SIMPLY CAROLE

SIMPLY CAROLE
CAROLE LOMBARD - My Favorite Actress

Friday, April 9, 2010

Why Cary Grant is my favorite actor of all time

I was about 12 years old when I saw my first Cary Grant film. It happen to be His Girl Friday and it would become my favorite movie of all time, along with Cary being my favorite actor. That movie and Cary himself basically started my love of classic movies, which still carry on to this day. Most of the films I saw from then with Cary were mostly his screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby, My Favorite Wife, The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic & Old Lace, The Awful Truth, The Bachelor & The Bobby-Soxer, Topper, Holiday, and others. So I always viewed Cary in these roles and nothing else. Which was fine, but then I saw him in a dramatic movie - Penny Serenade and it blew me away. I knew Cary had the screwball comedy down pat, but I didn't know he could pull off drama too. After seeing that, I immediately had to see more and more of his films. Thank god, AMC at the time were playing loads of his films on a monthly basis. And what I didn't see on TV, I was able to find at the local library on VHS. His non screwball films showed Cary in a new light for me and made him even more so my favorite actor of all time. Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings, None But The Lonely Heart, In Name Only, and more. Cary showed me the range of a truly versatile actor.

His next phase for me would be his films that he did with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch A Thief, and North By Northwest. All good films and presented Cary in an all new way. As a man on edge or maybe a murderer. Man there wasn't anything Cary couldn't do. His performances always seemed so effortless, so relaxed and easy. Very charming and well spoken, and sharply dressed. He was the epitome of a screen legend. I found his best partnership was to be with Howard Hawks as they collaborated on such classics as His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings, and I Was A Male War Bride. And I thought his best onscreen partner was the wonderful Irene Dunne, who paired with Cary for The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife, and Penny Serenade. Cary's career spanned 4 decades and over 70 films. And I have seen about 40 of them. So I still got some watching to do, because I want to see every film he ever did.

I regularly watch several Grant films every chance I get. His Girl Friday is seen by me at least twice a year, and it still entertains me for the 100th time like it was my first. His character Walter Burns is in my opinion, not only his best role, but one of the best roles in film history. I could go on and on for days talking about Cary and all his films. Could watch a marathon of his movies and never get bored. He will always be my favorite actor. There is no disputing that, and I know I'm not the only one in the world who will second that.

2 comments:

Irene Palfy said...

Monty, honestly: this is such a wonderful piece of work!

If Cary Grant was supposed to choose only one person to be his fan - he simply would have to pick you. How couldn't he?

Cristina Deboni said...

Anche a me piace molto Gary Grant, ho registrato alcuni suoi film e li riguardo spesso...mi danno un senso di tranquillità e pace e lui è un uomo affascinante! Bel blog, complimenti! ciao Cri : )

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