regretted not completely rebuilding it from the start.
His widow Barbara Harris inherited the property and eventually tore down the original house, building a contemporary 15,700-square-foot mansion that was listed for $77.5 million in 2025.
Grant also lived at various addresses in Bristol during his childhood, including 50 Berkeley Road, where a national blue plaque was unveiled in 2024.
TRAVEL Grant developed a love of travel early in life, which was strengthened during his time as a messenger boy at Southampton docks. His passion for travel was one of his primary motivations, as he stated: "I had no definite ambition... I knew I loved travel". This wanderlust led him to join the acrobatic troupe that toured internationally, and eventually brought him to America, where he decided to stay. Throughout his career, Grant continued to travel extensively for both work and pleasure.
DEATH Cary Grant died on November 29, 1986, at 11:22 PM at St. Luke's Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, from a massive stroke. He was 82 years old.
Grant had been scheduled to perform in A Conversation with Cary Grant at the Adler Theatre but felt ill during rehearsal. He was taken to his hotel room and then to the hospital, where he never regained consciousness. Dr. James Gilson, who treated Grant, said nothing could have been done even if he had been brought to the hospital earlier. Grant's reported final words were "I'm sorry that I can't go on," apologizing for not being able to perform.
His body was flown back to California the next day for cremation with no funeral, as he had requested in his will.
APPEARANCES IN MEDIA A major figure of classic Hollywood: star of numerous celebrated films (his filmography is the principal record of his media presence). He later performed a one-man show, A Conversation with Cary Grant, and his life continued to be pictured in photographs and profiles.
Grant has been the subject of numerous documentaries and media appearances, including Becoming Cary Grant (2017), a revealing documentary featuring excerpts from his unpublished autobiography and footage shot by Grant himself.
Grant was played by John Gavin in the 1980 made-for-television biographical film Sophia Loren: Her Own Story, and by James Read in the 1987 TV serialisation Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story. A 2023 ITV drama titled Archie starring Jason Isaacs was created about his life.
Multiple biographical works have been written about him, including Scott Eyman's Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise.
ACHIEVEMENTS Longstanding Hollywood stardom across decades.
Significant box-office and critical success in leading roles.
Honorary Academy Award (1970) for lifetime contribution to motion pictures.
Noted philanthropic gesture: donating his Philadelphia Story earnings to the British war effort and Arsenic and Old Lace earnings to U.S. War Relief .
Naturalized U.S. citizen who successfully reinvented himself from itinerant stage performer to one of film’s most enduring icons.
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