For some reason, I have been on a Cary Grant bio binge. It must have been that dratted NORTH BY NORTHWEST movie, which I saw on the big screen this year, along with a sold-out crowd. Or perhaps it was BRINGING UP BABY...also seen on the big screen and with an SRO crowd. Grant appears to be the only movie star, past or present, who can actually fill a movie theatre on his name alone. Even though he's been dead for 26 years. Now that's star power.This bio was actually better than I anticipated. It's the usual chronological approach with some notes on the movies and some notes on what was happening behind-the-scenes. What I definitely appreciated was the extensive notes and sources section, which is rare when it comes to Mr. Cary Grant. It is far easier for most of his biographers to fly off on a whimsy based on pure rumour, without providing actual backup facts. Marc Eliot put some actual research into this project, and I the reader appreciated it. Eliot's tone throughout is one of the serious biographer who tisks-tisks the other writers who have written some fairly outrageous tomes on the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) movie star. Still, he'll suddenly throw some events together in one group, even though the years aren't correct, and he himself does the guessing game when he states that Grant was desperate to marry Dyan Cannon. As her own book Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant testifies, it was quite the reverse. And Eliot can really go all, um, wonky on descriptions....the camera quickly discovered...the perfection of his features...and that remarkable cleft in his chin, whose two smooth and curved bulges resembled nothing so much as a beautiful woman's naked behind while she was on her knees in sexual supplication before the godlike monument of his face. Whoa...what...huh?I do walk away with a greater liking for Cary, aka Archie Leach of Bristol, England. He transformed himself from nothing into something, but more importantly, he did it his way. He refused to kowtow to the film studios, which incurred their wrath forever. He was the first star to go it alone, when such a thing meant career suicide. He was also the first to see where Hollywood was headed, resulting in his hooking up with MCA and Universal in the 1950s to begin the 'package' deals that were to become the standard of business some thirty years later.But mostly, I remember what my co-worker at Paramount Studios, a well-respected agent, told me about Cary Grant. He said that Cary was always an outsider, always reclusive, and he always did things his way. For that unforgivable sin, most of the industry resented him and thus the rumours began. This agent only had respect for Grant. When I asked him if he ever had this same respect for any other entertainment figure, he thought about it, and answered, "no". That answer overwrote all the rumours."In NORTH BY NORTHWEST during the scene on Mount Rushmore, I wanted Cary Grant to hide in Lincoln's nostril and then have a fit of sneezing. The Parks Commission of the Department of Interior was rather upset at this thought. I argued until one of their number asked me how I would like it if they had Lincoln play the scene in Cary Grant's nose. I saw their point at once." (Alfred Hitchcock)Book Season = Summer (Cary, Cary, Cary)
When I made the decision to look into some biographies of Cary Grant, an actor I've loved for a couple of years, this was the first biography to come up and without a second thought I made up my mind to read it. Some of you are probably wondering if I liked the actor so much, then why would I rate one of his biographies so low. Well, that all has to do with the author of this biography, Marc Eliot, a man who I think should never be allowed to pass any more of his books off as nonfiction considering the experience I had with this one.In regard to biographies, I have some pretty distinct opinions about the author's voice. In an autobiography, I want as much of the author's voice as possible because they are telling their own life story. In fact, author commentary feels like a must. In a biography where the author is not telling their own story, I want their authorial voice to be completely nonexistent. The author of a biography should put aside all of their biases and inhabit the roles of the researcher, interviewer, and writer. Marc Eliot prefers to have his own commentary be the star of this book, not Cary Grant himself.The other huge problem I had is that Eliot preferred to make his own assertions about Grant's sexuality the star of this biography. While the information provided about Grant's life seems comprehensive, so much of it felt gossipy and hearsay-ish. Again and again Eliot circled back to what he believes to be the homosexual relationship between Grant and Randolph Scott drawing links that felt crass and untrue. I knew I was in for a troubling read when Eliot uses some hastily crafted Freudian mumbo-jumbo to argue that the feminine outfits Grant's mother put him in as a child, outfits typical for the time period, must have predicated his obvious homosexuality. Whether Cary Grant had an intimate or friendly relationship with Randolph Scott feels unimportant compared to the rest of his life and his whole body of work.As a whole I felt like I really didn't learn much more about my favorite actor. I'm hesitant to believe any of the information I gleaned from this so called "Biography" and I wish I had sought out a different biography to read. Those looking to learn more about Cary Grant's life should probably just avoid this book at all costs.
What do You think about Cary Grant: A Biography (2005)?
This is such a hard book to rate for me. I have grown up watching Cary Grant with my dad, and I was super excited for this book. That being said, he is not at all the person I thought he would be. Whenever I see a Cary Grant movie, from now on, it will change the way I see him. I am not sure I like that. Part of me wishes I was still ignorant! The author tended to take use a dramatic eye when looking at Grant's life. So much so, that it sometimes felt like he was creating an interesting story, not telling the actual facts and events.I would say 3.5 stars.
—Brooke Nelson
I picked this up last year at a used bookstore for $1. I got home & realized I had the worst rated Cary Grant bio, so I wasn't in a rush to read it. The writing was better than I thought it would be. Pros: Easy read & the descriptions of Cary Grant's movies. Cons: Way too much gossip, some of the movie descriptions are too long, parts of the story jump a bit & the author seems to just want hurry up & finish the book after Randolph Scott is out of Grant's life. It became repetitive after that. I'm also leary about some of his "anonymous" sources.
—Kirsten
Biographies/autobiographies are easily my favourite my favourite genre of book; I find stories so much more fascinating when they are true. To know that what is encased between the covers (bar a few inevitable uses of poetic licence!) actually happened really thrills me, whatever the outcome of the tale. As you can imagine, the story of a legend such as Cary Grant makes for pretty gripping reading. Eliot has written a brilliantly researched and wonderfully written account of Grant’s life, from his humble Bristol beginnings as Archie Leach, to his final days as a screen icon. In his intriguing journey he managed to pack in a lot: a career as a male escort, five marriages, a long term live-in relationship with Randolph Scott, dabblings with LSD (medicinal in those days) and more than one run-in with the FBI. This is of course, all intertwined with his astonishing film career in over 70 movies, including Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, Notorious, Monkey Business, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest. His astute business acumen saw him become the first freelance actor in the days of the studio contract; a move that saved his career and boosted his bank balance, but meant that industry awards eluded him until very late in life. For someone so handsome, this book shows us that Grant was so much more than just a pretty face or another Hollywood bed-hopper. He was in fact very introspective and was constantly tried to find himself in relation to his on-screen persona and in the eyes of his lovers. I am just so glad that I found a small glimpse of Cary Grant in this book.
—Claire
