Cary Grant - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Archibald Alexander Leach was born at 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield, Bristol, to Elsie Maria Kingdon (1877–1973) and Elias James Leach (1873–1935). An only child, Leach had an unhappy upbringing, attending Bishop Road Primary School. His mother had suffered from clinical depression since the death of a previous child. Her husband placed her in a mental institution, and told his nine-year-old son only that she had gone away on a "long holiday". Believing she was dead, Grant did not learn otherwise until he was 31 and discovered her alive in a care facility. When Grant was 10, his father abandoned him after remarrying and having a baby with his new young wife.

Grant was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918. After joining the "Bob Pender Stage Troupe", Leach performed as a stilt walker and traveled with the group to the United States in 1920 at the age of 16, on a two-year tour of the country. He was processed at Ellis Island on 28 July 1920.

When the troupe returned to the UK, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career. Grant later became a naturalized United States citizen during World War II, on June 26, 1942, at which time he also legally changed his name from "Archibald Alexander Leach" to "Cary Grant". During this time, he became a part of the vaudeville world and toured with Parker, Rand and Leach. Still using his birth name, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931), Music in May (1931), Nina Rosa (1931), Rio Rita (1931), Street Singer (1931), The Three Musketeers (1931) and Wonderful Night (1931). Leach's experience on stage as a stilt walker, acrobat, juggler and mime taught him "phenomenal physical grace and exquisite comic timing" and the value of teamwork, skills which would benefit him in Hollywood.

Read more about this topic:  Cary Grant

Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:

    Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.
    Barbara Bowman (20th century)

    The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it—this cluster of gifts may almost be said to constitute experience.
    Henry James (1843–1916)

    I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.
    Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)