The Definition of Debonair

 Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.

                                 ~Cary Grant

 Cary Grant is the very definition of debonair.

Born  Archibald Leach in Horfield, Bristol on January 18, 1904, Cary Grant first got into performing as a stilt walker, acrobat, mime and juggler in Bob Pender Stage Troupe. The troupe took him to the U.S. in 1920 when he was 16 years old. When the troupe returned to England, he stayed behind to start a stage career. He entered the world of vaudeville working under his birth name. In 1931 he went to Hollywood, working under the name Cary Lockword. Paramount Pictures requested he change his last name. Cary allegedly chose the last name Grant because that would give him the initials similar to Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. From there on he was one his way to becoming a Hollywood legend.

I recently read an interview with Jennifer Grant, Cary Grant's only child, about her book on her father, Good Stuff. After watching Arsenic and Old Lace as a teenager, I became hooked on the tall, dark, and handsome Cary Grant. He could do comedy flawlessly--His Girl Friday, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and Bringing Up Baby--play a romantic lead unlike any other (past or present)--The Philadelphia Story, An Affair to Remember--and hold his own in Hitchcock movies--Notorious, North by Northwest, and Suspicion. After reading the interview, not only do I want to read Good Stuff but hold a Cary Grant movie Marathon. 

 

Sweet dreams,

          Krissy