From the bleakness of Edwardian Bristol to sunlit California in the golden age of Hollywood, from poverty to extravagant wealth, from obscurity to film-star fame, Archibald Alexander Leach lived the life of a fairytale.
He was born in 1904 to a working-class family in Bristol; his father was a tailor’s presser. Archie Leach (as he was known then) finished his formal education at 14, and joined Bob Pender’s theatrical troupe; two years later, at 16, he travelled to America with them. He stayed on in the US during the roaring Twenties as a vaudeville performer and theatre actor. But on December 7, 1931, Archie Leach signed a contract with the film studio Paramount under the name of Cary Grant.
His Girl Friday, Bringing Up
