Customer Reviews
An intriuging biography - By: P. DATTA, 26 Mar 2008 
It is about a few years ago since the acting talents & skills of Cary Grant became noticeable to me. I watched a few movies featuring the legend. I became so fascinated about Cary Grant that it prompted me read a biography about the actor.
I am reallly pleased with the results of the Cary Grant biography reviewed. The biography is an exclusive insight into the Hollywood legend. He is in a different league compared to competing icons the calllibre of Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart & Clark Gable. Cary Grant presents an interesting subject for any biographer to study. He has an fascinating life-story to unfold & share with the reader. His social background in Bristol, brief Broadway career, Hollywood career & scandalous private are richly touched upon. These areas prompt this biography to an intriguing read of a complex character who attracted immense controversy associated with his movie career, but overshadowed personallly.
Marc Eliot proves his value as a leading biographical writer. He has compiled a superb biography, which is beautifully, vividly & meticulously written with a combination of interesting facts & exclusive pictures of Cary Grant. A great & intriguing read for anyone who loves & admires movie legend. Can anyone match Grant's charisma, charm & style. Only time will tell.
Cary Grant - A Biography - To Far - By: Rosalind P. Purcell, 24 Apr 2007 To begin at the beginning - this is an American publication & it's rather difficult to take the book seriously when the description of Grant's hometown on the jacket cover is 'the seaport village of Bristol'!The book is so full of conjecture & misinformation that it does no justice to the career of one of Hollywoods greatest stars. Certainly Grant had 'feet of clay' & there was a troubled man behind the mask of sophistication & style, but he deserved better than this.
I lost count of the number of factual errors in this book, some so basic that it was clear that the author had done very little real research. The author often quotes from someone like David Niven & completely misinterprets (for his own ends) what he said - two countries divided by a common language!
Even descriptions of scenes from films were often inaccurate & there can be no excuse for this.
We learn nothing new about Cary Grant's private life, although the chapters dealing with Grant's relationship with Randolph Scott purport to be full of new & revealing detail.
I would certainly not recommend this book, it poses as a serious, academic work, when it is reallly a lightweight 'pop' biography.
An excellent biography of a Hollywood icon. - By: Roger O. Thornhill, 21 Apr 2007 Even if you have only watched 1 or 2 Grant films & enjoyed them, then you should read this book. Marc Eliot clearly knows his films & his subject.
Since reading this biography, I have wanted to see as many of Grant's films as I can. Knowing more about the man behind the image has helped me enjoy the films even more.
Strange Life of a Hollywood Star - By: , 28 Jul 2005 Cary Grant, his name conjures up the image of one of Hollywood's favourite leading men but, as this biography shows, his on-screen image hid a tumultuous private life & a tortured soul.
A dysfunctional childhood in Bristol, England; a career as an acrobat & a male escort before Broadway & then the movies; 5 marriages; numerous affairs; an 11 year relationship with fellow actor Randolph Scott; secret meetings with the FBI; experimentation with LSD. He still managed to leave behind a legacy of classic films, which feel as fresh today as when they were made, such as: Bringing Up Baby; The Philadelphia Story; Arsenic & Old Lace; Notorious; Monkey Business; To Catch a Thief & North by Northwest.
Grant was a true professional, an accomplished actor & an astute businessman (becoming the first free-lance actor) but clearly there was much more to his complex character which I had never realised until I read this book.
This is a fascinating look at the man behind the image & the Golden Years of Hollywood.
