Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 "I have nothing against gays, I`m just not one myself." (1980) Everyone tells me I`ve had such an interesting life, but sometimes I think it`s been nothing but stomach disturbances and self-concern.
I have no plans to write an autobiography, I will leave that to others. I`m sure they will turn me into a homosexual or a Nazi spy or something else. (1981)
I`d like to have made one of those big splashy Technicolor musicals with Rita Hayworth.
On his many marriages: "It seems that each new marriage is more difficult to survive than the last one. I`m rather a fool for punishment - I keep going back for more, don`t ask me why."
On Katharine Hepburn: "She was this slip of a women and I never liked skinny women. But she had this thing, this air you might call it, the most totally magnetic women I`d ever seen, and probably ever seen since. You had to look at her, you had to listen to her, there was no escaping her.
[Charlie] Chaplin is waiting a long time at a trolley car stop. He`s the first in line of what turns out to be a huge crowd. The trolley finally arrives, he`s the first one on, but then the crowd behind him surges through the door and pushes him right through the door on the other side. And that`s a lot like what Hollywood is like. When you`re a young man, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. is driving. Wally Beery is the conductor, and Chaplin`s got a front row seat. You take your seat, and back behind you is Gary Cooper. He has got his long feet stuck out in front of one of the exit doors, and people keep tripping over him and onto the street. Suddenly a young man named Ty Power gets on. He asks you to move over. You make a picture with Joan Fontaine. You think you do a good job, but she wins the Oscar, and you get nothing. And pretty soon more and more people get on, it`s getting very crowded, and then you decide to get off. When you get off the trolley, you notice that it`s been doing nothing but going around in circles. It doesn`t go anywhere. You see the same things over and over. So you might as well get off.
1970 Honorary Oscar acceptance speech: "You know that I may never look at this without remembering the quiet patience of directors who were so kind to me, who were kind enough to put up with me more than once, some of them even three or four times. I trust they and all the other directors, writers and producers and my leading women have forgiven me for what I didn`t know. You know that I`ve never been a joiner or a member of any particular social set, but I`ve been privileged to be a part of Hollywood`s most glorious era."
I know they nicknamed us `Cash and Cary,` but I never asked Barbara Hutton for a penny. I never married a woman for money, that`s the God`s truth. I may not have married for very sound reasons, but money was the least of them.
I`ve often been accused by critics of being myself on-screen. But being oneself is more difficult than you`d suppose.
The only really good thing about acting is that there`s no heavy lifting.
"My screen persona is 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".
A reporter in search of information wired Grant`s agent: "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?" Grant happened to read the message himself, and wired back "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"
Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.
I improve on misquotation.
To succeed with the opposite sex, tell her you are impotent; she can`t wait to disprove it.
[Talking about Burt Reynolds]: "As well as being my, and the world`s favorite light comedian, Burt is a very considerate and thoughtful man".
Trivia
Although fifty when To Catch a Thief (1955) was filmed, Grant was still playing a character of thirty-five.
At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $60 million.
For a scene in The Grass Is Greener (1960), he refused to wear a smoking jacket, fearing he would immediately lose the support of the audience if he were seen dressed like that. The director later recalled that an old-fashioned kind of comedy had died that day, and it never came back.
Had a benign tumor removed from his forehead in 1957.
His final appearance at the Academy Awards was in 1985 to present James Stewart with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
In later years he always said the character he played in Father Goose (1964) came closest to his real self.
Smoked 60 cigarettes a day until 1952, when his third wife Betsy made him give up in order to protect his voice. However, she recalled occasionally catching him smoking outside the house, so he probably never stopped completely.
Underwent a hernia operation in the spring of 1977.
As a child, he had a fear of knives and a fear of heights.
Attended the state funeral of his friend Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma at Westminster Abbey in August 1979, and openly wept during the service.
He always wore a gold chain around his neck with three charms attached. The three charms represented the religions of each of his former wives: a St. Christopher for Virginia Cherrill (Roman Catholic), a small cross for Barbara Hutton and Betsy Drake (Protestants), and a Star of David for Dyan Cannon (Jewish. )
He had one of his daughter Jennifer`s first baby teeth encased in Lucite.
He was a big baseball fan, originally supporting the New York Giants and then the L.A. Dodgers.
If you look closely at his teeth, you`ll find that he only has one incisor (front tooth). Apparently when he was a boy he knocked out a tooth while ice skating. Rather than get into trouble with his father, he opted to go to a nearby dental college and have them gradually push his other teeth together to fill in the gap. Only one person (an eagle-eyed cinematographer) ever noticed and mentioned it to him. It`s described in depth in the book "Evenings with Cary Grant".
Initally accepted his role in Houseboat (1958) because he was dating Sophia Loren, whom he was madly in love with. After she went and married someone else, Cary, heartbroken, wanted to back out. He couldn`t, but the director made sure the production was a smooth one.
One of his favorite poems was a bit of doggerel: "They bought me a box of tin soldiers,/I threw all the Generals away,/I smashed up the Sergents and Majors,/Now I play with my Privates all day."
Received Kennedy Center honors in November 1981. President Ronald Reagan wrote how pleased he was to be able to honor his friend, while Grant stated that he was glad James Stewart was at the ceremony.
Said Indiscreet (1958), to be his personal favorite film.
Became the director of Fabergé cosmetics firm in 1966.
His favorite after-shave was Aqua DePalma.
In His Girl Friday (1940), his character remarks, "The last man who messed with me was Archie Leach," a reference to his real name.
Introduced First Lady Betty Ford at the Republican National Convention in 1976.
John Cleese`s character in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) was named "Archie Leach" after Grant`s real name.
Maintained a year-round suntan to avoid wearing make up.
Participated in an experimental psychotherapy program in which he was prescribed LSD. Betsy Drake encouraged him to take the drug (as part of a medical experiment), as he wanted to examine his failed marriages. He underwent about 100 sessions, and said that he benefited greatly from them.
Was hyperopic or "far-sighted." That is why in many publicity stills, he is seen holding a pair of glasses.
Was largely self-educated as he had dropped out of school at age 14. He was, however, a voracious reader throughout life.
When his daughter Jennifer was born, he gave wife Dyan Cannon a diamond and sapphire bracelet as a keepsake.
According to his will (dated 26th November 1984), his body was to be cremated and no funeral service held. His ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Although he became a Paramount contract player early in his film career, when the contract was up, he made an unusual decision for the time: he decided to freelance. Because his films were so successful at the box office, he was able to work at any studio he chose for the majority of his career.
Douglas Fairbanks was his boyhood idol, with Fairbanks` "healthy" tan being the inspiration for Grant`s constantly dark skin.
Grant, who was 59 at the time he filmed the romantic thriller Charade (1963), felt he was too old to play the love interest for Audrey Hepburn, who was 25 years younger. He demanded that the script make clear that it was Audrey pursuing him, not vice versa. He also added a number of wry jokes denoting the difference in age.
He remained close to Barbara Hutton`s son Lance Reventlow after their divorce. The boy regularly stayed with Grant on some weekends. Grant referred to him as his son, was devastated when he died in a plane crash and helped Barbara with the funeral arrangements.
Paramount Studios named him Cary Grant while he began his film career, because the similarity of the name to Gary Cooper, their biggest male star, (C.G. being an inversion of G.C.) and possibly because Clark Gable had the same initials. Gable and Cooper were born with their last names, however, with Grant having been born Archibald Leach.
People were surprised by his retirement in 1966 and, despite the attempts of directors as important as Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, and even Stanley Kubrick to get him out of retirement and into their films, he never worked again.
Thanks mainly to the strength and physical dexterity he gained as an acrobat when he was young, he did a majority of his own stunts during his film career (far more than people would think).
The late Christopher Reeve said that he based his portrayal of Clark Kent in the Superman films on Grant in the early part of his career.
Turned down roles opposite Audrey Hepburn in both Roman Holiday (1953) and Sabrina (1954); later he starred with her in Charade (1963). In Roman Holiday (1953), the offered role ended up going to Gregory Peck, and the role in Sabrina (1954) went to Humphrey Bogart.
Donated his entire salary for Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) ($100,000) to the U.S. War Relief Fund.
From 1933 onwards, he occasionally shared a house with Randolph Scott. There were many rumors about their relationship. Scott often referred to himself, jokingly, as Grant`s wife. Many studio heads threatened not to employ them unless they lived separately.
He gave his entire fee for The Philadelphia Story (1940) to the British war effort.
He never said "Judy, Judy, Judy" in the movies, which he credits to Larry Storch, but he did say "Susan, Susan, Susan" in Bringing Up Baby (1938).
He once phoned hotel mogul Conrad Hilton in Istanbul, Turkey, to find out why his breakfast order at the Plaza Hotel, which called for muffins, came with only one and a half English muffins instead of two. When Grant insisted that the explanation (a hotel efficiency report had found that most people ate only three of the four halves brought to them) still resulted in being cheated out of a half, the Plaza Hotel changed its policy and began serving two complete muffins with breakfast. From then on, Grant often spoke of forming an English Muffin-Lovers Society, members of which would be required to report any hotel or restaurant that listed muffins on the menu and then served fewer than two.
Ian Fleming modeled the James Bond character partially with Grant in mind.
Refused the part of Humbert in Lolita (1962).
Suffered a major stroke prior to performing in his one man show "An Evening With Cary Grant" at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa, on November 28, 1986. Died later that night at St. Luke`s Hospital at 11:22 p.m.
Turned down the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962), believing himself to be too old at 58 to play the character.
Was a great fan of Elvis Presley, and attended his Las Vegas shows.
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