Cary Grant, the Making of a Hollywood Legend

by Glancy, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780190053130
• ISBN10: 0190053135
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-10-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A definitive new account of the professional and personal life of one of Hollywood's most unforgettable, influential stars.

Archie Leach was a poorly educated, working-class boy from a troubled family living in the backstreets of Bristol. Cary Grant was Hollywood's most debonair film star--the embodiment of worldly sophistication. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend tells the incredible story of how a sad, neglected boy became the suave, glamorous star many know and idolize. The first biography to be based on Grant's own personal papers, this book takes us on a fascinating journey from the actor's difficult childhood through years of struggle in music halls and vaudeville, a hit-and-miss career in Broadway musicals, and three decades of film stardom during Hollywood's golden age.

Leaving no stone unturned, Cary Grant delves into all aspects of Grant's life, from the bitter realities of his impoverished childhood to his trailblazing role in Hollywood as a film star who defied the studio system and took control of his own career. Highlighting Grant's genius as an actor and a filmmaker, author Mark Glancy examines the crucial contributions Grant made to such classic films as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Notorious (1946), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Charade (1963) and Father Goose (1964). Glancy also explores Grant's private life with new candor and insight throughout the book's nine sections, illuminating how Grant's search for happiness and fulfillment lead him to having his first child at the age of 62 and embarking on his fifth marriage at the age of 77. With this biography--complete with a chronological filmography of the actor's work--Glancy provides a definitive account of the professional and personal life of one of Hollywood's most unforgettable, influential stars.

Author Biography

Mark Glancy is Reader in Film History at Queen Mary University of London. His media work includes appearances on the BBC Radio Four programmes Archive Hour, Back Row, and Great Lives, as well as many articles on film history for the magazines BBC History and History Revealed. Most recently, he served as the editorial consultant and on-screen contributor to the feature-length documentary film Becoming Cary Grant (2017). His publications include When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood "British" Film, 1939-1945 (1999), The 39 Steps: A British Film Guide (2003), and, as a co-editor, The New Film History: Methods, Sources, Approaches (2007), and Hollywood and the Americanization of Britain, from the 1920s to the present (2013).

Table of Contents

Preface

Part One: Archie
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Part Two: Tumbler
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Part Three: Matinee Idol
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Part Four: Cary
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16

Part Five: American
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19

Part Six: Movie-Made Man
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22

Part Seven: Truth Seeker
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25

Part Eight: Survivor
Chapter 26
Chapter 27

Part Nine: Legend
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30

Sources
Notes
Filmography