WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.020 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, the show built 00:00:02.020 --> 00:00:04.740 entirely for you, our expert listener, where 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:07.000 we take the essential context, the core sources, 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.679 and the crucial insights and distill them into 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.160 knowledge you can immediately use. Today we are 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.339 undertaking a massive project. We're trying to 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:17.839 decode what might be the most successful act 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.940 of self -invention in Hollywood history. We are 00:00:19.940 --> 00:00:23.199 diving deep into Cary Grant, a man who, you know, 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.019 is consistently ranked as the absolute definition 00:00:26.019 --> 00:00:28.359 of cinematic stardom during Hollywood's golden 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:31.350 age. Right. And our mission today is to get behind 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:34.469 that flawless public image. We need to analyze 00:00:34.469 --> 00:00:37.549 the turbulent, deeply traumatic origins that 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:40.229 fueled his need for escape. And examine his career 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:42.710 moves, which were frankly revolutionary. I mean, 00:00:42.729 --> 00:00:45.250 his pioneering freelance model, his extraordinary 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:48.030 business acumen. Exactly. And then confront the 00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:50.820 complex personal life, the inner turmoil. that 00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:53.479 was constantly threatening to, you know, shatter 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:55.479 the entire facade. Because the core question 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:57.600 here really is the mechanism of reinvention. 00:00:58.179 --> 00:01:01.439 How did an impoverished boy from a broken home 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.480 in Bristol, England, consciously and relentlessly 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.120 invent the sophisticated leading man that everyone 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.219 wanted to be? So we're tracing the architect 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:11.739 of charm, starting right at the beginning, with 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:15.060 the very difficult dark foundations of a boy 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.780 named Archibald Leach. To really understand the 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:20.439 perfection of Cary Grant, you have to start with 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.840 the trauma of Archie Leach. He was born in Horfield, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.459 Bristol in 1904, and this was a decidedly working 00:01:27.459 --> 00:01:30.480 class environment. Oh, very. His father, Elias 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:32.859 James Leach, was a tailor's presser, and his 00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:35.079 mother, Elsie Maria Leach, was a seamstress. 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:37.359 And it's important to clarify what a tailor's 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:39.420 presser actually was. This wasn't some, you know, 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.500 master tailor. This was hard manual labor. Right. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.870 It was a physically demanding factory job. steaming, 00:01:45.989 --> 00:01:48.709 shaping, pressing garments. It's a world away 00:01:48.709 --> 00:01:50.849 from the kind of effortless wealth that Grant 00:01:50.849 --> 00:01:53.430 would later project on screen. A really gritty, 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:55.969 difficult life. And it was made so much worse 00:01:55.969 --> 00:01:58.730 almost immediately by a family tragedy. Yes. 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:01.250 The family was fractured right from the start. 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.370 Grant was the second child, but his older brother 00:02:04.370 --> 00:02:07.010 John died of tuberculous meningitis just days 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:10.189 before Grant's own first birthday. And that loss, 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:12.909 as all the biographers document, had this just... 00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:15.550 crippling effect on his mother, Elsie. She just 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:18.090 never recovered. The grief, the self -blame. 00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:20.909 It led to a lifelong struggle with what we now 00:02:20.909 --> 00:02:23.530 call clinical depression. And the sources say 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:26.169 she became incredibly emotionally distant, sort 00:02:26.169 --> 00:02:29.710 of unable to give or maybe even receive affection, 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:32.830 which created a really unstable emotional environment 00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:34.949 for the young Archibald. Her coping mechanism 00:02:34.949 --> 00:02:38.389 was just extreme rigidity. She was fiercely anti 00:02:38.389 --> 00:02:41.449 -alcohol, anti -tobacco and would enforce discipline 00:02:41.449 --> 00:02:44.050 ruthlessly, you know, reducing his tiny bit of 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:46.310 pocket money for the smallest mishaps. In Grant 00:02:46.310 --> 00:02:48.810 himself, he later said that his lifelong, often 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:50.990 very negative and tumultuous relationships with 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:53.409 women came to. Directly from this, this mix of 00:02:53.409 --> 00:02:55.789 overprotectiveness and just profound emotional 00:02:55.789 --> 00:02:58.490 coldness. So he's being raised by a traumatized 00:02:58.490 --> 00:03:01.349 mother who is both fiercely protective and at 00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:03.650 the same time completely emotionally unavailable. 00:03:03.830 --> 00:03:06.389 But the real deep -seated betrayal, the thing 00:03:06.389 --> 00:03:08.650 that really defined his need to escape reality, 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:11.449 that happened when he was just nine years old. 00:03:11.729 --> 00:03:15.030 That's the Great Deception. In 1913, his father, 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:18.490 Elias James, who was by this point sinking deeper 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:21.090 into his own alcoholism, had his mother committed. 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:24.259 He institutionalized her in Glenside Hospital, 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:27.460 a mental asylum. And instead of telling his son 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:29.000 the truth, which would have been heartbreaking 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.259 enough, the father, he commits this act of just 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:34.900 profound psychological violence. He tells the 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:36.599 nine -year -old boy that his mother has gone 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:39.139 away on a long holiday. And then eventually he 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:41.240 escalates that lie. He tells Archibald that she 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:44.990 had died, just gone. A child suddenly facing 00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:47.689 the complete, inexplicable erasure of his mother. 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:50.449 Can you imagine? That is an unbelievable burden 00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:52.590 of portrayal that Grant carried for decades. 00:03:52.969 --> 00:03:54.889 He didn't find out his mother was still alive 00:03:54.889 --> 00:03:57.889 until he was 31. 31. And the confession only 00:03:57.889 --> 00:04:00.009 came because his father was on his deathbed. 00:04:00.169 --> 00:04:02.189 Think about the psychological architecture that 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:04.610 builds. I mean, a profound distrust of reality, 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:07.810 a total reliance on self -sufficiency, and this 00:04:07.810 --> 00:04:10.370 relentless lifelong need to control his environment. 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:13.780 Exactly. The emotional world was chaos, so the 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:16.199 world of performance, of structure, that became 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:19.480 his refuge. This need to escape is what fueled 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:21.800 his early attraction to the theater. Right. He 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.019 was going to pantomimes with his father. He was 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:26.060 hanging around backstage at the Bristol Hippodrome, 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:29.819 just drawn to the spectacle, the glamour, the 00:04:29.819 --> 00:04:32.740 order of it all. He tried the normal path for 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:35.230 a bit. He attended Fairfield Grammar School on 00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:38.870 a scholarship between 1915 and 1918. He was smart, 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:42.129 good at sports. But incredibly rebellious. He 00:04:42.129 --> 00:04:44.470 hated the traditional subjects, you know, math 00:04:44.470 --> 00:04:47.250 and Latin. He got a reputation for mischief and 00:04:47.250 --> 00:04:49.269 just flat out refused to do his homework. Which 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:51.509 leads directly to what seems to be a very calculated 00:04:51.509 --> 00:04:55.629 escape. At age 14, March 13, 1918, he's expelled 00:04:55.629 --> 00:04:57.930 from Fairfield. The official reasons are a bit 00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:00.069 murky. Something about being found in the girls' 00:05:00.149 --> 00:05:02.829 lavatory or helping with a minor theft. But one 00:05:02.829 --> 00:05:05.430 of his biographers, Wansel, he suggests that 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:07.569 Archibald's actions were totally intentional. 00:05:07.930 --> 00:05:10.250 He wanted to get expelled. He deliberately got 00:05:10.250 --> 00:05:12.170 himself thrown out so he could pursue a career 00:05:12.170 --> 00:05:14.430 in entertainment. Formal education was a dead 00:05:14.430 --> 00:05:17.170 end for him. The stage was freedom. And that 00:05:17.170 --> 00:05:20.889 is the first real concrete step in his self -creation. 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:24.399 Immediately after being expelled, he joins the 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.319 Bob Pender stage troupe The Penders as a stilt 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:29.540 walker and an acrobat. And this wasn't just, 00:05:29.540 --> 00:05:32.680 you know, a fun job. This was a rigorous physical 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.779 apprenticeship. He was learning balance, comedic 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:39.339 timing, coordination, physical control. The exact 00:05:39.339 --> 00:05:41.740 skills he would need for the kind of sophisticated 00:05:41.740 --> 00:05:44.079 light comedy he'd later dominate in Hollywood. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.139 Absolutely. The seeds of the suave, physically 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:50.160 graceful Cary Grant were literally sown while 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:52.420 he was walking on stilts as a teenager in Bristol. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.779 The trauma of the past was being physically channeled 00:05:55.779 --> 00:05:58.160 into a skill set for the future. So Archibald 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.279 Leach takes these hard -won skills born from 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:02.060 the chaos of vaudeville and he points them straight 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:05.300 at America. July 1920, he's still only 16 years 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:07.220 old, and he's touring the U .S. with the Pender 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:09.500 Troop on the RMS Olympic. And this is such a 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:11.579 crucial moment. This is where the persona gets 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:14.699 its first major role model. Because on that voyage 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:17.220 over, he played shuffleboard with Douglas Fairbanks. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.759 Who at the time was the absolute icon of dashing 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:23.220 physical American stardom. The biggest star in 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:26.290 the world, really. And grand. Well, Leach at 00:06:26.290 --> 00:06:28.370 the time. He later admitted he just observed 00:06:28.370 --> 00:06:31.470 Fairbanks meticulously. He was noting his mannerisms, 00:06:31.589 --> 00:06:34.370 his physical ease, his whole debonair flair. 00:06:34.670 --> 00:06:36.889 He was already studying the blueprint of the 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.750 star he wanted to become. The troupe did incredibly 00:06:39.750 --> 00:06:42.110 well in New York. They performed at the massive, 00:06:42.189 --> 00:06:45.529 what was it, nearly 6 ,000 seats, the New York 00:06:45.529 --> 00:06:48.290 Hippodrome, for nine months. A huge success. 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:50.670 But when the rest of the Penders went home... 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:53.879 Leach saw his chance, a permanent escape from 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:56.180 Bristol. And he decided to stay in the U .S. 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:58.639 and just plunge himself into the grueling American 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.139 vaudeville circuit. Yeah, and the grind was relentless. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.800 Oh, completely. He worked as part of acts like 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:06.199 the Knockabout Comedians and the Walking Stanleys. 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.639 He was doing comic sketches, juggling, developing 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:10.860 his acrobatics. He was even billed as rubber 00:07:10.860 --> 00:07:13.600 legs for his contortionist skills. This was the 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:15.680 real training ground for his famous comedic timing. 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:17.740 You can see the dedication in the side jobs, 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:20.279 too. He was hired as a stilt walker, wearing 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:22.639 this bright great coat and a sandwich board to 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:25.040 attract crowds on the newly opened Coney Island 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.579 boardwalk. It's literally a walking advertisement, 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:30.600 constantly performing for the public, honing 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.470 his craft in the most direct way possible. And 00:07:33.470 --> 00:07:35.970 all those years of constant public interaction, 00:07:36.189 --> 00:07:39.250 moving between American cities and UK music halls, 00:07:39.430 --> 00:07:42.209 it forced a fundamental change in his speech. 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:45.709 Yes. His accent, which started with this subtle 00:07:45.709 --> 00:07:48.410 cockney bass, you know, the typical working class 00:07:48.410 --> 00:07:51.350 London markers, it had to be neutralized. This 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:53.290 is the linguistic architecture of Cary Grant. 00:07:53.470 --> 00:07:56.029 He consciously evolved it into that distinctive 00:07:56.029 --> 00:07:59.050 transatlantic or mid -Atlantic way of speaking. 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:01.230 And it's not just about sounding posh. It was 00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:04.519 about sounding... Classless in the best possible 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:06.959 way. Right. It was a manufactured accent that 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:09.399 sounded educated, but not regionally specific. 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:12.000 It was suitable for a British drawing room or 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.079 an American diner. Exactly. It was a tool of 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.579 universal employability. He made the conscious 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.060 choice to sound like he was from nowhere in particular. 00:08:19.139 --> 00:08:21.680 And that fluidity became absolutely central to 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.319 the Cary Grant persona. By 1927, he's getting 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:27.399 work on Broadway, making $75 a week playing juvenile 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:30.529 leads. But the reviews? They were pretty mixed. 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:33.429 The persona wasn't quite there yet. No, not at 00:08:33.429 --> 00:08:36.549 all. One critic, trying to pin him down, sort 00:08:36.549 --> 00:08:39.350 of derisively called his early acting a mixture 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:42.419 of John Barrymore and Cockney. He struggled with 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.980 failing productions, like a musical called Polly. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.200 And even when he got a role in a risque comedy 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.299 called Boom Boom, his co -star, Jeanette MacDonald, 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.320 admitted he was absolutely terrible in the role. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:56.840 She said only his undeniable charm saved the 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.179 show from being a total failure. So he had the 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:01.799 charisma, but not yet the technique or that. 00:09:02.090 --> 00:09:04.509 define screen identity. That transition from 00:09:04.509 --> 00:09:07.549 stage performer to cinematic star finally happens 00:09:07.549 --> 00:09:11.629 in December 1931. After a screen test, the 27 00:09:11.629 --> 00:09:14.149 -year -old Archibald Leach signs a five -year 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:16.549 contract with Paramount Pictures. Starting at 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:19.350 $450 a week, which was a fortune compared to 00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:21.789 his vaudeville days. But the studio system required 00:09:21.789 --> 00:09:24.049 uniformity, and Paramount's general manager, 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:27.289 B .P. Schulberg, he demanded a name change. He 00:09:27.289 --> 00:09:29.690 wanted something that sounded, and I quote, more 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:32.279 all -American like Gary Cooper. Right. Schulbert 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:35.000 vetoed Archibald Leach immediately. Famously, 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:36.879 he said it sounded too British and fruity. So 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:39.299 they settled on Cary Grant. The surname was just 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:42.399 chosen from a studio list of options. Grant, 00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:45.179 for his part, was relieved to shed the old name. 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:47.980 He admitted that Archie just doesn't sound right 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.379 in America. It doesn't sound particularly right 00:09:50.379 --> 00:09:53.000 in Britain either. And just like that, Cary Grant 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.480 was born. Not out of some artistic vision, but 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.139 out of a commercial rebranding effort. And with 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:02.159 that new name, the mission became crystal clear. 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.440 He set out consciously to establish himself as 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.679 the epitome of masculine glamour. His film debut 00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:11.559 came in 1932, This is the Night. Then he was 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:14.039 playing a wealthy playboy opposite Marlene Dietrich 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:17.559 in Blonde Venus. He was working, but he hadn't 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.179 yet hit that critical mass. The rocket fuel for 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:23.460 his career arrived in 1933. his pairing with 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:25.620 Mae West in the pre -code films She Done Him 00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:28.179 Wrong and I'm No Angel. And the pre -code context 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:30.519 is so important here. This is before the strict 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:33.279 enforcement of the Hays Code in 34, so the films 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.779 could be much more sexually frank, cynical, and 00:10:35.779 --> 00:10:38.179 funny. Mae West was the undisputed queen of that 00:10:38.179 --> 00:10:40.759 saucy, subversive style, and she used Grant's 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:42.899 masculine beauty and physical ease perfectly. 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:46.200 No Angel was an absolute commercial monster. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.360 It was so successful that history credits it 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.740 with reportedly saving Paramount Pictures from 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:55.019 bankruptcy. Wow. And Grant's salary jumped to 00:10:55.019 --> 00:10:59.659 $750 a week almost overnight. Mae West later 00:10:59.659 --> 00:11:01.940 claimed she discovered him, which is a bit of 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:04.039 an exaggeration. But she certainly gave him the 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:06.580 platform he needed. The problem was that success 00:11:06.580 --> 00:11:08.720 was followed by a string of commercial failures. 00:11:09.139 --> 00:11:12.039 Films like Born to be Bad and Kiss and Makeup 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:14.480 just didn't work. And combined with all the press 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.960 rumors about his personal life, Paramount started 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:20.559 seeing him as, well, as expendable. But then 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.490 he gets loaned out to RKO Pictures. His first 00:11:23.490 --> 00:11:25.309 collaboration with Katharine Hepburn, George 00:11:25.309 --> 00:11:29.070 Cukor, Sylvia Scarlett in 1935 was a total commercial 00:11:29.070 --> 00:11:31.850 flop. People hated it. And yet Grant himself 00:11:31.850 --> 00:11:34.350 considered it his personal breakthrough. The 00:11:34.350 --> 00:11:36.350 role where he finally felt comfortable on screen, 00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:38.990 it showed he was learning to act like Cary Grant. 00:11:39.210 --> 00:11:41.210 And right here is the moment that defines him 00:11:41.210 --> 00:11:43.970 as a revolutionary businessman. When his Paramount 00:11:43.970 --> 00:11:46.789 contract ends in 1936, instead of signing with 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:49.289 another big studio, Grant makes the radical decision 00:11:49.289 --> 00:11:51.960 to work freelance. He wasn't just an actor anymore, 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:54.940 he became a principal. He claimed to be the first 00:11:54.940 --> 00:11:57.700 freelance actor in Hollywood. Now, historians 00:11:57.700 --> 00:12:00.759 debate if he was literally the first, but he 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:02.879 was certainly the first powerful enough to make 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.240 it stick and define the model for future stars. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.399 And the studios must have been shocked. Oh, completely. 00:12:08.659 --> 00:12:11.899 Shock and skepticism. The studios thrived on 00:12:11.899 --> 00:12:14.159 controlling actors' lives and careers for minimal 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:17.759 pay. Grant broke that chain entirely. That independence 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.519 gave him unprecedented power to choose his stories, 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.299 directors, co -stars. He dictated his terms, 00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:26.519 not the other way around. And that autonomy was 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:28.919 validated almost immediately. He secured these 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:31.419 lucrative joint contracts with RKO and Columbia, 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.440 and then in 1937, he starred in The Awful Truth. 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:37.220 And that was it. A critical and commercial smash 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:39.759 that solidified the sophisticated light comedy 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:42.559 persona. The director, Liam McCary, encouraged 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:45.519 him to improvise, to draw on all those deep vaudeville 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.320 and rubber leg skills. So the ability to blend 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.940 that physical comedy with drawing room elegance, 00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:53.919 it was the perfect application of Archibald Leach's 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.240 early training. Exactly. The Cary Grant we all 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:00.419 know. Effortlessly witty, slightly baffled, intensely 00:13:00.419 --> 00:13:03.559 charming, he was officially launched. The success 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.340 of The Awful Truth wasn't just a hit. It launched 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:08.820 what one critic called the most spectacular run 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:11.440 ever for an actor in American pictures. Grant 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.940 moved straight into the high -octane golden age 00:13:13.940 --> 00:13:16.039 of screwball comedy. Yeah, that period between 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.000 1937 and 1940 is just his comedic zenith. You 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000 see him opposite Katharine Hepburn in Bringing 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.740 Up Baby in 38. The sheer chaos of that film. 00:13:26.220 --> 00:13:28.700 A paleontologist, a missing bone, a leopard. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.379 And it showcased his unique ability to look utterly 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:34.220 immaculate while simultaneously being completely 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:36.200 and utterly befuddled. Then you have the Howard 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:38.580 Hawks masterpiece, His Girl Friday from 1940. 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:41.480 He played the ruthlessly charismatic editor Walter 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:44.120 Burns opposite Rosalind Russell. And that film 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:46.159 is just... famous for its astonishingly fast 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.980 dialogue. The verbal athleticism. It's the speed. 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:51.820 Screwball comedy relies on actors who can articulate 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:54.279 complex lines at double speed while maintaining 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:56.860 perfect physical timing for the gags. And his 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.539 vaudeville background, where timing was everything 00:13:59.539 --> 00:14:02.659 for a trick or a joke, made him uniquely equipped 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:05.679 for that. He brought an acrobat's precision to 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.960 dialogue. He closes out that incredible run by 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.299 reuniting with Hepburn for the Philadelphia story 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:14.759 in 1940. Critically, it was enormous, commercially 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:19.039 huge. And yet Grant was profoundly disappointed 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:21.559 not to get an Oscar nomination. Even though his 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.139 co -stars Hepburn and James Stewart both did, 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:26.799 Stewart won, in fact. And that disappointment. 00:14:27.370 --> 00:14:29.470 It really reveals the fierce ambition behind 00:14:29.470 --> 00:14:32.029 that charming facade. Grant famously joked he'd 00:14:32.029 --> 00:14:34.470 have to blacken my teeth first before the Academy 00:14:34.470 --> 00:14:36.690 will take me seriously. Right. And Stewart's 00:14:36.690 --> 00:14:38.850 win was widely seen as a sort of makeup Oscar 00:14:38.850 --> 00:14:41.429 for him being snubbed for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:43.830 It just highlighted that even at his peak, the 00:14:43.830 --> 00:14:46.529 Academy valued dramatic suffering way more than 00:14:46.529 --> 00:14:49.129 comedic mastery. That snub seemed to spur him 00:14:49.129 --> 00:14:51.700 toward more dramatic work. He soon earned his 00:14:51.700 --> 00:14:54.080 first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.399 for The Tearjerker Penny Serenade in 1941. And 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.360 then a second nomination for None But the Lonely 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:03.299 Heart in 1944. He was proving he wasn't just 00:15:03.299 --> 00:15:05.980 a funny face. Meanwhile, his roots were changing 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.659 officially. He became a naturalized U .S. citizen 00:15:08.659 --> 00:15:12.700 in June 1942, legally changing his name to Cary 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:15.220 Grant. He was 38. And with that commitment to 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:17.639 America, he got heavily involved in the war effort, 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.399 touring, appearing in propaganda shorts like 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.799 Road to Victory. And before we get to Hitchcock, 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:26.080 we have to mention Arsenic and Old Lace from 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.700 1944. It's a beloved dark comedy, but Grant, 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:34.409 he absolutely despised it. Hated it. He played 00:15:34.409 --> 00:15:36.429 the manic Mortimer Brewster and just considered 00:15:36.429 --> 00:15:38.590 it the worst, most over -the -top performance 00:15:38.590 --> 00:15:41.090 of his entire career. It seems the control of 00:15:41.090 --> 00:15:43.789 that charming man persona was completely disrupted 00:15:43.789 --> 00:15:47.029 by overt farce. That discomfort with overt darkness 00:15:47.029 --> 00:15:49.830 or chaos brings us perfectly to Alfred Hitchcock. 00:15:49.950 --> 00:15:52.309 They made four films together and Hitchcock was 00:15:52.309 --> 00:15:54.370 brilliant because he intentionally cast Grant 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.009 in these darker, morally ambiguous characters. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.500 He challenged the very foundation of Grant's 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:01.919 suave persona. He used the charm against the 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.220 audience. Their first film, Suspicion in 1941, 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:07.440 is a masterclass in ambiguity. Grant's character 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.159 is simultaneously charming and sinister. And 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.480 the film was originally supposed to end with 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.529 Grant being the murderer. But studio pressure, 00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:18.389 they were fueled by this idea that the public 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:20.269 just couldn't accept Cary Grant as a killer. 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:23.230 It forced Hitchcock to change the ending and 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:25.750 prove Grant was innocent. Hitchcock later admitted 00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:27.730 that the conventional happy ending was a creative 00:16:27.730 --> 00:16:30.549 mistake caused entirely by the power of Grant's 00:16:30.549 --> 00:16:33.250 persona. The actor's inherent likability was 00:16:33.250 --> 00:16:36.250 so strong it actually defied the plot. That lesson 00:16:36.250 --> 00:16:39.809 informed their later, greater work. In Notorious 00:16:39.809 --> 00:16:43.009 from 46 with Ingrid Bergman, the ambiguity is 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:45.549 still there. Grant plays this cynical government 00:16:45.549 --> 00:16:47.750 agent, Devlin, who has to watch the woman he 00:16:47.750 --> 00:16:50.649 loves infiltrate a Nazi ring. That film is so 00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:53.269 iconic, especially for that famous kiss. Right, 00:16:53.309 --> 00:16:55.350 a major violation of the two -second rule the 00:16:55.350 --> 00:16:58.389 Hays Code imposed on kisses. Grant and Bergman 00:16:58.389 --> 00:17:00.470 shared one of the longest kisses in film history, 00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:02.889 about two and a half minutes, by breaking it 00:17:02.889 --> 00:17:04.670 up with little bits of dialogue and movement. 00:17:05.109 --> 00:17:07.150 It shows he was willing to push boundaries when 00:17:07.150 --> 00:17:09.700 the script demanded it. And their final two collaborations 00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:12.680 were these incredibly stylish capers. To Catch 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.599 a Thief in 55 with Grace Kelly. Who he called 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:17.920 possibly the finest actress I've ever worked 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:21.140 with. And then the ultimate masterpiece of cinematic 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:24.619 paranoia, North by Northwest in 1959. North by 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:26.740 Northwest is often celebrated as the definitive 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:29.500 Grant performance. Yeah. A huge commercial triumph. 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:32.839 And it also cemented his fashion legacy through 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:36.829 one single iconic costume. That custom -made 00:17:36.829 --> 00:17:40.309 mid -gray Savile Row suit. And that suit is so 00:17:40.309 --> 00:17:42.569 important. It's the sartorial paradox of the 00:17:42.569 --> 00:17:44.990 whole Cary Grant image. Because the suit never 00:17:44.990 --> 00:17:48.259 fails. I mean, in this film, Grant is constantly 00:17:48.259 --> 00:17:50.599 under physical duress. He's kidnapped, nearly 00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:52.779 driven off a cliff, attacked by a crop duster, 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.319 climbing Mount Rushmore. Yet the suit never wrinkles, 00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:58.279 never tears. He never loses that refined composure. 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:01.460 The perfect tailoring is a symbol of the imperviousness 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:04.019 of the Cary Grant persona, even in the face of 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:06.839 violent chaos. It's the ultimate expression of 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.200 control. But despite that consistent excellence, 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:12.369 the early 1950s brought a film slump. Movies 00:18:12.369 --> 00:18:14.849 like Crisis and People Will Talk just didn't 00:18:14.849 --> 00:18:16.869 land. The pressure of maintaining that perfection 00:18:16.869 --> 00:18:19.609 started to wear on him. He made what might be 00:18:19.609 --> 00:18:21.730 his most telling confession at the time. He said, 00:18:21.809 --> 00:18:28.390 The exhaustion, the disillusionment, it was very 00:18:28.390 --> 00:18:31.730 real. After the failure of Dreamwife in 1953, 00:18:32.269 --> 00:18:34.410 Grant was convinced his film career was over, 00:18:34.509 --> 00:18:36.869 and he took a brief but significant break from 00:18:36.869 --> 00:18:39.910 the industry. But that break was exactly what 00:18:39.910 --> 00:18:42.930 he needed. To Catch a Thief in 1955 completely 00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:45.730 revitalized his career. And he followed that 00:18:45.730 --> 00:18:48.410 with The Timeless Romance, An Affair to Remember 00:18:48.410 --> 00:18:51.630 in 57, and then smash hits like Indiscreet and 00:18:51.630 --> 00:18:54.150 Operation Petticoat. He closed out the decade 00:18:54.150 --> 00:18:56.509 as the most popular, highest -grossing film star 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:58.990 in the world. What's truly fascinating about 00:18:58.990 --> 00:19:01.269 Cary Grant is how the meticulous nature he used 00:19:01.269 --> 00:19:04.069 to craft his persona extended directly into the 00:19:04.069 --> 00:19:06.650 practical worlds of finance and business. He's 00:19:06.650 --> 00:19:08.920 consistently called one of the shrewdest businessmen 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:11.259 ever to operate in Hollywood. And it all starts 00:19:11.259 --> 00:19:13.259 with that pioneering move to go freelance in 00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:16.859 1936. By escaping the studio contracts, he secured 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:19.480 not just artistic freedom but total financial 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:22.059 independence. He realized the star could hold 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:25.140 the leverage, not the studio. And he translated 00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:27.759 that leverage into unprecedented profit sharing. 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:31.720 Unlike standard contracts, which gave actors 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:33.680 a salary and maybe a small percentage of the 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.720 net profits, which studios were famous for obscuring, 00:19:37.370 --> 00:19:39.630 Grant negotiated a share of the gross revenue. 00:19:40.210 --> 00:19:42.789 Meaning he got paid directly off the ticket sales 00:19:42.789 --> 00:19:45.470 before the studio deducted any of their expenses. 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:48.529 It was revolutionary. Yeah. And it made him immensely 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:51.390 wealthy. To get technical, for films like To 00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:53.829 Catch a Thief, Grant basically set up his own 00:19:53.829 --> 00:19:55.890 production company, which he then leased back 00:19:55.890 --> 00:19:58.720 to the studio for his services. This let him 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:00.900 manage his own taxes and revenue share directly. 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:03.359 And the numbers are just staggering. For his 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.420 10 % share of the gross of To Catch a Thief, 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:09.980 Grant received over $700 ,000. Alfred Hitchcock, 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:12.259 the director and producer, got less than $50 00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:15.099 ,000 for the same film. Wow. That disparity just 00:20:15.099 --> 00:20:17.380 shows he mastered Hollywood's financial structure 00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:19.660 just as completely as he mastered its comedic 00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:22.960 timing. He wasn't just rich. He's meticulous. 00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:25.960 His friend David Niven said Grant seemed to have 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:28.500 a computer in his brain before computers were 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:30.940 even a thing. He accumulated a lot of real estate 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:33.579 and was obsessively detailed in managing his 00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:36.400 assets. He was determined to never go back to 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:38.380 the poverty of Archie Leach. And this dedication 00:20:38.380 --> 00:20:40.900 to business continued even after he retired from 00:20:40.900 --> 00:20:44.640 film in 1966. He didn't just fade away. He jumped 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:47.200 into corporate management. Right. He sat on the 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.190 board of the cosmetics firm Faberge. He got a 00:20:50.190 --> 00:20:53.710 modest salary, $15 ,000 a year, but he was active. 00:20:53.950 --> 00:20:55.990 He went to meetings. He traveled internationally 00:20:55.990 --> 00:20:58.930 to promote the brand. And his influence was measurable. 00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:01.549 Grant's star power and business input helped 00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:04.490 Fabergé grow its annual revenues to nearly $50 00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:08.029 million by 1968, a huge growth rate. And that 00:21:08.029 --> 00:21:10.609 position gave him perks, like access to a private 00:21:10.609 --> 00:21:12.990 plane, which he strategically used to fly and 00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:15.670 visit his only daughter, Jennifer. The business 00:21:15.670 --> 00:21:17.970 acumen served the personal priority. He also 00:21:17.970 --> 00:21:20.829 served as a director for MGM Films, MGM Grand 00:21:20.829 --> 00:21:24.089 Hotels, Hollywood Park, Western Airlines. I mean, 00:21:24.089 --> 00:21:26.269 he truly diversified his interests far beyond 00:21:26.269 --> 00:21:29.029 simple celebrity endorsement. He proved he was 00:21:29.029 --> 00:21:32.710 a capable executive. Now, if we switch from the 00:21:32.710 --> 00:21:35.190 incredible control he had over his business life 00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:38.250 to the chaos that often plagued his emotional 00:21:38.250 --> 00:21:42.390 life, this is where the persona really fractured. 00:21:42.670 --> 00:21:45.230 He was married five times, a constant search 00:21:45.230 --> 00:21:47.210 for the stability he never had as a child. His 00:21:47.210 --> 00:21:49.410 marriages included Virginia Sherrill, which was 00:21:49.410 --> 00:21:51.930 a brief, tumultuous year that ended with charges 00:21:51.930 --> 00:21:54.309 he'd hit her. And then the famous union with 00:21:54.309 --> 00:21:56.509 Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress, which 00:21:56.509 --> 00:21:59.230 got them the tabloid nickname Cash and Carrie. 00:21:59.509 --> 00:22:02.549 But crucially, Grant refused any financial settlement 00:22:02.549 --> 00:22:05.309 in a prenup. He was determined to show he wasn't 00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:07.430 marrying her for money. His longest marriage 00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:11.660 from 1949 to 1962 was to Betsy Drake. And she 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:13.819 had a profound influence on them. She's the one 00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:15.880 who introduced him to psychology and psychoanalysis, 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:18.039 which later led to his more radical therapies. 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:21.180 And his final and probably most profound relationship 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:23.779 was with his daughter, Jennifer. She was born 00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:25.900 during his very tumultuous marriage to Diane 00:22:25.900 --> 00:22:28.339 Cannon. He frequently called Jennifer his best 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:31.359 production. And he retired from film in 1966 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.539 specifically to raise her and provide the stable 00:22:34.539 --> 00:22:37.759 fatherhood he never had. That marriage to Cannon, 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:40.160 though, it ended with very painful accusations 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.980 that Grant was emotionally abusive toward her. 00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:45.539 And the constant turbulence of his private life 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:48.579 is what fuels the longstanding, intense speculation 00:22:48.579 --> 00:22:51.920 about his sexuality. The sources paint a very 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.500 complex picture, starting in his early New York 00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:56.660 days. Well, he lived with the costume designer 00:22:56.660 --> 00:23:00.960 Ori Kelly from 1925 to 1931. Biographers described 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.079 this as a volatile, on -and -off relationship 00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:06.000 that spanned three decades. Rory Kelly himself 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.519 was very vocal about their emotional closeness. 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:10.779 And even more famously, he lived with the actor 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.339 Randolph Scott off and on for 12 years, starting 00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:16.200 in 1932. This was a time when both of them were 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:18.440 rising stars. And the photos of them living together 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:21.079 relaxed, often in matching outfits, doing domestic 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:23.759 chores, that became tabloid fodder for decades. 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:25.740 Whether their relationship was romantic remains 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:28.339 a point of intense biographical dispute. It does. 00:23:28.940 --> 00:23:31.039 Some contemporaries, like the fashion arbiter 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.680 Richard Blackwell, claimed in his autobiography 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:37.440 that Grant and Scott were deeply, madly in love. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:39.880 Another source suggests Grant later confessed 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:42.380 that he and Scott had been bisexual and that 00:23:42.380 --> 00:23:43.960 it was the first time he had ever been in love. 00:23:44.220 --> 00:23:46.099 But it's all a zone of contradictory claims. 00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:49.039 His daughter Jennifer has firmly denied her father 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.740 was bisexual, yet his ex -wife, Diane Cannon, 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:54.359 believed he was queer. What is undeniable is 00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:56.519 the intense measures Grant took to protect his 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.960 manufactured image. He sued Chevy Chase for slander 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:03.480 in 1980 for publicly calling him a homo. The 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:05.599 lawsuit just demonstrated his total commitment 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.900 to controlling the public narrative, even late 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.259 in his life. And that leads directly to maybe 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:12.500 the most unusual aspect of his attempt to reconcile 00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:15.279 the Archie Leach trauma with the Cary Grant perfection, 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:18.799 the LSD experimentation. Right. Starting in the 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.440 late 1950s, he began taking the drug, heavily 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.579 influenced by his wife Betsy Drake's interest 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:25.970 in psychoanalysis. And this wasn't recreational. 00:24:26.210 --> 00:24:29.150 This was a desperate psychological tool. He was 00:24:29.150 --> 00:24:31.430 treated by a radiologist named Mortimer Hartman 00:24:31.430 --> 00:24:33.809 and is estimated to have had about 100 sessions 00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:36.029 over several years. And the goal was simple. 00:24:36.150 --> 00:24:39.289 To tear down the deep -seated psychological defenses 00:24:39.289 --> 00:24:42.230 and rid himself of the emotional turmoil from 00:24:42.230 --> 00:24:45.210 his childhood, the deception, his failed relationships, 00:24:45.609 --> 00:24:49.150 all of it. Initially, he saw the drug as the 00:24:49.150 --> 00:24:51.329 solution. He said that for the first time, he 00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:54.750 was truly, deeply, and honestly happy. He felt 00:24:54.750 --> 00:24:57.349 he was finally able to see himself outside the 00:24:57.349 --> 00:24:59.750 defensive shell he had built. He was using this 00:24:59.750 --> 00:25:02.410 radical, unregulated substance in a desperate 00:25:02.410 --> 00:25:04.990 attempt to perform psychological surgery on the 00:25:04.990 --> 00:25:07.009 Archie Leach hiding beneath the grand facade. 00:25:07.369 --> 00:25:10.369 But that positive view didn't last forever. He 00:25:10.369 --> 00:25:13.130 later recanted, admitting that taking LSD was 00:25:13.130 --> 00:25:15.539 an utterly foolish thing to do. But he immediately 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:17.940 qualified that. He said it was necessary for 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.619 him to strip away the layers of defenses, hypocrisy, 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.720 and vanity that he'd accumulated while painstakingly 00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:26.819 constructing the Cary Grant identity. The therapy 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:29.539 was a brutal admission that the flawless public 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:32.319 image was built on a foundation of profound psychological 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:36.599 pain. By 1966, after his final film, Walk, Don't 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:39.829 Run, Grant retired from the screen. He was just 00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:42.089 thoroughly disillusioned with the changing landscape 00:25:42.089 --> 00:25:45.269 of cinema. He felt the golden age had definitively 00:25:45.269 --> 00:25:49.009 ended after Charade in 63. And he prioritized 00:25:49.009 --> 00:25:51.230 fatherhood. He said he had discovered more important 00:25:51.230 --> 00:25:53.650 things in life than acting, and that was providing 00:25:53.650 --> 00:25:55.970 the stability for Jennifer that he never received. 00:25:56.250 --> 00:25:59.359 He largely avoided any kind of comeback. Famously 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.819 joked fat chance when anyone asked if he would 00:26:01.819 --> 00:26:04.480 return. His later years were devoted to his business 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:07.099 interests, especially Fabergé, and a series of 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:09.500 tours called A Conversation with Cary Grant. 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:11.500 Right, where he'd show clips and answer audience 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:14.240 questions. An exercise he admitted with that 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.480 characteristic self -deprecation was largely 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.400 ego fodder. He stayed in relatively good health 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:22.420 until the end. He had a mild stroke in 1984 and 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:24.660 then died of a massive stroke in Davenport, Iowa 00:26:24.660 --> 00:26:28.339 on November 29th, 1986. He was 82 and he was 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:30.740 just about to do one of his shows. And critically, 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:34.000 in a final act of control, he initially refused 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:36.240 to be taken to the hospital. He insisted he was 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.759 fine before deteriorating rapidly. That refusal 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:42.440 to surrender control, even to medical professionals, 00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:46.119 seems a fitting, if tragic, end for a man who 00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:48.559 spent his life managing his own image and fate. 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:52.200 The public reaction was one of just disbelief. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.500 The New York Times captured it perfectly, writing 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:57.000 that Cary Grant was not supposed to die. Cary 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:58.900 Grant was supposed to stick around, our perpetual 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:01.180 touchstone of charm and elegance and romance 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:03.700 and youth. And in accordance with his wishes, 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:06.839 his body was cremated and no public funeral was 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:09.839 held. The greatest public performer chose a quiet, 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:12.500 private end. When you look back at his critical 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:14.740 reception, what stands out is that paradox of 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:17.140 his charm, that unique ability to mix polish 00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:19.619 and pratfalls in successive scenes without ever 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:22.059 compromising his inherent masculinity. Director 00:27:22.059 --> 00:27:24.980 George Cukor noted that Grant's magic wasn't 00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:27.420 arrogance. He acted as though he were just an 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:29.259 ordinary young man who happened to be extremely 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:32.039 handsome, which made it all the more appealing 00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:34.819 when that seemingly ordinary man turned out to 00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:37.589 be incredibly witty and physically agile. He 00:27:37.589 --> 00:27:40.029 was refreshingly able to play the near fool, 00:27:40.190 --> 00:27:43.309 the fey idiot. Pauline Kael captured the mass 00:27:43.309 --> 00:27:46.309 appeal perfectly. She described him as the most 00:27:46.309 --> 00:27:48.890 publicly seduced male the world has ever known. 00:27:49.190 --> 00:27:51.549 Men wanted to be him because he showed that masculinity 00:27:51.549 --> 00:27:54.150 could be effortless, and women wanted to date 00:27:54.150 --> 00:27:56.339 him because he was sensitive. She also highlighted 00:27:56.339 --> 00:27:58.700 his progressive approach, noting he treated his 00:27:58.700 --> 00:28:01.700 female co -stars as subjects with multiple qualities 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.119 rather than treating them as sex objects. Stanley 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:06.019 Donen, who directed him in several hits, was 00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:09.119 very clear. His magic wasn't some inherent genius. 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:11.779 It came from enormous amounts of work on minute 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:14.839 details. He was a professional, constantly refining 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:17.220 the delivery, the timing, the suit, the entire 00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:19.500 performance. And that brings us full circle to 00:28:19.500 --> 00:28:22.039 his most telling self -assessment, the ultimate 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:24.880 confession about the meticulous... conscious 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:27.559 creation of his own identity. He acknowledged 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:29.779 that he played it being the person he wanted 00:28:29.779 --> 00:28:33.839 to be until I became that person. The deep, buried 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:36.099 trauma of Archibald Leach was systematically 00:28:36.099 --> 00:28:38.519 channeled into the perfection of Cary Grant. 00:28:38.779 --> 00:28:41.880 The praise from those who knew him best was universal. 00:28:42.339 --> 00:28:45.819 Stanley Donen, Howard Hawks, film historian David 00:28:45.819 --> 00:28:48.220 Thompson. They all considered him the greatest 00:28:48.220 --> 00:28:51.170 and most important actor in cinema history. And 00:28:51.170 --> 00:28:53.390 Alfred Hitchcock, who was famously reserved about 00:28:53.390 --> 00:28:55.809 his collaborators, called him the only actor 00:28:55.809 --> 00:28:58.259 I ever loved in my whole life. He did eventually 00:28:58.259 --> 00:29:00.559 get official recognition for that unique mastery, 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:03.140 though it took a while. After a 12 -year personal 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:05.680 boycott of the ceremony, partly fueled by Academy 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:08.039 members who disliked his history of frivolous 00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:10.599 lawsuits to protect his image, he received the 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:13.759 Academy Honorary Award in 1970. A moment of late 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:16.400 public reconciliation for a man who had otherwise 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:18.720 mastered his career entirely on his own terms. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:22.079 So we've completed the journey. From Archibald 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:25.259 Leach, the impoverished, traumatized boy in Bristol, 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:28.220 to Cary Grant, the Hollywood legend and incredibly 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:31.619 successful businessman. We dissected the profound 00:29:31.619 --> 00:29:35.900 contrasts, deep childhood trauma macked by lighthearted 00:29:35.900 --> 00:29:38.200 comic genius, and the relentless construction 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:41.460 of his self -proclaimed best production, the 00:29:41.460 --> 00:29:44.299 flawless Cary Grant persona. It is a remarkable 00:29:44.299 --> 00:29:47.180 case study in self -reinvention driven by deep 00:29:47.180 --> 00:29:50.380 -seated necessity. Grant often joked that the 00:29:50.380 --> 00:29:53.200 real Cary Grant was far more like the scruffy, 00:29:53.220 --> 00:29:55.759 unshaven fisherman and father goose than the 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.380 well -tailored charmer of charade. So if the 00:29:58.380 --> 00:30:00.420 life he lived on screen and in public was simply 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:02.400 the conscious embodiment of the man he desperately 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:04.619 wished he could have been, what does that tell 00:30:04.619 --> 00:30:07.380 us about the hidden transformative power of consciously 00:30:07.380 --> 00:30:10.019 performing the self you aspire to become? What 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:12.240 parts of ourselves are we currently acting into 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:14.240 existence? That's something for you to mull over 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:15.400 until the next deep dive.