Cary Grant: A Touch of Elegance

by Warren G. Harris

Elegant...suave...romantic - these words bring only one name to mind. Cary Grant...Hollywood's ultimate ladies' man...the silver screen's most ardent lover. But beyond his portrayal of the sophisticated romantic hero in movies like "The Philadelphia Story" and "Notorious" was a man haunted by fear and self-doubt which affected his career as well as his personal life.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film

415 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

Reviews

[Robin Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cary Grant is my one true love. I discovered him when I was a teenager, just a few years before his death in 1986, after watching Bringing Up Baby for the first time, and I’ve been in love with him ever since.

I’ve not read a biography about him until now. I think I just didn’t want my image of him tarnished. I’ve read things over the years, magazine articles, mentions in biographies of other Hollywood stars, internet stories, and of course I was aware of his LSD therapy, the allegations of cruelty to his wives, claims of him being cold or distant on the set of his movies. But on a recent trip to Half Price Books I picked up three different books about him. I think at this point in my life I realize that he is untarnishable in my eyes. Nothing will change how I feel.*

The author touches on those stories in his biography, as well as the rumors of homosexuality. He reports the known facts, interspersed with quotes from people who knew Cary, but he never expresses an opinion or suggests whether or not there is truth to any of those claims. And yet what could have come across as dry reporting is told in an interesting, engaging, and always respectful manner.

After reading this I want to go back and rewatch a lot of Cary’s movies that I haven’t seen in awhile. And there are some movies that I’ve not yet seen as I’ve not yet found them, but hopefully someday.


*Well, I guess if I learned he murdered someone, or pulled some Harvey Weinstein shit, that might put me off, but I’m pretty confident in my devotion.

[GoldGato · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of a multitude of books written about Cary Grant (after he died, of course). Originally published the year after he passed away, the standard stories are here and quite frankly, not much new or noteworthy. My issue with this book is the alarming number of errors in spelling and grammar. This was a mass market book of the 1980s, so there is no excuse...in those days they had editors. But the constant mistakes just continued, as though no one ever looked at what was sent out to print.

I stopped counting after 13 misspellings. Horrendous.

Book Season = Summer (throw it in the pool)

[Nathan Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty straightforward rundown of the life of a guy who was immensely, earth-shakingly talented and, from what I can tell, not particularly interesting as a person. Harris doesn't really talk much about Grant's specific techniques beyond how they relate to his vaudeville years and is oddly dismissive of a lot of his later work, but if you want to read about his marriages, you're in for a treat since Harris runs down his custody battles, on-and-off affairs and alimony situations in exhaustive detail. To his credit, he doesn't really skirt past the rumors (?) of Grant's being gay or bi the way other biographers have, but also doesn't really "deal" with all that since Grant himself was so reticent to talk about it. (During at least one of his Q&A sessions he did open up a little more.) The LSD stuff, which I never really knew much about despite being a big fan for a long time, is also rather interesting... but like a lot of these Hollywood bios, the book is really engrossing before Grant "makes it" and then becomes ponderous as he starts to live the kind of life only the rich can really be familiar with; more power to him, but it's not that much fun to read "he went to Frank Sinatra's party, then he went to Grace Kelly's private party" etc., at least not to me. Grant's brilliance as an actor deserves closer critical analysis than it gets here, but I nevertheless found the book breezy and agreeable enough. (Thus I have no idea why it took me like a month to read it but I've just been busy/tired lately.)

[Randal Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It had some good stories and steered clear of the unprovable. I would recomend it to anyone who wants to read about the life of Cary Grant and not be overwhelmed by the subject matter.

[Todd R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, but.

I found this book interesting to read. It seems that it was written with the idea that the reader is already familiar with Cary Grant. From watching his movies I was a little. Not a lot of information about the movies but enough.
There is a good portion of the book at different times that the writer is explaining a topic only to go off on entirely different subject in the paragraph.

[Michael burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book but I would have liked to know more about his life outside of the cinema, and why he never managed successful relationships

[Al Allegue · Rating 4 out of 5]

the suave man

A legend of his time. Great insight of his background, marriages and the movie industry. Worth reading. Learned a lot.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

via Kindle Unlimited

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several years ago, one of my friends introduced to me Cary Grant movies and I quickly became a fan. I really didn't know much about him, so I picked up this biography from the library. Boy, did I learn a lot about him--including some things that I kind of wish I did not know. That said, I'm finding myself wanting to go back and watch some of them again now that I know some of the "behind the scenes" of Cary's life at those times.

This book was an easy read for me, though I think it did help that I was familiar with some of his movies. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in classic film stars, as well as to anyone who enjoys a good biography.

[Robert K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enduring the loss of his mother (she walked out) at a young age seemed to leave Grant unable to interact with women on an intimate level. Despite being universally liked by all the leading ladies with whom he co-starred: Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Betty Davis and others, his personal life was a struggle. As for his relationships with men, who knows. As a lead romantic-comic actor, no one pulled it off better than Grant. I loved him in North by Northwest with Eva Marie Saint, Charade with Audrey Hepburn, An Affair to Remember with Deborah Kerr, and To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly. Alfred Hitchcock brought out the best in Cary Grant.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book if you are a fan. Nicely written (a bit dated sounding but much like Grant's movies :-)) and the author clearly admires Grant; that said, it still seemed even handed. Very fun and quick read.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard movie star bio. Some interesting bits I didn't know. I'm bemused by the review that gave it one star due to typos. I'm a professional editor, and I find typos in nearly everything, including books of this sort. I didn't see any more of them in this than in most other bios.

[Adeline Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot about one of my favorite film stars.

[Bettie]

1* from GoldCato