Website: The Shrine to Cary Grant
Website: The Ultimate Cary Grant Pages
Filmography: The Cary Grant Video Source Page
Just let me state this for the record: I love Cary Grant. So, it's surprising that it took me so long to read any of the biographies written about him. I've wanted to read one for the longest time, but wanted to make sure I picked the right one. I think I did--I just finished reading the (now out-of-print) biography written by Warren G. Harris, called Cary Grant--A Touch of Elegance, published within a year after Grant's death in 1986.
Archibald Leach was born to Elias and Elsie Leach on January 18th 1904, in Bristol, England. The family was very poor: One of Leach's worst memories was wearing poorly made pants to school that his mother had made. Some say this is the reason why he was so determined to be well-dressed when he came to Hollywood. The parents did not get along well, in fact, later in life found out that it was Elias that was responsible for his mother being committed to an asylum for years--It was only after the father died that she was released into Cary Grant's custody.
As a child, Archie began attending Saturday matinees at various cinemas in Bristol. He loved watching the serials each week and couldn't wait to go back the next week to find out what happened in the next "chapter". His love of theater had begun. A few years later, Leach deliberately made Fairfield School expel him for misconduct, simply because he wanted to go on the vaudeville road. He was expelled in front of the entire school, and a short three days later, Leach's dream came true: He joined the Pender Troupe on a permanent basis, having passed the audition the year before.
Leach traveled all over with the Pender Troupe, a group of vaudeville performers that was quite popular in its day. Leach was an acrobat and a stilt-walker, among other things. After two years with the troupe, Leach was chosen to go to America to perform there, and he proceeded to be in a few well-received shows at several theaters in New York. By 1927, Leach had traveled all over the country but had yet to speak a single line of dialogue, and so his next mission was to do just that.
It didn't take long: In 1927, he got a small role on Broadway, in the play, Golden Dawn, a small play that didn't last long. But it was good enough for Leach. More roles followed, and for the next few years, Leach was quite content with his work in theater. But in 1931, he got word that he had been chosen to work on a short film in Hollywood; so, he picked up and moved West to seek the ultimate triumph.
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