The Golden Age of Hollywood produced legendary movie stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart. The glitz and glamour of being part of such an elite group did not go unnoticed by up and comers in the film industry such as Cary Grant. But to achieve this status, the personal life of actors had to be hidden from the public. During the era between the Great Depression and World War II, the persona of male film stars was in part an illusion created by Hollywood film makers, studio heads and sometimes the actors themselves. Which has been the norm ever since. Film idols such as Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, Richard Chamberlain and James Dean were seen as Hollywood sex symbols where as in fact they were struggling with their own sexual identities.
Archibald Leach was born on January 18, 1904 in Great Britain. After years of theater work and side jobs Archie arrived in Hollywood the first week of January 1932. Paramount was looking for a leading man to fill the void of the untimely death of Rudolph Valentino. Archie Leach signed a five-year exclusive-services contract with Paramount Publix in February 1932 and by way of a name change Cary Grant was born.
Although Cary Grant’s cinematic career spanned more than thirty-five years and seventy-two movies, the years that he spent living with Randolph Scott remains a mystery.
Scott came to live with Grant as She Done Him Wrong began filming. They lived on West Live Oak Drive in the house nicknamed “Bachelor Hall”. Although reports of women frequenting the house were made, the rumors about Grants sexual preference generated by competing movie studios and studio-controlled gossip columnists became difficult for the public and Paramount studio to ignore. Actors’ living together in Hollywood was considered normal at this time to save on expenses. But Scott came from a wealthy family in Virginia who made their fortune in the textile industry.
During the filming of She Done Him Wrong Cary Grant met and started dating Virginia Cherrill. Although the relationship was good for the public image, it was a rocky one behind closed doors. Scott was jealous of Cherrill and during the making of Gambling Ship Scott bought Grant a house on Santa Monica beach. This house would be a place where they could get away from Hollywood and in Scotts’ mind, away from Cherrill. This lavish gift did not stop Grants love affair with Cherrill and they married on February 9, 1934. Although their marriage only lasted a little over a year, during their honeymoon “Grant told Cherrill stories about the games boys from England played with one another, the measuring of their penises to see who had the biggest, the “circle jerks,” the rubbing up against one another at night for comfort-all the things, he said with a half-smile, that go on in boys’ dormitories all over England, from Eton to Oxford. As she would tell friends and acquaintances later on and note in her diaries, it was the closest Grant ever came to admitting to her that he was bisexual.”(Eliot, 106)
Archibald Leach was born on January 18, 1904 in Great Britain. After years of theater work and side jobs Archie arrived in Hollywood the first week of January 1932. Paramount was looking for a leading man to fill the void of the untimely death of Rudolph Valentino. Archie Leach signed a five-year exclusive-services contract with Paramount Publix in February 1932 and by way of a name change Cary Grant was born.
Although Cary Grant’s cinematic career spanned more than thirty-five years and seventy-two movies, the years that he spent living with Randolph Scott remains a mystery.
Scott came to live with Grant as She Done Him Wrong began filming. They lived on West Live Oak Drive in the house nicknamed “Bachelor Hall”. Although reports of women frequenting the house were made, the rumors about Grants sexual preference generated by competing movie studios and studio-controlled gossip columnists became difficult for the public and Paramount studio to ignore. Actors’ living together in Hollywood was considered normal at this time to save on expenses. But Scott came from a wealthy family in Virginia who made their fortune in the textile industry.
During the filming of She Done Him Wrong Cary Grant met and started dating Virginia Cherrill. Although the relationship was good for the public image, it was a rocky one behind closed doors. Scott was jealous of Cherrill and during the making of Gambling Ship Scott bought Grant a house on Santa Monica beach. This house would be a place where they could get away from Hollywood and in Scotts’ mind, away from Cherrill. This lavish gift did not stop Grants love affair with Cherrill and they married on February 9, 1934. Although their marriage only lasted a little over a year, during their honeymoon “Grant told Cherrill stories about the games boys from England played with one another, the measuring of their penises to see who had the biggest, the “circle jerks,” the rubbing up against one another at night for comfort-all the things, he said with a half-smile, that go on in boys’ dormitories all over England, from Eton to Oxford. As she would tell friends and acquaintances later on and note in her diaries, it was the closest Grant ever came to admitting to her that he was bisexual.”(Eliot, 106)
Grant and Scott at “Bachelor Hall”In 1936 Scott married Marion duPont Somerville from Virginia. Somerville detested Hollywood which was in fact perfect for Scott because he could live in Hollywood with Grant while filming but would take vacations to Virginia to see his wife. Not to mention the elation of the film studios to their “gossip problem”. Scott and Grant still lived together at the house in Malibu and were often seen at parties and movie openings. Scott’s marriage to Somerville ended in 1939.
Cary Grant and Randolph Scotts’ love affair ended in 1939. Scott called Grant and they met for dinner at the Brown Derby to discuss their relationship. After long hours of laughing, crying and hugging they agreed to part ways but promised to remain friends forever. Ironically their friendship lasted only a week when the battle of the Santa Monica beach house started. The agreement when Scott bought the house was that if either of them were to marry, the other would have to buy out the other. Grant having married first would have had to move out. But Grant refused and threatened Scott with legal action. Scott fearing his career would be over did not want to go to court. Scott moved out and gave the house to Cary.
Another film star who came on the scene at the end of the Golden Age was Montgomery Clift. Monty, as his friends would call him, started in the theater at a young age. He became a big name on Broadway and in 1946 went to Hollywood. There are many different accounts to when Monty’s homosexuality started.
No comments:
Post a Comment