Cary Grant : a class apart

TITLE_DISPLAY:

个人著者:

McCann, Graham, 1961-

出版信息:

New York : Columbia University Press, c1996.

格式:

图书

物理描述:

xii, 346 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

个人主题:

Grant, Cary, 1904-1986.

主题词汇:

Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Biography.

ISBN:

9780231108843

可借阅:*

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摘要

#Originally published: London : Fourth Estate, 1996.#Includes bibliographical references and index.#Filmography: p.

出版社周刊评论

McCann, an instructor at King's College, Cambridge, and the author of previous film books (Woody Allen: New Yorker and Rebel Males: Clint, Brando, and Dean) opens with a disturbing event in his subject's youth. In 1913, when Archibald Alexander Leach was nine, he came home from school one day to be told his mother had gone away for a short holiday. The truth was that his father had put Elsie Leach in a mental institution. Only after his father's 1935 death, did he learn his mother was alive, and the two were reunited. But by that time Archie Leach was Cary Grant, a Hollywood celebrity who had already made the first 20 of his 72 feature films. His screen presence was so Olympian that when he died in 1986, the New York Times wrote, "Cary Grant was not supposed to die." 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. Dispelling myths, analyzing comedy techniques and rehashing anecdotes, the author sweeps through all corners of the actor's life-therapy, LSD use, the failure of several marriages, "yet to be proven" activities as a WWII spy on behalf of England and persistent rumors of homosexuality. Still, the book's outstanding centerpiece is "Inventing Cary Grant," in which McCann investigates the accents, role models, fashion choices and acting styles which led Leach to cultivate and polish his chosen persona. First serial to the Boston Globe. Photos. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

《书目》(Booklist)书评

"Everybody wants to be Cary Grant," Cary Grant once said. "Even I want to be Cary Grant." "Cary Grant" was a brilliantly realized invention, embodying grace, charm, and elegance for moviegoers over the course of four decades. McCann's biography shows how working-class Archie Leach transformed himself into Cary Grant. Unlike many self-made successes, Grant never renounced his humble origins but incorporated them into his persona. As a result, he became, McCann says, a "democratic gentleman," at ease in any element, who shone in both serious dramas and screwball comedies and, unlike most male stars, appealed equally to men and women. In laying out the facts and events of Grant's life and career, from the British music hall through Hollywood eminence to 20 years of retirement, McCann relies almost entirely on previously published works (there are nearly 70 pages of notes) and skeptically reports more sensational biographers' allegations of Grant's homosexuality. McCann's outstanding achievement is his analysis of Grant's singular and lasting appeal as a classy but classless star. --Gordon Flagg

Choice 评论

This judicious study of Grant's life and career surpasses previous speculative treatments that claimed to uncover psychosexual secrets. The Cary Grant who emerges here is a self-made gentleman, born to the English lower class as Archibald Leach, now seemingly of the old school, of whom not even four ex-wives spoke ill. McCann (Kings College, Cambridge) clearly and insistently identifies Archie Leach, the transplanted Englishman, as being the shaping force and the reality gauge of "Cary Grant," the Hollywood star, who won his independence from the studio system. He ascribes Grant's often improvisatory comic agility to British music-hall experience and convincingly argues for the reactive gentleman-everyman as our most "effortlessly" accomplished film actor. Although all of Grant's major film roles are covered and contemporary theorists occasionally cited, the reader should look elsewhere for in-depth critical discussions. Still, Grant would no doubt have approved of this solidly produced, well-balanced study. A filmography is included. General and academic collections. S. Golub; Brown University

Kirkus评论

A delightful appreciation of the archetypal movie star who defined screen sophistication. In a pleasing mix of life story and film analysis, a seasoned biographer and teacher (Cambridge Univ.) meditates on the idea of Cary Grant and the actual person. With compassion, he recalls Grant's (né Archie Leach) hard life in working-class Bristol and troubled relationships with his parents. Music halls and American theater helped Leach hone his craft, but not until he had been in Hollywood for years and made The Awful Truth (1937) did he gain the confidence to become a star. Director Leo McCarey's interest in improvisation and his ability to help Grant ``think more carefully about what . . . he was trying to do in front of a camera'' were key. A string of Grant hits followed, all capitalizing on his ability to embody urbane egalitarianism. Hitchcock caught his dark side and elusiveness in Suspicion (1941) and later in Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and North by Northwest. After his 1966 retirement, he excelled in business, became a first-time father, and was bitterly divorced from his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon. A quiet life and a happy fifth marriage lasted until his death in 1986. Throughout, McCann refers comfortably to the arsenal of Grant literature, notably reprising Stanley Cavell's use of Emerson to capture Grant--``fit to stand the gaze of millions.'' One source of disagreement is the bisexuality claim in Charles Higham and Roy Moseley's bio: McCann debunks it in point-by-point blows. Finally, despite any unbecoming marital conduct and early embrace of LSD, McCann believes Grant remains an exemplary movie star because he behaved in public and toward his audience with decorum. Neat, well researched, and witty, the book earns respect for the author and a familiar wry smile at its reincarnation of Cary Grant. (photos, not seen)

《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评

"Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant," said Archie Leach, better known as Hollywood star Cary Grant. A professor at Kings College, Cambridge, and author of biographies on Marilyn Monroe, Woody Allen, and James Dean and Marlon Brando, McCann discovers how that wish came to be at least partially fulfilled. He traces the life of Leach from his 1904 birth in working-class Bristol, England, to his death as Cary Grant on the international lecture circuit in 1986. McCann charts Archie Leach's humble vaudeville beginnings, the invention of Cary Grant in Hollywood, and Leach/ Grant's rise to international fame. He explores personal issues such as Grant's relationship with his mother, his sexuality, his use of LSD, and his World War II spy activities. Though there have been more than ten biographies of Cary Grant, McCann's adds sensitivity, scholarship, and insight to that list. This excellent work will appeal to general readers browsing biography and film collections of both academic and public libraries.Lisa N. Johnston, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.