Cary Grant

by Marc Eliot

  The scandal, however, refused to die. Many questions remain unanswered to this day. Bouron was a high-priced call girl and had a long criminal record. The most serious charge against her was a felony arrest for theft in 1967, which was eventually dismissed. She had been married twice and was the mother of two previous children. Her first husband was former stuntman Milos Milocevic, whom she had married in 1964 for a reportedly high five-figure sum, to save him from deportation to his native Yugoslavia, where he faced a fifteen-year prison term for army desertion. Two years later, in February 1966, five months before her pre–agreed-upon divorce from him became final, Milocevic's dead body was found beside that of Barbara Rooney, who was married at the time to actor Mickey Rooney. He apparently committed suicide after killing her. On October 30, 1973, three years after Bouron's failed attempt to bring a paternity suit against Grant, her dead body was found in the trunk of a stolen car in a Hollywood supermarket parking lot. The cause of death was determined by the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to have been bludgeoning with a claw hammer. Finally, the child Bouron accused Grant of fathering, a girl she named Stephanie Andrea Grant Bouron, was described in the police report as being “of strong Negro blood.” The murder case was never solved. According to the North Hollywood police, “several friends of the victim stated she would often pick up men at bars or restaurants.” When asked for a comment about the discovery of Bouron's body, Grant had none. a “close friend.” John Austin, Hollywood Citizen-News, April 2, 1970. As the night of the Awards approached. Grant gave Dyan Cannon the okay for an exclusive interview with syndicated gossip columnist Sheilah Graham one week after he received his Award. In it, Cannon gave some details of the night she and Grant spent together the night before the ceremonies. According to Cannon, Grant read his acceptance speech to her and asked her approval of its content; and she “read him my loser's speech.” Graham ended her column hinting that Grant and Cannon were contemplating getting back together, a bit of deliberate “family man” PR that Grant no doubt encouraged to help repair whatever damage his image might have suffered over Bouron. Grant took early control of his relationship with the Hollywood and national gossip columnists, and it was said that despite his always friendly and cooperative demeanor, he loathed every one of them. He sued Graham in 1940 over a piece she ran suggesting a little bit too strongly that Grant was gay and everybody in Hollywood knew it. He later dropped the lawsuit. His regular “contacts,” as he called them, were Hedda Hopper, John Austin, Ben Maddox, Leonard Lyons, Sidney Skolsky, Earl Wilson, Walter Winchell, and Ed Sullivan. a six-minute montage of clips. The montage of Cary Grant clips was put together by Mike Nichols. The only clip Grant asked Nichols to specifically include was his crying scene from 1941's Penny Serenade, a performance for which he was to receive one of his two Oscar nominations. The only film he insisted be excluded was Singapore Sue, a short he made while still in New York. It was his first appearance on film, and he always claimed he couldn't stand it.

  [2]

  “I'm reminded of a piece of advice …” Cary Grant, “How to Dress Confidently,” This Week (supplement to the Los Angeles Times), April 1, 1962.

  Bristol is the seventh-largest city. Official University of Bristol website—“History, Architecture, Churches, Statues and Landmarks.” http://www.bris.ac.uk/.

  Archibald Alec Leach. Alec is the familiar form of Alexander (as Dick is to Richard) and is the way the name appears in the birth records. the unexpected death of her firstborn. “It was only recently that I recognized a clue to the cause of my mother's retreat within herself. Some years prior to my birth my parents had another child…a baby boy who, alas, died of some sort of convulsions after only a few months of life.” Grant, in “Archie Leach.”

  Archibald Leach was born on January 18, 1904. The birth records of Archibald Alec (Alexander) Grant were not registered until February 29, 1904, five weeks after his arrival—not an unusual amount of time in those days. Nevertheless, this time lapse has resulted in excessive confusion as to his actual birth date, his ethnic background, and his “true” parental heritage—specifically that he was secretly Jewish and/or adopted. The author found no substantial factual evidence supporting either of these claims. Nor has any solid evidence been found for any conspiratorial coverup of “real” origins, parents, heritage, and the like. At least one previous biographer has used reports that Grant was circumcised as “proof” that he was Jewish. If he was circumcised, it is probably because his mother insisted on it after the death of her first son, believing, as many did at the time, that circumcision helped prevent infant infection and disease. No reliable records have thus far been found of any such procedure actually having been performed on the baby Leach for either medical or religious reasons. Furthermore, while it is almost always done within days after birth, circumcision may be performed at any time.

  “As a little boy …” Quoted in Cleveland Amory, “That Touch of Class,” Parade, September 22, 1985, pp. 4–9.

  Elsie enjoyed keeping little Archie's hair long. “It seemed to me that I was kept in baby clothes much longer than any other child and perhaps, for a while, wasn't sure whether I was a boy or a girl,” Grant wrote in “Archie Leach.” Grant's meticulous attention to his wardrobe, particularly in his later films such as That Touch of Mink and North by Northwest, as well as his obsessional pursuit of the finest personal custom tailoring, echo Elias's occupation as a tailor, a sartorial link to his happier childhood memories of his father. he still often preferred wearing women's nylon panties. Harris, Cary Grant, 194, quoting from the unpublished 1959 Joe Hyams interview made during the filming of Operation Petticoat.

  “My parents tried so hard …” Amory, “Touch of Class.” The value of good clothes. Grant's complete quote regarding the value of good shoes: “I learned a lot about clothes and how to buy them from my father. We couldn't afford a great deal when I was a boy growing up in Bristol, England, but we were not unaware of what others who had money were doing. I remember I had bought three or four pairs of shoes. They were not very costly. My father reprimanded me. He said one should always look good and wear well-made things even if one doesn't have a lot of money. He taught me about clothes and that I should buy one good pair of shoes rather than four inexpensive pairs that look cheap and won't last. Shoes are very important. One should always have at least two pairs to switch off now and then. Yes, my father taught me to buy better clothes and less of them.” Davis, “Cary Grant.”

  Left-handedness. According to Leslie Caron, Grant's costar in Father Goose, in 1964: “He was basically left-handed, but he had trained himself to be ambidextrous. One time the prop man set a bottle he was to use in the scene by his right hand, and Cary flashed very angrily, ‘How do you expect me to pour the bottle with this hand?'” Caron, quoted by Marla Brooks, in Lefthander, January/February 1995, 13. In “Archie Leach,” Grant expresses gratitude that no one discouraged his natural left-handedness, as was often done in both British and American schools of the early twentieth century, where the preference was seen as an affliction.

  “I [made] the mistake of thinking that each of my wives was my mother.” Harris, Cary Grant, 14; Grant, “Archie Leach.”

  “came right up the Avon River …” Grant, “Archie Leach.” “That's when I knew.” Grant, “Archie Leach.” That August Archie eagerly signed a three-year contract. “MEMORANDUM OF AGREE-

  MENT: Made on this day 9th, August, between Robert Pender of 247 Brixton Road, London, on the one part, Elias Leach of 12 Campbell Street, Bristol, on the other part. The said Robert Pender agrees to employ the son of the said Elias Leach, Archie Leach, in his troupe at a weekly salary of 10 shillings a week with board and lodging and everything found for the stage, and when not working full board and lodgings. This salary to be increased as the said Archie Leach improves in his profession and he agrees to remain in the employ of Robert Pender till he is eighteen years of age or a six months notice on either side. Robert Pender undertaking to teach him dancing and other accomplishme
nts needful for his work. Archie Leach agrees to work to the best of his abilities. Signed, Bob Pender.” Nelson, Evenings with Cary Grant, 39.

  “cultured English talk.” Ernest Kingdon (one of the cousins of young Archie who lived with him and his mother), quoted in Godfrey, Cary Grant, 41.

  “doggedly strive …” Grant, “Archie Leach.”

  [3]

  “I never associated him …” Peter Cadbury (a member of the famed chocolate family and a native Bristolean), interview by Xan Brooks, Guardian, August 17, 2001. the famous B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit. At the time, the most prestigious vaudeville circuit in America.

  Coney Island's famous Steeplechase Park. The gig paid five dollars a day, ten dollars on weekends. Grant worked Tuesdays through Fridays, and weekends. a witness to all this “homosexuality.” Higham and Moseley, Cary Grant, 37. They claim to have conducted the interview with Burns a few years before his death.

  Grant insisted that in 1925 … he returned to England. The source of the fanciful story of Archie's return to England in 1925 was Archie Leach himself. While appearing in summer stock in 1930, he was invited to write a profile of himself for the local newspapers and crafted what amounts to a colorful fiction of his early life, including the supposed 1925 trip back home. This trip shows up repeatedly in biographies of Grant, based on this profile, embellished with all manner of detail and color, but without any basis in fact. Grant was to continue to use this method of misdirection to throw off all those who sought to write about him, and it usually worked quite effectively. In later works and interviews, for example, Grant “confessed” that he came from a strong theatrical background and that his father, Elias, was a wealthy clothing manufacturer. One of the strongest “pieces of evidence” Higham and Moseley use to “prove” that Grant was Jewish and that Elsie was not his mother is the 1962 Who's Who in America entry on Cary Grant, in which she is identified as Lillian. It is fairly certain that Grant himself was the source of the mixup in names, as he constantly sought to protect his mother from the prying eyes of writers, researchers, and biographers. Finally, Elsie and Lillian are similar-sounding names, easily mistaken in transcription or translation, an error Grant would not have bothered to correct.

  [4]

  “I had quite a run of stage successes …” Quoted in John Paddy Carstairs, “He's Grand—and He's Grant,” Film Pictorial, December 17, 1932.

  “He was never a very open fellow …” Quoted in Wansell, Haunted Idol, 65. “happy acquaintance.” Grant, “Archie Leach.” According to Grant, it was not OrryKelly but another young, hustling actor by the name of Max Hoffman Jr. who introduced him to Reginald Hammerstein. This is, most likely, another instance of Grant's masterful use of misdirection, as all evidence points to Orry-Kelly being the one. It is interesting to note that Grant never refers to or mentions Orry-Kelly by name in any interview or autobiographical writings, including “Archie Leach.”

  Golden Dawn. The show starred Louise Hunter and Paul Gregory. Archie received generally good notices, including one from The New York Times, which called him a “handsome young newcomer.” Golden Dawn was made into a Warner Bros. movie in 1930 starring Vivienne Segal and Walter Woolf King. It is mostly remembered for being one of the first Hollywood feature films to be shot entirely in color.

  Polly with a Past. This show was written by Ina Claire and originally produced on Broadway by David Belasco.

  June took an instant dislike to Archie. Quoted in Harris, Cary Grant, 41; original source unknown.

  Rosalie. By the 1920s Broadway had become a seeding ground for the many national theaters belonging to various producers/theater owners. Before talking pictures, a show that opened on Broadway became the model for a live touring version that would play in every major city in America. For Archie, the opportunity to tour meant national exposure with star billing, a major step up in his theatrical career.

  Orry-Kelly, costume designer for Boom Boom. It remains a mystery what role, if any, Orry-Kelly played in convincing the Shuberts to sign the still largely unknown Archie Leach away from the Hammersteins.

  “Without the ability …” Cary Grant, “Archie Leach.” open-air Municipal Opera in St. Louis. Orry-Kelly may have been involved in the Shuberts' decision to send Archie to St. Louis.

  [5]

  “Some men squeeze a line to death …” Michael Curtiz, Time, July 27, 1962.

  Sternberg and Dietrich. Sternberg directed Dietrich in seven classic movies (eight if the German version of The Blue Angel is counted, a film Sternberg reshot in English after the success of Morocco). These include The Blue Angel (1930, German and English versions), Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express (1932), Blonde Venus (1932, with Cary Grant), Scarlet Empress (1934), and Devil Is a Woman (1935). Both Scarlet Empress and Devil Is a Woman were box office failures.

  “Hate … mannerisms …” Interview by Suzy Parker, March 31, 1956; in Wayne, Cooper's Women, 143.

  With the Hays Office gaining power in Hollywood. In the wake of threats by the federal government to appoint a board of censorship similar to the one already in place in England, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America created an authority to self-regulate the film industry. In 1922 the association appointed Postmaster General Will Hays to enforce a predetermined formula of standards. Not everyone greeted Hays's arrival with the official warmth that the studio heads did. Chaplin, always the iconoclast, had signs hung over the men's room of his studio declaring “Welcome ill Hays.” It would take ten years for the code to bring about a regulated ethic that became the industry standard. Until then the studios tried on an individual basis to see how far they could stretch the limits of what became known as the Hays Office. Thus in 1929, when profits were beginning to dip, Carl Laemmle tried, without success, to bring Mae West and her controversial show to Hollywood via Universal Studios. Two years later, with the studio on the brink of bankruptcy, Paramount risked everything by taking on the woman and her reputation, along with the property that had enjoyed such success on Broadway. As always it was money, not morals, that ruled Hollywood.

  “It wasn't true …” Quoted in Cindy Adams, May 1982.

  “I copied other styles I knew …” Quoted in Davis, “Cary Grant.”

  “was a homosexual …” Dietrich made this statement many times, including in an interview quoted in Higham and Moseley. Rumors of Dietrich's own bisexuality had been floated for years; kissing another woman onscreen while dressed in a man's tuxedo in Shanghai Express didn't help, but neither did it threaten her star status. If anything, it gave her an added “takes one to know one” pedigree in evaluating potential lovers. To those who held power in Hollywood, lesbianism was simply titillating and therefore tolerated. No man, they believed, would refuse to buy a ticket to see Marlene Dietrich because she preferred women, but many would refuse to see a Cary Grant flick if they thought he was “queer.”

  “If women want to wear men's clothes …” Quoted in Los Angeles Times, January 25, 1933.

  [6]

  “Was there pressure on you or Cary Grant to wed …” Scott, in Hadleigh, Hollywood Gays.

  Cary and Scott. On at least one occasion their relationship cost them the chance to work together. Paramount had considered teaming the two in a film about the Arctic, Spawn of the North, with Carole Lombard in the female lead. But mainly due to the persistent rumors over the duo's sexual preferences, the roles eventually went to Henry Fonda and George Raft. The film was directed by Henry Hathaway and released by Paramount in 1938.

  Bachelor Hall. This name, given to the bachelor pad of Grant and Scott, was often attributed to Carole Lombard but actually came from a Paramount PR executive.

  “Cary is the gay, impetuous one …” Ben Maddox, quoted (without attribution) by Gerald Clarke, in Architectural Digest, April 1996, 282.

  “carrying this buddy business …” Harris, Cary Grant, 58. Grant and Scott's competitive workout routine. The details of the daily workout routine and the bet between them are from an
RKO memo written by S. Barret McCormick in 1947, to publicize the chance meeting between Scott and Grant that happened during the filming of The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

  [7]

  “Her shapely form in a blue …” Chaplin, Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography. He devotes a mere two paragraphs to Cherrill, one having to do with their meeting on the beach, and one having to do with directing her in City Lights. He omits any reference to his romantic pursuit of her.

  private diaries. The personal diaries kept by Virginia Cherrill and the extensive audiocassettes she kept for use for a possible memoir were made available to the author by Teresa McWilliams, Cherrill's close friend and next-door neighbor in Santa Barbara for more than forty years.

  “Most of the actresses that worked for him …” Interview by film historian Gerard Molyneaux, in Milton, Tramp, 297.

  Chaplin wanting to fire Cherrill and replace her with Georgia Hale. Chaplin had done this sort of thing before. In 1925, during the filming of The Gold Rush, he had gotten his leading lady, sixteen-year-old Lita Grey, pregnant and decided to reshoot her scenes with Georgia Hale. Paramount signed Hale on the strength of her performance and cast her in its 1926 production of Herbert Brenon's The Great Gatsby. Her career ended with the arrival of talkies, for which, the studio decided, she was vocally unsuited.