Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise
Born Archibald Leach in
1904, he came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune,
but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless
alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was
eleven years old. He believed her to be dead until, when he was
thirty-one years old, he was informed she was alive. Because of this
experience Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments
throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs.
Despite
a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about
his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that
worshiped him in movies such as Gunga Din, Notorious, and North by Northwest.
Drawing
on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with
family and friends, this is the definitive portrait of a movie
immortal.
MY REVIEW: Noted celebrity biographer Scott Eyman examines the life of a beloved Hollywood megastar in "Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise". All of his life, Cary Grant was followed by the shadow of his birth persona, Archie Leach--or was it the other way around? Despite his impeccable on-screen skills, Grant was a man riddled by insecurities and self-doubts, shaped in large part by his troubled childhood. His father was a drinker who committed young Archie's mother to a mental asylum and later told him that she had died. Years later, Grant would learn that his mother was still living. He would never fully reconcile with either parent. From the time that teen-aged Archie arrived in America as a vaudeville acrobat, to decades later when sixty-two-year-old Cary effectively retired from show business in order to spend time with his only child, Grant was an entertainer like no other. In his private life, he was prone to neurosis, he was a known penny-pincher, and he married five times. His sexuality was questioned, but his talent was never in doubt. His combination of looks, charm, wit, physical comedy, and his ability to also project a dark, mysterious allure still stands without peer. Later in life, he traveled the country in a series of one-man shows--"An Evening with Cary Grant"--which were extremely well-received. White-haired and bespectacled, Grant was possibly more handsome and charming than ever, and audiences were enthralled. The love of Grant's life was his daughter, Jennifer. He had waited a very long time to become a father, and he cherished every moment of their time together. His timeless appeal far eclipses whatever his inner conflicts may have been, and he remains one of the top film stars of all time. Author Scott Eyman's lengthy biography, which includes wonderful black & white photos chronicling Grant both on and off screen, is appropriate for such a storied life. It contains a wealth of information about its subject and the glittering world of entertainment. It includes insights featuring a galaxy of stars and show business luminaries, but none shine brighter than Grant himself.
Book Copy Gratis Simon & Schuster
Reviews
"[An] estimable and empathetic biography . . . Eyman rightly homes in on [Grant's] inner chiaroscuro, that never-resolving oscillation between dark and light — or, if you like, between Archie Leach and the man he became." -- Louis Bayard ― The Washington Post
"That gap between the sublimely charming screen invention and the real man born Archie Leach is at the center of Scott Eyman's new biography, Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise, a complex portrait of Hollywood's original leading man." -- Maureen Lee Lenker ― Entertainment Weekly
"Replete with meticulous research, perceptive observations, and sharp critiques, this account of the actor’s life consistently engages and illuminates. . . . Top-shelf film history." ― Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Eyman’s best and most heartfelt book . . . Eyman’s biographical insights show that [Grant's] jauntiness was a mask covering insatiable unease." -- David Thomson ― The London Review of Books
“As always, Scott Eyman builds on a bedrock of scrupulous research, spiking his narrative with juicy behind-the-scenes stories. The result is a richly detailed portrait of the man whose greatest performance was the one that fooled moviegoers for decades: the belief that Archie Leach was just like the movie star we knew as Cary Grant." -- Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian
“Was there ever a more fabulously charming, witty, stylish and seductive movie star than Cary Grant? Scott Eyman’s biography peers under the hood of Hollywood’s most self-invented persona to explore the anxious, self-pitying, needy and depressed narcissist lurking within. Eyman does so with empathy, critical admiration and a deeply historical perspective that bring to life not just this remarkable performer but the golden age of Hollywood that he dominated.” -- Glenn Frankel, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Searchers and High Noon
"The long quest by Scott Eyman to reclaim the Golden Age of Hollywood reaches its apotheosis with this always intelligent, carefully documented, intimate life story that helps explain the charm, genius, and immortality of Cary Grant." -- Patrick McGilligan, author Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
"As Scott Eyman's masterful biography reveals, being 'Cary Grant' required A Brilliant Disguise. This is a riveting, scrupulously researched account of how Archie Leach, a penniless runaway from a broken home, willed himself into becoming one of the most iconic stars in Hollywood history. In examining Grant's incredible feat of self-invention and the steep price the actor paid for his extraordinary success, Eyman once again demonstrates why he is one of our finest biographers." -- Mark Griffin, author of All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson
"Here is the astonishing story of someone with enormous talent and charm, who never quite believed he had become the man he most wanted to be. And how lucky we were, his adoring public, to have watched it happen."-- Meryle Secrest, author of Stephen Sondheim: A Life
No comments:
Post a Comment