Cary Grant
A Brilliant Disguise
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4.5 • 55 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Film historian and acclaimed New York Times bestselling biographer Scott Eyman has written the definitive, “captivating” (Associated Press) biography of Hollywood legend Cary Grant, one of the most accomplished—and beloved—actors of his generation, who remains as popular as ever today.
Born Archibald Leach in 1904, he came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune, but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was eleven years old. He believed her to be dead until he was informed she was alive when he was thirty-one years old. Because of this experience, Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs.
Despite a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that worshipped him in movies such as Gunga Din, Notorious, and North by Northwest.
This “estimable and empathetic biography” (The Washington Post) draws on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with family and friends making it a definitive and “complex portrait of Hollywood’s original leading man” (Entertainment Weekly).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Film historian Eyman (Hank and Jim) presents an enjoyable if overstuffed biography that reveals screen legend Cary Grant (1904 1986) as a man whose self-presentation as a "matchless specimen of masculine charm" masked deep insecurities. Born Archibald Alexander Leach in Bristol, England, Grant had an unsettled upbringing, thanks to his alcoholic father and neurotic, smothering mother, which would "leave him needing and rejecting love... almost simultaneously" throughout his life. The book is at its best when depicting Grant's early years as an acrobat and vaudevillian, which took him to America. Eyman then chronicles Grant's early and often terrible forays into film, followed by masterworks such as His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, and Notorious. The back-lot gossip will most likely entertain casual fans more than the intricate box office and budget details. The longtime speculation about Grant's bisexuality comes up often, but would benefit from more nuanced consideration. Other threads involve Grant's multiple marriages and notorious stinginess (house guests reported receiving laundry and phone bills from the wealthy star). But also on display is his generosity of spirit with less experienced costars and colleagues, and his devotion to his only child, Jennifer, born late in his life to fourth wife Dyan Cannon. Though overlong and burdened by extraneous detail, this showbiz chronicle creates an insightful portrait of a man at war with himself.
