From Delancey Place:
Today's encore selection -- from Conversations with Classic Film Stars by James Bawden and Ron Miller.
In 1980, journalist James Bawden interviewed movie legend Cary Grant, whose real name was Archie Leach and who had started his career the hard way -- in vaudeville:
"BAWDEN: Seeing the way people behave around you, is it still fun being Cary Grant?
"GRANT: I don't like to disappoint people. Because he's a completely made-up character and I'm playing a part. It's a part I've been playing a long time, but no way am I really Cary Grant. A friend told me once, 'I always wanted to be Cary Grant.' And I said, 'So did I.' In my mind's eye, I'm just a vaudevillian named Archie Leach. When somebody yells 'Archie' on the street I'll look up. I don't look up if somebody calls 'Cary.' So I think Cary Grant has done wonders for my life and I always want to give him his due.
 |
| Grant with Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief (1955) |
"BAWDEN: But you don't always dress like this?
"GRANT: At home it's jeans or slacks. Once, when my daughter was little, I had to go to the chemist's late at night for a prescription to be filled. It was a rush and I was wearing jeans and the woman cashier looked at me askance and said, 'Oh, Mr. Grant -- how could you?' I got her message. I'd disappointed her and I guess I apologized.
"BAWDEN: Do you remember your reply when Encyclopaedia Britannica telegraphed you for information?
"GRANT: The telegram read, 'How old Cary Grant?' And I telegraphed back, "Old Cary Grant fine. How you?" My last batch of movies, I was being reviewed for how old I looked instead of how good or bad the movie was. ...
"BAWDEN: You're as famous for the movies you didn't make as for the movies you made. ... You ... turned down My Fair Lady [1964].
"GRANT: It was Rex Harrison's part. He'd done it on Broadway. And I was sorely tempted. Jack Warner offered me $1 million plus a piece of the action. And the costars were to be Audrey Hepburn and Jimmy Cagney. When Jimmy refused to come out of retirement, I had my reason for not signing. I knew there would be a backlash, and Audrey felt it [because she took the part Julie Andrews had played opposite Harrison on Broadway.] I told Jack, 'Not only will I not do it, but if you don't use Rex I even won't go to see it.'....
....MUCH MORE
If interested in To Catch a Thief we had this in 2018 ""Venice jewellery heist: expert insight from the 'gentleman thief’"
...And then there's always Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, French Riviera, directed by Hitchcock:
[1] Le Stuff: To Catch A Thief
From: "To Catch a Thief (1955) - locations"
Here's a side-by-side comparison of how the locations have changed
