January 18: Cary Grant, Actor

b. January 18, 1904
d. November 29, 1986

I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me

One of Hollywood's most distinguished actors, Cary Grant finished behind only Humphrey Bogart as the American Film Institute's second greatest male American screen legend. Grant starred in over 70 films and earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. In 1970, Grant won the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Originally Archibald Alexander Leach, Grant was born in Bristol, England as the only child in an impoverished family. When Grant was nine years old, his mother was institutionalized.

Grant left school at age 14 and joined the Bob Pender comedy troupe, which helped develop his dancing and acrobatic skills. In 1920, the troupe stopped performing in small English towns and took a two-year tour of the US. Grant decided to stay in New York, and in 1927 he performed in the musical "Golden Dawn." In 1931, Grant moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film. When he signed a 5-year contract with Paramount, Paramount had him change his name to Cary Grant.

Grant debuted in "This is the Night" (1932), but "The Awful Truth" (1937) made him a star. Handsome, witty and charming, Grant succeeded in creating a unique onscreen character. After starring in hits such as "Bringing up Baby" (1938), "Holiday" (1938), "Gunga Din" (1939), "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939), "His Girl Friday" (1940), "My Favorite Wife" (1940) and "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), as well as three Hitchcock films, Grant retired in 1966 as a mega-star.

While Grant married five women and fathered a child with his fourth wife, he was sexually active with men. Between marriages, Grant often resided with fellow actor Randolph Scott.

Grant died of a stroke on November 29, 1986.

Bibliography

Eliot, Marc. Cary Grant: A Biography. Three Rivers Press. 2005

Kael, Pauline. “Cary Grant: The Man from Dream City.” PBS: American Masters. June 30, 2007

McCann, Graham. Cary Grant. Columbia University Press. 1998

Selected Works

• An Affair to Remember (1957)
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)
• Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (2006)
• Charade (1963)
• Crisis (1950)
• Destination Tokyo (1943)
• Father Goose (1964)
• Gunga Din (1939)
• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Holiday (1938)
• Houseboat (1958)
• I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
• Indiscreet (1958)
• Kiss Them for Me (1957)
• Monkey Business (1952)
• Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
• My Favorite Wife (1940)
• Night and Day (1946)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Notorious (1946)
• Once Upon a Time (1944)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Operation Petticoat (1959)
• Penny Serenade (1941)
• People Will Talk (1951)
• Suspicion (1941)
• That Touch of Mink (1962)
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
• The Bishop's Wife (1947)
• The Grass Is Greener (1960)
• The Howards of Virginia (1940)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• The Pride and the Passion (1957)
• The Talk of the Town (1942)
• To Catch a Thief (1955)
• Topper (1937)
• Walk Don't Run (1966)

November 29th in Queer History

Events this day in Queer History

2007 - Civil Unions become legal in Uruguay making it the first Latin Americannation to do so


Born this day

Percy Jocelyn (1764 –  1843) Irish .

Anglican bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in the Church of Ireland (1809–1820)and later bishop of Clogher from 1820 to 1822. He was forced from his position after he was caught in a compromising position with a Grenadier Guardsman, John Moverley, in the back room of a LondON public house. He and Moverley were released on bail, provided by the Earl of Roden and others. Jocelyn broke bail and moved to Scotland where he worked as a butler under an assumed name. He was declared deposed in his absence by the Metropolitan Court of Armagh in October 1822 for "the crimes of immorality, incontinence, Sodomitical practices, habits, and propensities, and neglect of his spiritual, judicial, and ministerial duties".

Jocelyn was the most senior British churchman to be involved in a public homosexual scandal in the 19th century.

Billy Strayhorn (1915 –  1967) US.
Composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".

He participated in many civil rights causes. As a committed friend to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he arranged and conducted "King Fought the Battle of 'Bam'" for the Ellington Orchestra in 1963 for the historical revue My People, dedicated to Dr. King.

Strayhorn was openly gay, and lived with his first partner, African-American musician Aaron Bridgers,until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947.

Philippe Elan (1960 – ) French.
French born singer, living in Holland with his lover Gijs van der Grinten, a violinist of the Dutch Ballet Orchestra. Elan received a Edison (Dutch award) for his first album Chansons Classiques.

Martha Beck (1962 – ) US.
Sociologist, therapist, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS (Mormon) scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse.

Both Martha Beck and her now ex-husband subsequently came out publicly as gay and have stated that they no longer consider homosexuality a form of compulsive behavior. In 2003, Beck separated from her husband, divorcing from him in 2004. She began living with her partner Karen Gerdes, a social worker and professor, during her marriage and has continued this relationship.

Guillaume Dustan (1965 –  2005) French.
Born William Baranès, Dustan was an openly gay French writer and journalist.

Simon Amstell (1979 –  ). UK

A BAFTA nominated,award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.

Died this day

Cary Grant  (1904 - 1986 ) UK/US

Archibald Alexander Leach, better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men.

Grant was married five times, but some, including Hedda Hopper and screenwriter Arthur Laurents, have said that Grant was bisexual, the latter writing that Grant "told me he threw pebbles at my window one night but was luckless". Grant allegedly was involved with costume designer Orry-Kelly when he first moved to Manhattan, and lived with Randolph Scott off and on for twelve years. Richard Blackwell wrote that Grant and Scott were "deeply, madly in love", and alleged eyewitness accounts of their physical affection have been published.

Sodomy laws in history, November 29

1876 — Utah outlaws sodomy.

1967 — A California appellate court rejects a privacy argument and upholds the constitutionality of the state’s "oral copulation" law.

Sources:

Wikipedia

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki