by Marc Eliot
One final, troubling note about the Grant/Hoover relationship. Throughout most of the ten-year anti-Communist inquisition the government inflicted upon Hollywood, from approximately the mid-forties to the mid-fifties, while McCarthy took center stage as the country's self-styled savior, Hoover's influence, if not presence, always lurked just behind the scenes. And yet, throughout his career, after his Depression gangster years, he never pursued any organized crime figures, and no one was ever asked in all of the hearings that took place under the auspices of HUAC if they “were now or ever have been a Nazi.” Finally, it appears that strings were pulled during the HUAC years to protect Grant, who had become an invaluable property (if not a loyal one) to some of Hollywood's most important filmmakers. On a darker note, Hoover, who was gay, may simply have fallen in love with Cary Grant and wanted to protect him. Stranger things, as we now know, have occurred in the history of twentieth-century American law enforcement.
THERE ARE SEVERAL PEOPLE I wish to thank for their help, assistance, guidance, and encouragement during the writing of this book. Because so many requested anonymity, out of respect for them and for Cary Grant, I have honored those requests. Of those I can mention, I will. They include Peter Bogdanovich, Charlie Callas, Cindy Hubach, Teresa McWilliams, Ward Morehouse, William Frye, Joey Reynolds, Chi-Li Wong, Virginia Cherrill (her private diaries and audiotapes generously supplied by Ms. McWilliams), Luisa Flynn, and Satsko. To the rest, you know who you are, and I thank you all.
I wish to thank the Authors Guild and my fellow Friars, especially Mickey Freeman.
I also wish to thank my publisher Shaye Arehart, my editors Julia Pastore and Teryn Johnson, production editor Mark McCauslin, designer Lauren Dong, production supervisor Leta Evanthes, copyeditor Janet Biehl, proofreader Robin Slutzky, my photographer Brenda Killenbeck, and my agent Mel Berger.
And especially to all my friends who have stayed loyal to me throughout the years, I thank you as well.
* It is easier, of course, to list those I have not seen than those I have. These include This Is the Night, Sinners in the Sun, Merrily We Go to Hell, Devil and the Deep, Hot Saturday, Gambling Ship, Kiss and Make Up, Ladies Should Listen, and Wedding Present. Most if not all of these were either lost or discarded in the confusing years of Paramount's poverty-stricken era, when Grant was a contract player. I have seen, in one form or another, every Cary Grant film since When You're in Love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARC ELIOT has been writing about pop culture for over twenty-five years and is the author of more than a dozen books, including To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles, Down 42nd Street: Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossroads of the World, the New York Times bestselling Erin Brockovich autobiography, Take It from Me, and the critically acclaimed, award-winning biography Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince. His work has appeared in Penthouse, LA Weekly, California Magazine, and the Metropolitan Review, as well as in numerous other publications both here and abroad. He divides his time among Los Angeles, New York City, and upstate New York. Visit his website at www.marceliot.net.
Copyright © 2004 by Rebel Road, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eliot, Marc.
Cary Grant: a biography / Marc Eliot.—1st ed.
1. Grant, Cary, 1904–86. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses—United
States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.G675E45 2004
791.43028092—dc22 2004004115
eISBN: 978-0-307-55497-0
v3.0