Cary Grant: A Class Apart

by Graham McCann

Book Overview

More than a biography, this is a savvy portrait of how Archie Leach, born to a poor working-class family in Bristol, England became Cary Grant, one of Hollywood's most irresistible and admired... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231108850
• ISBN13: 9780231108850
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The best biography on Cary Garnt I've read

It's detailed and well sourced and actually has quotes from people who actually knew him and lived through these events with the man. I felt like I actually had insight to the man rather than the image and the decades of gossip which seems to have been taken as fact by most of the other Cary Garnt biographers. He tells Cary Grant's story respectfully, but doesnt white wash the facts. The anecdotes as told by Cary's friends are fascinting, sometimes hilariously funny and often sad. He approaches the gossip as a researcher would and doesnt try to speculate or parse subjects to support hiw own personal oint of view or agenda. This is the third biography I've read about Cary Garnt, and compared to the other very light offerings this was by far the best and most comprehensive. I learned for example that Cary Grant was not only a great charmer, but a shrewd businessman who consistently outwitted the studio bosses at every turn. I enjoyed learning about his incredible sense of honor which often times landed him in hot water and led to many of the vindictive rumors we are still hearing today. He hated the gossip columnists at the time and was embroiled in a very long and bitter battle with the likes of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, who he once told to mind her GD business. Got to love the guy. Great book.

a super book

Ignore that review that claims the index of this book takes up a third of the contents:it's no more than 4 pages.Some people!Anyway,I found this a great read.It gets to the essence of the man's appeal.Appreciates his art.Honours his memory.My copy is well-thumbed and much-borrowed.

A good book for a great man

Though I've seen quite a few of Cary Grant's movies, this is the first biography on him that I've read. I was quite impressed with the book. Since I had seen tv documentaries and read a little about Cary on the internet, I was familiar with his life but this helped flesh out the details. Cary Grant's rise to stardom is probably one of the most unlikely and fascinating stories of Hollywood. As a young boy (age 9) his mother was suddenly taken from him and Cary was left to assume that she'd died or abandoned him. As any psychologist can tell you, this would be a huge impact on anybody's life. The rest of the story, Archie Leach (CG's real name) turning into Cary Grant is interesting and the anecdotes related throughout the book give a good sense of Cary's character. He is shown to be a caring, private, and humorous man in real life as he was on the screen. He had his troubles as well and this book deals with those excellently. It doesn't gloss over bad parts in Grant's life. I would have appreciated more stories illustrating Grant's character and more background on his marriages (the author states the facts about how he met his wives, when they were married, and when they were divorced, but not much more). All in all, it is an excellent biography, not the sleazy type at all, and a fitting tribute to one of the greatest actor's the world has known. I plan on reading more about the fascinating life of Cary Grant.

High quality writing, which makes for a terrific reading

I like this book, because it is written by a man, who knows his craft. Nowadays, everyone seems to write biographies, but not everyone succeeds. Presence of humor throughout this book goes to show that CG had a very special sence of humor, that we can all enjoy from reading about him. Then, of course, there are the pictures... Who can resist a book full of CG's pictures?... After all he has been unanimously voted "the most dashing man of Hollywood". Overall, this book talks in depth about CG's life, from his Bristol childhhod to the last years in America. Many quotes from the man himself (as well as from people, who knew him in Hollywood) are also inlcuded.

Graceful and with substance - like it's subject.

Indeed a very worthwhile read for Grant fans, film scholars, and biography readers in general. It is neither a white-wash nor hatchet job of the actor. It is honest, straightforward, and engagingly written. A model biography.