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Coming to America from Bristol as Archie Leach, he soon got into the movie business and steadily worked his way up, with the help of screen siren Mae West.
Grant created a persona so that eventually he became it and it became him, no-one knew the real Cary Grant he was famously reported as saying "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant"
He will forever be associated with the introduction of the screw-ball comedy in which he was always superb using his acrobatic skills from his early years. On the other end of the scale he will always be linked with Hitchcock in a masterful teaming for some of the directors greatest work. Here is my list.
Running Time: 1 Hour 55 mins
Genre: Comedy/Mystery
Director: Stanley Donen
Stars: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
Despite the all too obvious age difference this spy caper is incredibly funny and why the hell would Audrey Hepburn not be chasing after him, I mean he's Cary Grant. He plays one of several men who are surrounding the widowed Hepburn after her husband stole a fortune. But can she trust Grant's Peter Joshua?
What can be better than watching Grant and Hepburn 2 of the biggest stars running around Paris - nothing.
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Running Time: 1 Hour 50 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
Grant plays C.K Dexter Haven who married Katharine Hepburn's Socialite Tracy Lord. They discover not long into the marriage that they were impulsive and divorce. He happens to reappear on the scene just as Tracy is about to remarry with a reporter (Stewart) as the wedding day nears Tracy finds herself torn between her Fiancée George, the reporter Mike and her ex-husband.
A great classic comedy with some of the biggest stars of the day, you can't go wrong with this one.
Running Time: 1 Hour 35 mins
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine
One of Hitchcock's great suspense thrillers, Cary Grant worked with the auteur director 4 times all incredible pieces of film. This his first sees him playing Johnnie a charming gentleman who marries the shy English woman Lina, but it isn't long before she begins to see past his charms and suspect that he is trying to kill her.
Grant was at this time already a star and Hitchcock did not get his complete way when it came to character progression. He wanted Grant to play a conventional baddie but was overruled by the studio concerned for his image. Never-the-less a great performance.
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Running Time: 1 Hour 45 mins
Genre: Crime/Romance
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly
Grant stars as John Robie a jewel thief gone straight. Living in the South of France innocently, he is thrown again into suspicion when a number of robbery's occur. To confirm his innocence he must catch the real jewel thief. He procures a list of the richest jewels on the Riviera, the first on the list belonging to the mother of Grace Kelly's Frances Stevens who figures out who he was and is fascinated by him. After her mothers jewels are stolen she temporarily doubts him but eventually agrees to help him clear his name. A great effort from Hitchcock and Grant's third for the great director.
Running Time: 1 Hour 40 mins
Genre: Film-Noir
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
The second of the 4 collaborations with Hitch, Notorious centres on Bergman's Alicia Huberman whose German father is convicted for treason against the US. She is approached by Grant's T.R. Devlin to spy on her fathers Nazi friends including Claude Rains Alexander Sebastian. A romance develops between Alicia and Devlin but it becomes strained and dangerous as she becomes ever more deeply involved in her work.
A great spy thriller, one of Hitchcock's greatest stories and a masterful performance from Grant.
05 - Monkey Business (1952)
Running Time: 1 Hour 35 mins
Genre: Comedy
Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe
Grant is Barnaby Fulton a chemist who thinks he has created a formula for feeling and acting younger. In actuality it was one of his test chimpanzees who mixes the ingredients and adds it to the water cooler. All hell breaks loose with hilarious results when both Barnaby and his wife (Rogers) take the potion both on purpose and then accidentally not realising whilst drinking many cups of coffee that the formula is in the water making them younger with every drink they take.
04 - Bringing up Baby (1938)
Running Time: 1 Hour 40 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn
Early in his career before the Hitchcock thrillers and dramas Cary proved himself to be a master of the slapstick comedy. This was the greatest example. Paired for the second of four occasions with Katharine Hepburn, here he plays a disgruntled palaeontologist trying to raise funds for his museum whilst being pursued by frivolous and irritating heiress Susan and her pet leopard Baby.
A great family comedy that is still as great today as the day it was released.
Running Time: 2 Hours 15 mins
Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Considered by many the greatest of the Hitchcock/Grant teaming, here Grant plays Roger Thornhill an advertising man mistaken for a government agent and is kidnapped by a group of foreign spies led by James Mason's Philip Vandamm. He is framed for murder and after escaping he is followed across the country not only by his captors but also by the police. As he struggles to survive in dangerous conditions he is desperately trying to clear his name in the process. He is helped by a beautiful blonde he meets on a train Eve Kendall (Saint) who isn't who he thinks she is. Exciting, thrilling, Classic.
Running Time: 1 Hour 30 mins
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell
Long considered a Hollywood classic and one of Grant, Russell and Hawks best films individually this is a comedy that everybody should see. Cary plays Walter Burns a Newspaper man who lives for his job so much so that he lost his wife Hildy (Russell) also a journalist in the process. When she returns after four months away she tells him she is quitting and has got a divorce, not only that, she is leaving to get married to have the kind of home life she wanted from him. Not wanting to lose his star reporter or wife he plans to delay her and remind her how much she loves her job and him. One of the best comedy scripts ever written.
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Running Time: 1 Hour 55 mins
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr
My personal favourite performance as a huge fan of both Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr this was the second of 3 pairings between the real life friends. Grant plays Nickie Ferrante a well known bachelor and playboy who engaged to be married meets Kerr's Terry McKay on a cruise from Europe to New York. They fall in love and despite both being in a relationship agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months where they can start their life together and get married. When an accident stops her from making it, he fears she doesn't love him any more and she is too proud to contact him and tell him what really happened, unless she can be her old self again. A great, funny and romantic classic, the pair have great chemistry and play so well off each other. This is a must see, it's even mention in Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
A list containing not only my personal list of favourites but also some of what are regarded the best films in cinema history, you look at any list and a lot of those films are on there. That alone is reason enough to give them a go. If you haven't had the experience of watching him, or (ladies) being charmed off your feet by Cary Grant then what are you waiting for. Once you've seen one you'll never go back. Enjoy!
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