We’ve all heard the line used: “C’mon up and see me sometime.” Mae West uttered those famous words in the film, She Done Him Wrong. What you may not know is who she said those words to. It was none other than Cary Grant. A lot of his fans would have gladly taken her place and made the same request…
He was a newcomer to the movies at this point in time, according to Edward Lucaire in his book, Celebrity Trivia: A Collection Of Little-Known Facts About Well-Known People published in 1980 by Warner Books. Its ISBN is 0-446-95479-9.
He was one of those movie stars who seemed to age gracefully, befitting his on-screen roles. He really only ever seemed to play one type of character. His recurring role was that of a comedic ladies’ man, but he explored it thoroughly in all his films. Here’s a list of his films:
Blonde Venus-1932; She Done Him Wrong-1933; I’m No Angel-1933; The Eagle and The Hawk-1933; Sylvia Scarlett-1935; Suzy-1936; Topper-1937; Toast of New York-1937; The Awful Truth-1937; Holiday-1938; Bringing Up Baby-1938; Only Angels Have Wings-1939; In Name Only-1939; Gunga Din-1939; The Philadelphia Story-1940; My Favorite Wife-1940; The Howards of Virginia-1940; His Girl Friday-1940; Suspicion-1941; Penny Serenade-1941; Talk of The Town-1942; Once Upon A Honeymoon-1942; Mr. Lucky-1943; Destination Tokyo-1943; None But The Lonely Heart-1944; Arsenic and Old Lace-1944; Notorious-1946; Night and Day-1946; The Bishop’s Wife-1947; The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer-1947; Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House-1948; Every Girl Should Be Married-1948; I Was A Male War Bride-1949; People Will Talk-1951; Monkey Business-1952; To Catch A Thief-1955; The Pride and the Passion-1957; An Affair to Remember-1957; Indiscreet-1958; Houseboat-1958; Operation Petticoat-1959; North by Northwest-1959; The Grass Is Greener-1961; That Touch of Mink-1962; Charade-1963; Father Goose-1964; Walk, Don’t Run-1966.
One of the most famous lines he muttered in the film His Girl Friday, was this. Cary Grant’s character refers to ‘Archie Leach’ being executed. It’s a line that I’m sure went over the heads of many of his fans unless you knew that he and ‘Leach’ were intimately acquainted in real life… Cary Grant’s real name was Archie Leach.
Suave, debonair, a true gentleman–just some of the images that come to mind when we think of this actor who portrayed many a dashing character in the films. He was one of the few film stars who actually seemed comfortable in a tuxedo. Reuter’s said he brought a “sexy sophistication” to the films he starred in. I think he would have made a perfect James Bond in the movies. But a James Bond in real life? There is some talk that was the real deal…
Lucaire’s book was also the source for the reminder that he said Archie Leach was executed. We never knew until recently how close he might have come to meeting up with that fate if the story is true…
A biography by Graham McCann, Director of Social and Political Science at Cambridge University, that was to be published in the fall of 1996, alluded to his undercover activities during World War II. The Sunday Times newspaper leaked the revelation from McCann’sbook near the end of July 1996. Reuter’s news service picked it up and ran with it in newspapers in North America on July 28th. It seems Grant… “worked as a spy detecting wartime Nazi sympathizers in Hollywood.” The book was said to reveal that Grant was working for British security services at the time according to correspondence from Sir William Stephenson who, at the time, was head of British Security Co-operation with the U. S. government in the 1940s. Who better than an actor to play the role of a spy in real life. The Sunday Times quoted McCann as saying: “Grant was a chameleon who could change his persona and was very unruffled.” “He knew the U. S. elite, had friends at the very highest level and was implicitly trusted as a recruit for the security services.”
Cary Grant, quite possibly a spy–who would have ever thought! One of the greatest stories Cary Grant might have known remained a secret until 10 years after his death.
If you were fortunate enough to have seen him on stage later in life, you were no doubt treated to quite an evening’s entertainment. Gregory Peck borrowed the idea for a show of his own and was quoted in the press as saying: “It’s something I’ve stolen from Cary Grant. He used to go out on the road, because he enjoyed telling stories, and he said it was a wonderful way to visit America and unload stories on perfectly innocent strangers.”
He was involved in a few great love stories in real life. He was married for a time to someone who was reported to be ‘The World’s Wealthiest Woman.” (It almost sounds like the scenario in the film An Affair to Remember. The reason he was on the ocean liner was that he was traveling to New York to wed Lois Clark worth $600-million.) In real life, the world’s wealthiest woman was his second wife, Barbara Hutton. She was heiress to the Woolworth fortune. But it was his marriage to actress Dyan Cannon that I’d like to end on. Jennifer Grant was their only child and can be seen following in the footsteps of her famous parents. I wonder what he must have told his family about his possible clandestine activities during the war? Or, did he keep that part of his life a secret?
Cary Grant was born January 18th, 1904.
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Don Jackson
