Cary Grant – A Class Apart - Softcover

Mccann, Graham

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231108850 ISBN 13: 9780231108850

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2001

Synopsis

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 celebrities of all time.

About this title

Review:

Writing with the low-key stylishness his subject deserves, academic Graham McCann pays tribute to the working-class Englishman who became "a democratic symbol of gentlemanly grace" to moviegoers world-wide. Aptly subtitled A Class Apart, the book sympathetically depicts Archie Leach--born into poverty, his mother committed to an asylum when he was nine--reinventing himself as Cary Grant, whose debonair screen persona showed no signs of these difficult origins. A decorous account of Grant's private life (McCann dismisses talk of bisexuality as mere rumour) accompanies cogent descriptions of his performances. --Christine Buttery

Review:

More than a dozen previous books about the actor are available, but McCann's well-researched addition is particularly valuable for its careful investigation of old canards.--Publishers Weekly

British-American film critic David Thomson, who considers Grant 'the most important actor in the ceinma, ' calls this the best book about him so far.--Desert Sun (Knight Ridder Newspapers)

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0231108850
• ISBN 13: 9780231108850
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360