Cary Grant (Archie Leach)

With his signature tan and suave and sophisticated style, Cary Grant (1904 to 1986, born Archibald Alec Leach) was the consummate leading man and one of the most recognisable actors in Hollywood film history.

Shining in romantic comedies like 'Bringing Up Baby' and 'Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House', and action-packed thrillers like 'North by Northwest', he came to symbolise the authentic American hero during a film career spanning 4 decades.

His debonaire image was the result of immense effort and determination following a troubled childhood that led him to run away to join an acrobatic troupe at 14 before travelling to America, where he reinvented himself.

Despite international fame, he never forgot his roots in Bristol. He regularly visited his mother and hometown, and he was constantly trying to make sense of how he had transformed himself from Archie Leach into Cary Grant.

He is honoured with a national blue plaque at 50 Berkeley Road, Bristol. The inscription reads: 'CARY GRANT (Archie Leach), 1904–1986, Actor and Film Star lived here as a child'.

Early life

Cary Grant was born into poverty as Archibald Alec Leach on 18 January 1904 in Horfield, a suburb to the north of Bristol.

Known as 'Archie', he was the second son of Elias Leach, a clothes presser, and Elsie Maria. His elder brother John William Elias Leach died at 11 months old, a fact which Grant discovered much later in life.

Archie lived in Bristol for the first 14 years of his life before escaping his unhappy home.

His childhood was shattered aged 11 when he returned home from school one day to find his mother missing. He thought that she was away on holiday, only to be told a few weeks later that she had died.

This proved untrue, and Grant would be reunited with his mother nearly 20 years later in 1934. But he was traumatised by the experience and struggled with forging lasting relationships as an adult, fearful that he might be abandoned once again.

Elsie Leach had, in fact, been admitted to the Bristol Lunatic Asylum in Fishponds. She was moved to a different mental hospital shortly afterwards but remained committed for ‘mania’ until 1936.

Young Archie had won a scholarship to Fairfield Secondary School, where he was enrolled in September 1915.

Without the encouragement of his mother, however, he became disengaged from his studies and spent an increasing amount of time playing truant. His father was rarely around and, to escape the cold and lonely home they shared with his paternal grandmother, Archie wandered the streets of Bristol in search of odd jobs and entertainment.

The bright light in his life appeared when his chemistry teacher suggested that he might like to help him work on the lighting rig at the Hippodrome Theatre. He was immediately bedazzled by the company and cheeriness of theatre.

Archie decided to pursue his dream of a career on the stage and, writing in his father's name, applied to join the Pender Troupe of acrobats he had seen at the theatre in Bristol. He left home without telling his father when offered an interview and caught the train to Norwich, where the Pender Troupe was performing.

When Elias Leach caught up with his son in Ipswich, where the company was touring with its new show 'Getting Ready for Pantomime', he signed a contract with Pender that allowed his son to remain with the company until his 18th birthday.

After touring with the troupe in England, a new opportunity arose when Pender was booked to perform at the Globe Theatre in New York. In July 1920, Archie sailed with the rest of the company to the United States. Here, through immense determination and effort, he transformed himself from Archie Leach into the sophisticated movie star Cary Grant.

Career and legacy

Cary Grant came to symbolise the epitome of style in a film career spanning 4 decades, starring in action thrillers to screwball comedies.

His natural good looks were made irresistible by his impeccable appearance and charisma, while his unique delivery featured a blend of Bristol, cockney and American accents.

He was idolised as a star but undervalued as an actor, with his matinee idol looks often eclipsing his carefully honed craft.

It took a great deal of dedication to appear so natural and at ease on screen. He brought a perfectionist approach to filmmaking, working endlessly on improving the script and developing improvisations with his fellow actors while being meticulous about camera angles and lighting.

Grant’s image is one of the most reproduced of any in cinema’s history. He played in some of the most memorable scenes ever filmed in Hollywood, whether it was carrying a glass of milk upstairs to the fearful Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’, trying to capture a leopard in ‘Bringing up Baby’, or being chased by a sinister crop-dusting biplane in ‘North by Northwest’.

A box-office favourite, Grant starred alongside Hollywood’s leading ladies including Katharine Hepburn (‘Bringing Up Baby’, 1938), Ingrid Bergman (‘Notorious’, 1946), Grace Kelly (‘To Catch A Thief’, 1955), Deborah Kerr (‘An Affair To Remember’, 1957) Eva Marie Saint (‘North by Northwest’, 1959), Sophia Loren (‘The Pride and The Passion’, 1957), Dorris Day (‘That Touch of Mink’, 1962), and Audrey Hepburn (‘Charade’, 1963).

Hometown connection

Despite being a movie star of international fame, Grant never forgot his roots in Bristol. He usually stayed at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel on College Green on his trips back to his hometown.

Although he never invited his mother to Hollywood, he visited her regularly and happily posed for publicity photos in his native city.

Such is Grant’s fame that his celebrated publicity photo in front of the Clifton Suspension Bridge continues to be recreated for selfies by the numerous visitors who flock to Bristol.

In 2014, a new biennial festival – ‘Cary Comes Home’ – was set up to celebrate his achievements with a season of film screenings, talks, walking tours and much more.

50 Berkeley Road

During the first 14 years of his life, Grant lived at 6 different addresses in Bristol, located on either side of the Cheltenham Road/Gloucester Road, the main thoroughfare leading north from the city centre to Filton.

The national blue plaque commemorating Cary Grant is at 50 Berkeley Road, his years at which he reckoned were “the happiest days”. The family moved here in 1906 when Archie was 4 and lived there until 1909 or 1910.

Grant had fond memories of the long garden, where his father had a vegetable patch, and the abundance of flowers that grew in the garden and the nearby fields.

It was while living at 50 Berkeley Road that Grant started to take piano lessons and became a pupil at nearby Bishop Road Primary School, both of which were encouraged by his mother. His mother's influence on instilling good manners and politeness proved lasting and helped shape Grant's screen persona.

It is also likely that Grant paid his first visit to the cinema while living at 50 Berkeley Road: his mother took him to the Picture House in Clare Street in the city centre and treated him to tea in the cinema tearoom. His father chose to take him to the more down-to-earth Metropole Cinema in St Paul's, which Grant preferred, as he did not need to be on his best behaviour.