Cary Grant became one of Hollywood's iconic leading men, in an era when glamour was prevalent. He cultivated a unique screen presence - one of timeless style and elegance - as he starred in a total of over seventy films including the critically acclaimed Hitchcock classics North By Northwest, Suspicion, Notorious and To Catch A Thief. Yet this man who was the epitome of Hollywood's sophistication started off life as Archie Leach (the name adopted by John Cleese's character in A Fish Called Wanda) in the distinctly unglamorous milieu of provincial, post-Victorian Bristol. The authors explore how he overcame the difficulties of his dysfunctional and unprivileged background and built his career. A reporter once asked Grant, 'Who is Cary Grant?' His telling response was, 'When you find out, tell me.' Cary Grant: The Legend provides an objective critique of the real, fallible man behind the projected screen image. Grant's private life was kept strictly secret at the time, when there was rigid studio control of stars and much less press intrusion than in contemporary times. Here, the authors uncover what happened off the film sets.
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About the Author
Gary Morecambe, son of the famous comedian Eric Morecambe, was born in 1956. After a successful career as a publicist for a leading theatrical agency, he became a full-time writer in 1982 and has written several books, ranging from biography to fiction. Martin Sterling was born in Manchester in 1962. A freelance writer and broadcaster, he has extensive experience in journalism and has written plays and television scripts. This is his third book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Kingsley Day
Format:Hardcover
Admittedly this book's foreword is by Sheridan Morley, not the authors themselves, but when a book starts out with a blatant error, that's not a good sign. Morley quotes the famous question and answer "How old Cary Grant?" "Old Cary Grant fine, how you?" and then, incredibly, calls it a "telephone exchange" when in fact it was an exchange of telegrams (no native speaker of English would ever say "How old Cary Grant" on the telephone; the question was four words long because the shorter the message, the less it cost to send the telegram). The book itself is a breezy read, and I agree with the authors' assessment that Grant's best films were the ones he made with Hitchcock. Their basic thesis--that Grant spent his life trying to reconcile his self-created persona with his humble origins--is convincing but repeated ad nauseam. The book's most outrageous moment (British readers, correct me if I'm wrong) comes when the authors--one of whom is Gary Morecambe, son of Eric Morecambe--blatantly state that "Eric Morecambe became widely regarded as the greatest British comedian of the 20th century," with no indication that this might be a slightly biased viewpoint. Obvious errors (chapter 6 quotes Grant's first wife as saying he was "solemn and disagreeable and refused to pay my bills" on p. 71 and "sullen and disagreeable and refused to pay my bills" on p. 73) make me wonder how many not-so-obvious errors there are. Overall, I enjoyed the book but never knew how much I could trust it.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
As owner of one of the largest Cary Grant web sites, I'd say I'm qualified to give an opinion on the veracity of a body of work dedicated to examining Grant's life; I am quite pleased with "In Name Only." While the content of Cary's life is very much as I'd expect, I really like the presentation of interesting snippets of non-Cary trivia that seem to make Cary's world a bit more clear. Also, while it is very obvious that this is a book written by huge Cary Grant fans, it doesn't have a sense of idol worship, nor is it fluffy or syrupy because the authors are afraid to mention his human frailties. Gary & Martin are doing quite a good job of making him seem like a real human being instead of some Hollywood demi-god. Some writers, in an effort to de-throne the idol seem to feel a need to 'bring him down to size' by denigrating him. There is no sense of that at all in this biography. It's as if Cary were a good friend that they're writing about. A friend they've simply accepted, and in that acceptance have recognized the good and the bad that make up the whole. A great addition to your Cary Grant library.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I was only eleven years old when Cary Grant died and I had never seen any of his films until I saw North By Northwest on TV and I was hooked. I've read everything I could about him and when the Cary Grant website said this books was coming out,I bought it as soon as I could. And it's brilliant! It's better than the Graham McCann book because McCann's book was so dull, even though it was thorough. I suppose the difference is, that book was an academic study but this one is a proper biography. I love all the asides about Noel Coward etc. The pictures are good,too, because they're all different to the ones I've seen before. Excellent!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impeccably researched
So the authors get the name of one scientist wrong on one page out of nearly 400. So what? As someone who has some experience of film research I can confirm that the degree of... Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2003
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing and inaccurate
Having only got through half the book so far, I simply find the content of the book infuriating. There is more information given about the countless stars that Cary Grant worked... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
IN NAME ONLY, is so much more than that.
I would like to thank the authors of IN NAME ONLY for bringing such an entertaining wealth of information on Archie Leach to my finger tips. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2001 by anthony@camack.co.uk
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and objective biography.
Despite there having been several books written about Grant previously, this one manages to unearth many new facts about him. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful biography of a wonderful film star!
A brilliant book, which is both fascinating in content and engaging through the style in which it is written. You can almost smell the streets Grant used to haunt as a kid. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2001
1.0 out of 5 stars
A clumsy lowbrow effort
If it took two writers to produce work of this feeble standard then I hate to think what one on his own could come up with. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2001 by Dale Mahrer(dalemahrer@hotmail.com)
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautifully written revealing portrait
These two authors have really got behind the two dimensional screen image of a great screen star to show us the true Cary Grant. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant portrayal of the world�s greatest leading man.
At last, a comprehensive account of the life of 'Cary Grant' which is long overdue. Until now I had not fully appreciated what a complex character he was. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2001
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