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1-14 of 14
- Actor
- Producer
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Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in Bristol would have been an ordinary lower-middle-class childhood, except for one extraordinary event. At age nine, he came home from school one day and was told his mother had gone off to a seaside resort. However, the real truth was that she had been placed in a mental institution, where she would remain for years, and he was never told about it (he would not see his mother again until he was in his late 20s).
He left school at age 14, lying about his age and forging his father's signature on a letter to join Bob Pender's troupe of knockabout comedians. He learned pantomime as well as acrobatics as he toured with the Pender troupe in the English provinces, picked up a Cockney accent in the music halls in London, and then in July 1920, was one of the eight Pender boys selected to go to the United States. Their show on Broadway, "Good Times", ran for 456 performances, giving Grant time to acclimatize. He would stay in America. Mae West wanted Grant for She Done Him Wrong (1933) because she saw his combination of virility, sexuality and the aura and bearing of a gentleman. Grant was young enough to begin the new career of fatherhood when he stopped making movies at age 62.
One biographer said Grant was alienated by the new realism in the film industry. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he had invented a man-of-the-world persona and a style - "high comedy with polished words". In To Catch a Thief (1955), he and Grace Kelly were allowed to improvise some of the dialogue. They knew what the director, Alfred Hitchcock, wanted to do with a scene, they rehearsed it, put in some clever double entendres that got past the censors, and then the scene was filmed. His biggest box-office success was another Hitchcock 1950s film, North by Northwest (1959) made with Eva Marie Saint since Kelly was by that time Princess of Monaco.
Although Grant retired from the screen, he remained active. He accepted a position on the board of directors at Faberge. By all accounts this position was not honorary, as some had assumed. Grant regularly attended meetings and traveled internationally to support them. The position also permitted use of a private plane, which Grant could use to fly to see his daughter wherever her mother Dyan Cannon, was working. He later joined the boards of Hollywood Park, the Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle - Hollywood, California), Western Airlines (acquired by Delta Airlines in 1987) and MGM.
Grant expressed no interest in making a career comeback. He was in good health until almost the end of his life, when he suffered a mild stroke in October 1984. In his last years, he undertook tours of the United States in a one-man-show, "A Conversation with Cary Grant", in which he would show clips from his films and answer audience questions. On November 29, 1986, Cary Grant died at age 82 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Davenport, Iowa.
In 1999, the American Film Institute named Grant the second male star of Golden Age of Hollywood cinema (after Humphrey Bogart). Grant was known for comedic and dramatic roles; his best-known films include Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), His Girl Friday (1940), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Notorious (1946), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959) and Charade (1963).- Additional Crew
- Actor
Born in St Louis, Missouri in 1932 Gary was a gymnast and athlete at school, who developed his interest in dance as a teenager after seeing the film 'The Red Shoes'. Moving to New York to learn dance he was in the 1957 Broadway production of 'West Side Story', coming to Britain with the show the following year. He left 'West Side Story' for a straight acting role in in 'Orpheus Descending' and throughout the 1960s was a familiar face on British TV as one of its 'go-to' Americans in the likes of 'The Saint' and 'The Persuaders' as well as appearing in American films. In 1964 he opened a dance studio in London which ran for thirteen years until 1977 when it became a health spa. Gary retired from acting and choreography around this time to move with his wife Marie to St Lucia, where he opened a hotel.- Johnny Duncan lived well into his 90's, with his wife Susan, enjoying life not far from where it began.
He started out on a small farm near Kansas City in 1923. As a child growing up during the Great Depression, Johnny danced up a storm in local towns, and with the money he saved he was able to pay out his parent's overdue mortgage to the banks. Not long after, he ran a little dance school with his little girl pal, Lou, teaching locals kids how to tap dance.
Not long after, an agent helped him make it to L.A. on a $50-a-month contract. He got roles playing juveniles with the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys and other movie roles. You can see him working the radio in the Bogart classic Action in the North Atlantic (1943). During the war he met Lana Turner and taught her the Lindy Hop (Jitterbug). At the age of 26, he became the second Boy Wonder, in the 15-part serial Batman and Robin.
Off the set, you could find Johnny out on his Triumph 600 on the weekend in the canyons around Calabasas with mates like Lee Marvin, Larry Parks, Keenan Wynn and Clark Gable, or at dinner parties held by Jimmy Cagney. During the '50s, Johnny made fewer films after The Caine Mutiny (1954) (also with Bogart), but he did play another sailor in a film with Rita Hayworth, whom he described as the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. You can also spot him in the legendary Ed Wood flick Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) and getting his head chopped off in Spartacus (1960). Nowadays, you can still spot him at the occasional movie convention, signing photos from Batman and Robin and The East Side Kids. - The Welsh school teacher, B.B.C. radio performer and acting school headmaster became internationally known due to the success of his adopted son, Richard Burton, who was born Richard Jenkins into a poor coal miner's family and raised by his eldest sister after his mother died when he was less than two years old. Recognizing the high intelligence of the young man, Philip Burton - a childless bachelor - decided to mentor him. This was not an unusual arrangement in the Wales of the first half of the 20th Century. Men who had risen out of the working class and attended university were determined to give back to their community and help others escape the cycle of poverty that was the Welsh miner's life.
The young Richie Jenkins moved into Burton's boardinghouse, where Philip tutored him in the classics for two years, preparing him for the tests that would enable him to go to university. The two would pore over texts such as Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (1967), and Burton would tutor his young ward on meaning, grammar, and how to act the part. The spoken and written word is very important to the Welsh, and though Philip - unlike Richie Jenkins - could not speak Welsh, the two bonded over their Welsh love of language. Richie Jenkins felt so strongly about his mentor that he adopted his surname. (Philip, being less than 21 years older than Richard, was unable to legally adopt him, though they considered each other father and son.)
After World War Two, Philip Burton emigrated to the United States, where he helped open a school for the performing arts in New York City. He was instrumental in making his adopted son a success, even well into Richard Burton's adulthood. After director Moss Hart had a disabling heart attack while directing the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot (1967) (with Richard as King Arthur), Philip stepped in and worked out the kinks in the show, which made a successful debut.
Father and son were split apart by what Richard called "L'Affaire", his romance with co-star Elizabeth Taylor on the set of 'Cleopatra (1963)_. Philip adored Richard's wife Sybill, who was Welsh, and thought of Richard's children as his grandchildren, and treated them as such. He took Sybill's side during the divorce. However, when Richard began floundering under John Gielgud's direction during the initial staging of his 1964 _Hamlet (1964/I), Taylor was determined to effect a reconciliation as she knew and understood how much Richard was a creation of his step-father and how much he needed him.
Though the two hadn't spoken since the breakup of Richard's marriage, Taylor called Philip and told him that Richard was struggling. Father and son were reconciled (and Philip became fond of Taylor too), and under Philip's tutelage, Richard Burton ultimately presented a successful Hamlet that was the smash of the 1964 Broadway season.
Though father and son were kept apart by Richard's hectic work schedule, they remained close to Richard's death in 1984. - Bobbie Battista was born on 23 July 1952 in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. She was an actress, known for Contact (1997), Cherry Malicious (2016) and Getting Away with Murder (1996). She was married to John Mahon Brimelow and James Michael Battista. She died on 3 March 2020 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
Dorothy West was born on 29 August 1891 in Griffin, Georgia, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Guerrilla (1908), Winning Back His Love (1910) and A Summer Idyll (1910). She died on 11 December 1980 in Davenport, Florida, USA.- Cathy Chaney was born on 4 May 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for University Heights (2004). She was married to Brian Chaney. She died on 19 February 2010 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Lucy Burge was an actor, known for The Anxiety Fairy (2018). He died on 4 October 2020 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Sherman Pendergarst was born on 1 February 1967 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor, known for Oxy-Morons (2010), Bellator Fighting Championships (2009) and UFC 65: Bad Intentions (2006). He died on 20 July 2012 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Lorraine McCrary was born on 25 March 1931 in Joliet, Illinois. She was an actress, known for An American Love (1994). She died on 27 October 2019 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Jimmy Hester was born on 13 December 1944 in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Number One (1969), NFL Monday Night Football (1970) and The NFL on CBS (1956). He died on 14 November 2002 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Gene Baker was born on 15 June 1925 in Davenport, Iowa, USA. He died on 1 December 1999 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Kevin Marxen was born on 25 October 1956 in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for University Heights (2004). He died on 18 February 2014 in Davenport, Iowa, USA.
- Wayne 'Tiny' Whitt was born on 2 November 1912 in South Keokuk, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Some Like It Hot (1939). He died on 16 January 1971 in Davenport, Oklahoma, USA.