Cary Grant grew up as Archie Leach, the son of a poor working class family in Bristol, England. Once bitten by the acting bug, young Archie seems to have done his level best to get kicked out of school (according to Nancy Nelson who probably wrote the best biographical volume on Cary Grant -- "Evenings with Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words and by Those Who Knew Him." Highly recommended!) Although an excellent student early on with a superior attendance record, he seems to have deliberately engineered his formal dismissal in order to devote all his time to stage arts. Acting is not exactly the proper term for his early vocation since we see him leaving his house at age 14 to learn pantomime and acrobatics as a part of Bob Penders circus troupe. We see him arrive in New York City in 1920 when he was just about 15 years old with Bob Penders troupe. We are treated to some of the tricks he learned during those early years when he rewards us with a number of effortless cartwheels and somersaults in HOLIDAY (1938). Did you know that the 15 year old Archie Leach crossed the Atlantic in the same boat with Douglas Fairbanks, who was then at the zenith of his fame and was returning home with his new bride Mary Pickford? It is said that little Archie, yet-nameless Hollywood star of the future, had actually his photo taken on the deck of the ship while playing shuffle board with Douglas Fairbanks but I havent seen that picture yet at this time of writing. |
