Superb bio of a complicated (and conflicted) man

If you only read some of these reviews, you'd think the entire Cary Grant: A Biography deals with Grant as a gay actor. This is far from the case.

Rather, the biography leads the listener on Grant's journey from a young child in Bristol England to his final days as a Hollywood screen icon, finally comfortable with his place in the pantheon of screen legends. In between, Grant's rather unhappy childhood and awkward teen years, his time as a travelling entertainment troupe performer in America, his early days in New York and finally his burgeoning screen career are explored in good detail. Once he started making films in Hollywood, he struggled for years to break out of roles which positioned him as a handsome, charming but mostly-secondary actor. Eventually, breaks went his way and he ultimately was able to exercise more control over his roles, his career and his image.

Grant was conflicted about numerous things: his status as an actor; how the roles portrayed him as a leading man (or not); his parsimonious approach to money; and his relationships with women and with men. That Grant was likely bisexual comes through in this biography, but by no means is it the focus of the book, rather it helps to explain some of the decisions he made in his roles, his career and his relationships as he sought approval and acceptance from his peers, his mother and the women in his life.

He was also fiercely stubborn, aloof and independent to a fault, which alienated him from many in Hollywood for years - and while allowing him to chart his own course once he became more established and financially secure, it also affected his relationships on a personal and professional level.

I found the book highly interesting and full of information I never knew before. The author Marc Eliot is also the narrator and he reads the book with enthusiasm and ease, emphasizing the text in all the right places.

At the end, upon Cary's death, I genuinely felt saddened, as if a man I had truly gotten to know had passed away. That's how good a bio this is: I honestly felt I did get to know the man, sympathized with him through all his faults and came to appreciate his successes after learning about his struggles to get there. This is not a one-dimensional biography, focussing only on lurid details. Far from it, and definitely worth your time.

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