Archibald Alexander Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood

Classical Hollywood cinema

Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...

's definitive leading men

Leading man

Leading man or leading gentleman is an informal term for the actor who plays a love interest to the leading actress in a film or play. A leading man is usually an all rounder; capable of singing, dancing, and acting at a professional level, but never outshining his female co-star...

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Grant was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars

Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is a list of the top 50 greatest screen legends of American cinema, 25 male and 25 female...

 by the American Film Institute

American Film Institute

The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...

. Noted particularly for his work in comedy but also for drama, Grant's best-known films include The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades...

(1937), Bringing Up Baby

Bringing up Baby

Bringing Up Baby is an American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and released by RKO Radio Pictures....

(1938), Gunga Din

Gunga Din (film)

Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film directed by George Stevens, loosely based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, combined with elements of his novel Soldiers Three...

(1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...

(1940), Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace (film)

Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version...

(1944), Notorious (1946), To Catch A Thief

To Catch a Thief (film)

To Catch a Thief is a 1955 romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams. The movie is set on the French Riviera, and was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge...

(1955), An Affair to Remember

An Affair to Remember

An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and directed by Leo McCarey. It was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation....

(1957), North by Northwest

North by Northwest

North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...

(1959) and Charade (1963).

Nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor

Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

, for Penny Serenade

Penny Serenade

Penny Serenade is a 1941 film melodrama starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, and Edgar Buchanan. It was directed by George Stevens and written by Martha Cheavens and Morrie Ryskind. It depicts the story of a loving couple who must overcome adversity to keep their marriage and raise a child...

(1941) and None But the Lonely Heart

None but the Lonely Heart

None but the Lonely Heart is a 1944 film which tells the story of a Cockney lad who returns home with no ambitions but finds that his family needs him...

(1944), and five times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor can refer to:*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film,*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama,*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,...

, Grant was continually passed over, and in 1970 was given an Honorary Oscar

Academy Honorary Award

The Academy Honorary Award, instituted in 1948 for the 21st Academy Awards , is given by the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of...

 at the 42nd Academy Awards

42nd Academy Awards

The 42nd Academy Awards were presented April 7, 1970 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. There was no host.This is currently the highest rated of the televised Academy Awards ceremonies, according to Nielsen ratings....

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