Cary Grant Overview

Cary Grant once described his screen persona as "a combination of Jack Buchanan, Noel Coward and Rex Harrison. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and, finally, I became that person. Or he became me." In fact, in the... [more]

Cary Grant once described his screen persona as "a combination of Jack Buchanan, Noel Coward and Rex Harrison. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and, finally, I became that person. Or he became me." In fact, in the process of constructing his cool, sophisticated movie star persona, Grant became not only the illusory presence he would have liked to be but the perfect, debonair Hollywood star. In Charade (1963), Audrey Hepburn poses a question to her costar and then answers it herself: "Do you know what's wrong with you? Nothing." Cary Grant was the true iconic movie star, his suave outward style and external sheen masking an inner reserve and aloofness. And in that reserve and seeming unconcern lies the Grant mystique. The plots of most Grant films revolve around this mystique and the efforts of a female a short list includes such disparate types as Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Eva Marie Saint, Leslie Caron and Grace Kelly to break it. And the audience can only guess at Grant's seeming abandonment and surrender to these women, whether it's symbolized by the door slamming shut at the end of The Awful Truth (1937) or the train racing into a tunnel at the end of North By Northwest (1959). Whatever the final outcome, Cary Grant did not show passion. That was left to other, more demonstrative actors. His acting was subtle and seamless, transcending performance altogether. It could be said that Cary Grant became a state of mind. [show less]