Happy Cary Day to Mr. Grant (pictured above with his Rom-Com Heaven co-star, Kate)! On his birthday, it's impossible to resist looking at stills of his indomitable face again, and then getting sucked into the delightful vortex of looking at some clips.
In Writing the Romantic Comedy (its updated and expanded 20th Anniversary edition publishing on Feb. 11) I had this to say about his unique appeal:
"Never too sophisticated to get slapstick silly, Cary Grant was as shrewdly cautious as he was capable of spontaneous lunacy; no matter how feminized he was forced to be, he remained fundamentally, admirably male to the core; and as involved as he may have gotten in the action, he maintained a certain ironic detachment, a cool self-awareness that made him an ideal audience surrogate... Strong but sensitive, he was able to leap tall problems in a single bound and, should he stumble, be merry about it."
I doubt we will ever see his like again. But that ideal is certainly one to aspire to, even at this late 21st Century date.
The awful truth, Bringing up baby, Only angels have wings, His girl friday, The Philadelphia story… so many cult romantic comedies! And then the Hitchcock period… Cary Grant is undoubtedly a giant among the Hollywood industry.
Posted by: Stephane Guero | January 19, 2020 at 06:26 AM
They don't make 'em like they used to, eh, Stephane?
Posted by: mernitman | January 19, 2020 at 11:10 AM