Scott Eyman's Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise

Cody reads a biography on one of the most iconic actors of all time.

Seven years ago, I read author and critic Scott Eyman's biography on John Wayne, "The Life and Legend", and thoroughly enjoyed the entire reading experience. I had an idea of the type of person Wayne was before I read the book, but Eyman was able to give me a much deeper insight on who the man really was. Now he has given the same treatment to another of my favorite actors, Cary Grant - and in this case, I really didn't know anything about the actor's personal life or true personality. The only background information I knew about Cary Grant was that his birth name was Archie Leach. He was a rather private person who didn't like to give interviews and wouldn't respond to autograph hounds... and it is truly amazing how much information Eyman was able to unearth about a person who liked to keep his true self obscured, and passed away nearly forty years ago.

On the screen, Grant was handsome and smooth, he came off as being untouchable, like he probably didn't have a care in the world. And that's the exact opposite of who he really was. As Eyman's book explains, Cary Grant was built from the ground up by Archie Leach, who was very different from the image he portrayed to the world in his films. I was fascinated to learn that Grant was riddled with anxiety, constantly worrying and overthinking behind the scenes on his movies. And frequently sabotaging his own life, due to the damage that was caused to him in his childhood.

Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise traces Grant's life from birth to death, covering that span of 82 years in great detail. What Eyman is able to accomplish in this books is truly stunning to me, it's really incredible that he's able to find so much information on events that occurred so long ago. In the case of Grant's earliest decades, these are things that happened over a hundred years ago, and yet there are still records, letters, and quotes that can be pieced together to tell the story. We follow Grant through his young years, growing up poor in Bristol, raised by not-the-greatest parents, including a mother who was secretly committed to a mental institution. It would be many years before Grant would find out where his mother really was, years he spent assuming she had died.

From humble beginnings he moved on to vaudeville and then to screen acting, gaining enough clout that he could pick and choose projects based on how well they would reflect the image he wanted to show the audience, and at times how much control he could have over the film. Passages on the making of specific films seem to go by quickly, but the standouts of Grant's career, including his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, are all given attention.

We also learn quite a bit about Grant's five marriages, and what went wrong with each of them - like the infatuation with Sophia Loren that derailed his third marriage. There's also some substantial coverage of Grant's use of LSD as a therapy tool - and he used a whole lot of LSD over the years. And yes, there's discussion of whether or not Grant was actually gay, a rumor that seemed to follow him through his entire life.

The Cary Grant we saw on the screen was a well-polished facade and I have always liked to see that person in action on the screen. After learning about the real Cary Grant / Archie Leach through Eyman's book, I actually have an even greater appreciation for Grant's work. He always seemed so flawless, it's nice to know he was actually very flawed and was powering through intense anxiety every minute he was on the set.

Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise is another very impressive work from Scott Eyman. If you have any interest in the life and/or career of Cary Grant, not to mention the golden age of Hollywood, I highly recommend picking up this book.