Cary Grant: A Class Apart (Text Only)
Product ID: 812176822
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The ultimate biography of this ever-popular star and icon, from a young Cambridge don who has already made his name with a much praised biography of Marilyn Monroe. Please note that this edition is text only and does not include illustrations. Cary Grant made men seem like a good idea. Tall, dark and handsome with a rare gift for light comedy, he played a leading man who liked to be led, a man of the world who was a man of the people. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s quintessential democratic gentleman. Born in England as Archie Leach, made famous in America as Cary Grant, he was a star for more than 30 years, in more than 70 movies, his popularity still intact when he brought his career to a close. He was never replaced: nobody else talked like that, looked like that, behaved like that. He was a class apart. Cary Grant never explained how he came to play ‘Cary Grant’ so well. ‘Nobody is every truthful about his own life,’ he said. ‘There are always ambiguities.’ This book explores the ambiguities in the life and work of Cary Grant: a working class Englishman who portrayed a well-bred American; the playful entertainer who became a powerful businessman; the intimate stranger who was often the seduced male. Thorough and meticulously researched, this book is a dazzling and entertaining account of Cary Grant’s broad and enduring appeal. Review: A good man - This is a fair and well written biography. Archie Leach had an inauspicious beginning in Bristol. His mother was committed to a mental institution by his father when he was eight.This was a man who made his own luck and used his main assets-looks,charm and dedication-very well. He got into music hall show business which eventually took him to New York. He progressed into films and the rest is history. Hard work was the key, but without his basic attributes it would not have been enough. He comes over as a pleasant man who used his charm mainly to succeed in films. To say a man who married five times was not a womaniser seems strange, but considering all the opportunities he had he was very selective and went into each marriage wanting it to succeed. He was liked by men too, and was a good father to his stepson Lance and his daughter Jennifer. Altogether a good man who loved his mother. A book worth reading. Review: Fantastic Bio - A fantastic bio of Grant from the master of biography Graham McCann. I would have liked a couple of pics of Grant as a child and maybe of his parents but that is a mere quibble. A first class insight into Grant's complex and entrancing character.
| Best Sellers Rank | 219,639 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) 165 in Biographies of Comedians 218 in Film & Video Art 294 in Biographies of the Rich & Famous |
P**A
A good man
This is a fair and well written biography. Archie Leach had an inauspicious beginning in Bristol. His mother was committed to a mental institution by his father when he was eight.This was a man who made his own luck and used his main assets-looks,charm and dedication-very well. He got into music hall show business which eventually took him to New York. He progressed into films and the rest is history. Hard work was the key, but without his basic attributes it would not have been enough. He comes over as a pleasant man who used his charm mainly to succeed in films. To say a man who married five times was not a womaniser seems strange, but considering all the opportunities he had he was very selective and went into each marriage wanting it to succeed. He was liked by men too, and was a good father to his stepson Lance and his daughter Jennifer. Altogether a good man who loved his mother. A book worth reading.
S**D
Fantastic Bio
A fantastic bio of Grant from the master of biography Graham McCann. I would have liked a couple of pics of Grant as a child and maybe of his parents but that is a mere quibble. A first class insight into Grant's complex and entrancing character.
M**D
Cary Grant sounds a very interesting man.
I have only read a small amount so far as it is a recent arrival but, as I actually saw him in the South of France when he was making To Catch a Thief in the 50's, I knew it was going to be enjoyable. Many thanks
K**V
Not for your average fan
I really enjoy Cary’s films and thought I would like to know more about him, hence buying this book. The first few chapters are really good and offer a good insight into how his personality formed. I enjoyed reading about his early life and how he got started in acting. The rest of the book I found boring. It seems to concentrate heavily on film dialogue and is perhaps better read by people who are obsessed with the minutiae of film.
A**R
Good read
A good read, having read other books on Cary Grant, this one would appear to be totally true, and no gossip and scandal as some do. He had a good life, and enjoyed it to the full, although sad that all his marriages ended in divorce. Enjoyed this book!
M**R
Great for movie fans.
Well received as a gift for my friend. Arrived promptly and nice addition to her collection.
M**N
For any Cary Grant fans.
Excellently written book that is a joy to read with many insights that enlighten and entertain. I could not recommend this book highly enough and would encourage it accompany the viewing of Cary Grant's films.
H**N
Cary Grant A Class Apart
Looks good, very good condition but I now have five books unread so no comments on content.
M**R
The most accurate biography compared to other biographies of Grant
This biography is more accurate and truthful than most other biographies of Grant (such as Charles Higham's) which are full of false rumors, false gossip, false information, and innuendo.
M**X
from the Myth to Reality
I am not familiar with studies on Cary Grant, but I suppose it shall be difficult to read some works on this subject as complete and genuine that what Mr Graham McCann presents to his reader. It seems to me a well documented and comprehensive biography written with details, research, care and respect to the integrity of Cary Grant, which succeed to explain how the Bristol born Archie Leach reconciliated and merged with the worldwide movie star Cary Grant to be one of the most interesting personnality of the big screen of his time. A book which can be read at different level of understanding, whatever you are a Fan, a Cinema lover or just a random reader, and always avoiding gossiping or tabloid kind of comment.
H**P
L'uomo che reinventò se stesso
Ho scelto questa biografia su Cary Grant perchè non dà seguito ai vari,assurdi gossip su una presunta omo/bisessualità dell'attore,gossip che oltre che calunniosi trovo ridicoli. L'autore si dilunga parecchio sulla interpretazione quasi psico-analitica dei personaggi a cui Grant diede voce e volto nel corso della sua lunga carriera,molte di queste interpretazioni mi sembrano un po' tirate per i capelli. Cary Grant rimarrà per me sempre un enigma.Ne viene comunque fuori un uomo di sorprendente intelligenza e charme,oltre che di talento,un uomo che ha letteralmente inventato se stesso senza mai rinnegare il suo primo "io",ovvero Archie Leach,nato in un misero slum di Bristol da una famiglia povera e problematica.Essendo stato Grant un uomo molto riservato,credo che non si potrà mai scoprire altro su di lui e sulla sua incredibile personalità,comunque meglio questa biografia che niente.
J**Y
Superficial
The life of Archie Leach/Cary Grant is fascinating - brought up in war-time Bristol in the UK, mother taken off to an asylum, travels across to the Big Apple with a troupe of actors and slowly works his way up to becoming a Hollywood star, creates a persona - "Cary Grant" - and becomes/plays him and becomes one of the most successful ever 'American' actors, takes LSD hundreds of times, gets married four times (once to one of the richest women in the world - to become part of "cash and Cary") and so on - so why is this biography so ultimately flat? Well, because there's no depth to it, no digging, no real opinions or thesis. This is a light skim across the surface of a life and, worse, regularly falls into hagiography. Actors and movies provide entertainment and play an important role in our culture but McCann, here, is one of those who drool over Hollywood in nauseous ways. To anyone who doesn't hold actors, directors and movie history in quite such high esteem, the book borders on the ridiculous. It is a book for fans, written by a fan, which does not make for any thrilling insights into what seems, to me, to be an almost perfect biographical subject. Basically, McCann is far too in love or in awe of Grant/Leach to dare to pick to hard at the facade and, as such, we get gushing froth. Worse, the froth is padded out by pages of dialogue and redundant summarising of movie plots. For me Archie Leach is a fine mystery and, in the persona he created and then played in private and public, a really interesting cultural phenomenon which this book does not do justice in analysing. There are gaping inconsistencies here between the charming, urbane character of "Grant" in the movies, who always kept himself together, and Leach, the private man, who couldn't keep himself together, let alone be with anyone else. This book ignores all that and more to stand at the stage door and gush and gasp and chat about what clothes he wore.
B**Y
Enjoyable, but short on photos.
A quick read, interesting for Cary's fans. Short on photographs, though, a real shame when the subject is one of the most gorgeous men in show business.
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