Thanks to TheLadyEve for the great suggestion.
(from hitchcock.tv website)
Cary Grant once described his screen persona as "a combination of Jack Buchanan, Noel Coward and Rex Harrison. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and, finally, I became that person. Or he became me." In fact, in the process of constructing his cool, sophisticated movie star persona, Grant became not only the illusory presence he would have liked to be but the perfect, debonair Hollywood star. In Charade (1963), Audrey Hepburn poses a question to her costar and then answers it herself: "Do you know what's wrong with you? Nothing." Cary Grant was the true iconic movie star, his suave outward style and external sheen masking an inner reserve and aloofness. And in that reserve and seeming unconcern lies the Grant mystique. The plots of most Grant films revolve around this mystique and the efforts of a female a short list includes such disparate types as Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Eva Marie Saint, Leslie Caron and Grace Kelly to break it. And the audience can only guess at Grant's seeming abandonment and surrender to these women, whether it's symbolized by the door slamming shut at the end of The Awful Truth (1937) or the train racing into a tunnel at the end of North By Northwest (1959). Whatever the final outcome, Cary Grant did not show passion. That was left to other, more demonstrative actors. His acting was subtle and seamless, transcending performance altogether. It could be said that Cary Grant became a state of mind.
In 1966, Grant decided to retire from the screen. With his age beginning to show, his exit from the screen left the Grant image untarnished and alive. At the same time, his retirement seemed to signal a farewell to classic Hollywood glamour and sophistication. That Grant could find a place in the late-60s film world of Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman was unlikely. He belonged to a more innocent American film past. As Pauline Kael has written: "He embodies what seems a happier time a time when we had a simpler relationship to a performer. We could admire him for his timing and nonchalance; we didn't expect emotional revelations from Cary Grant... He appeared before us in his radiantly shallow perfection and that is all we wanted of him.... We didn't want depth from him; we asked only that he be handsome and silky and make us laugh."
Cary Grant 1904 - 1986
The Awful Truth
Brining Up Baby
Gunga Din
His Girl Friday
The Philadelphia Story
Suspicion
Arsenic and Old Lace
Notorious
The Bachelor and the Boxy-Soxer
The Bishop's Wife
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Room for One More
continued on next page....
(from hitchcock.tv website)
Cary Grant once described his screen persona as "a combination of Jack Buchanan, Noel Coward and Rex Harrison. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and, finally, I became that person. Or he became me." In fact, in the process of constructing his cool, sophisticated movie star persona, Grant became not only the illusory presence he would have liked to be but the perfect, debonair Hollywood star. In Charade (1963), Audrey Hepburn poses a question to her costar and then answers it herself: "Do you know what's wrong with you? Nothing." Cary Grant was the true iconic movie star, his suave outward style and external sheen masking an inner reserve and aloofness. And in that reserve and seeming unconcern lies the Grant mystique. The plots of most Grant films revolve around this mystique and the efforts of a female a short list includes such disparate types as Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Eva Marie Saint, Leslie Caron and Grace Kelly to break it. And the audience can only guess at Grant's seeming abandonment and surrender to these women, whether it's symbolized by the door slamming shut at the end of The Awful Truth (1937) or the train racing into a tunnel at the end of North By Northwest (1959). Whatever the final outcome, Cary Grant did not show passion. That was left to other, more demonstrative actors. His acting was subtle and seamless, transcending performance altogether. It could be said that Cary Grant became a state of mind.
In 1966, Grant decided to retire from the screen. With his age beginning to show, his exit from the screen left the Grant image untarnished and alive. At the same time, his retirement seemed to signal a farewell to classic Hollywood glamour and sophistication. That Grant could find a place in the late-60s film world of Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman was unlikely. He belonged to a more innocent American film past. As Pauline Kael has written: "He embodies what seems a happier time a time when we had a simpler relationship to a performer. We could admire him for his timing and nonchalance; we didn't expect emotional revelations from Cary Grant... He appeared before us in his radiantly shallow perfection and that is all we wanted of him.... We didn't want depth from him; we asked only that he be handsome and silky and make us laugh."
Cary Grant 1904 - 1986
The Awful Truth
Brining Up Baby
Gunga Din
His Girl Friday
The Philadelphia Story
Suspicion
Arsenic and Old Lace
Notorious
The Bachelor and the Boxy-Soxer
The Bishop's Wife
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Room for One More
continued on next page....
Last edited:
.