Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise

I love Scott Eyman's biography of Cary Grant. The emphasis is on how the actor melded Archie Leach with Cary Grant. Some results were positive, some negative, and overall it was stress inducing for the human trying to coordinate it.Eyeman's bio is balanced, very readable, and never salacious. He deals with Grant's sexuality, avoids gossip, and lets readers draw their own conclusions. He talks about Grant's way with money, which is either frugal or tightfisted, depending on your perspective.Grant comes across as independent, grounded, ambitious, in search of himself, intelligent, kind and empathetic, elegant.It's a great book for reading on the couch on a cold weekend. Interesting, engaging, a real pleasure to read all the way through. I recommend it for Cary Grant fans, anyone interested in movies, and to those who enjoy reading about the interior journey of a life, in this case I'd say a successful journey.

I’ve been a fan of Cary Grant for a very long time. Few actors were as adept at both screwball comedy, sophisticated comedy, and later…action and intrigue. From Bringing Up Baby to North By Northwest few could surpass him. An absolutely gorgeous man who didn’t seem aware of it at times. This book is an excellent, well written journey through his life, from a sad and deprived little boy to the heights of fame. It doesn’t hide his less than admirable behavior and personality quirks. The emotional damage that unfortunately affected his marriages and a lot of his life. However this book doesn’t really dwell on the negative. It doesn’t stoop to the gutter with unproven accusations about his sexuality. In fact, those accusations seem to be the least interesting thing about him. Ultimately, who cares anyway? He survived quite a bit, and knew when to exit the stage. He devoted himself to his daughter and enjoyed retirement!

I've loved Cary Grant's films for as long as I can remember. Grew up with his movies. Always cool, elegant, graceful - and, usually, FUNNY. Scott Eyman's beautiful, telling biography of this star did little to disabuse me of my awe of Grant's talent. Finding out about Grant's desperately poor beginnings in Bristol, England, was something of an eye-opener, as was learning that he left school at 14 to join a troupe of acrobats - although the latter revelation perhaps does much to explain the actor's physical grace. But yeah, Grant is indeed an icon of film, and Eyman's book will emphasize that. I still remember being on leave from the Army in Germany and traveling to Copenhagen back in 1965 - or '64? - where a friend and I saw a long line snaking halfway around the block outside a theater. We walked up to see what was playing. It was "Father Goose." We got in line. And it was indeed a funny, delightful film. Of course we didn't need the Danish subtitles. (The Danish crowd loved it too.)I should perhaps admit that one of the reasons I wanted to read this was that yes, I too had heard the rumors about Grant and his longtime roommate, Randolph Scott (I saw all of his westerns), back in the 1930s. What did Eyman find out? Well, it's kinda hard to say. Maybe the rumors were true and maybe they weren't, but, in the end, who cares? What almost everyone did agree on, however, was what a kind person Cary Grant was. Kindness. Yes. I also learned that Cary Grant was his own creation. In his heart, he never stopped being Archie Leach, the poor boy from Bristol. As Eyman's subtitle indicates, the Cary Grant persona was "A Brilliant Disguise."CARY GRANT is a long book, nearly 500 pages, so it's a considerable investment of your time. I don't read a lot of celebrity biographies. I usually prefer AUTObiographies. But this is a damn good bio, well-researched (details on all of his films and all five marriages are in there, as well as his great happiness at finally becoming a father in his sixties) and very open-minded. And the narrative of Grant's life flows beautifully. Cary Grant died over thirty years ago, but this book made me miss him all over again. Kudos to Scott Eyman. If you are movie fan or a student of the golden age of film, you will love this book. Highly recommended.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

I very much liked that his book proved why Cary Grant was considered one of the "greatest comedians of all time;" why he deserved to be named by the "American Film Institute the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood in 1999" (Wikipedia); and especially how he reviewed Grant's traumatic childhood, and how those early experiences propelled his rise from a teen-age vaudeville performer to one of the highest paid star in Hollywood..which allowed him to retire extremely wealthy in 1973 (before his death in 1986).

A very interesting read. I’m a real fan of both actor and author!

A great read very entertaining

It was for my 88 year old mother. She enjoyed the book.

Brilliant so interesting really a great book my wife loved it didn’t want it to end 👍👍😀

My mom really enjoyed reading this book.

Well written, engrossing but not salacious.