Bristolian people: Cary Grant

Classic Hollywood star Cary Grant was born and raised in Bristol. For some of you, this is old news. For me, though, the "Bristolianess" of Cary Grant came to my knowledge some weeks ago when I first read about the Cary Grant Festival. I was not in town that weekend so I didn't have the chance to attend to any event going on. However, I dug into Cary Grant's live which is in fact worth a Hollywood movie.

Archibald Alexander Leach (what a peculiar name!), better known as Cary Grant, was born in Horfield in January 1904. He was the only surviving child of his parents and his mother, since the death of previous children, suffered from clinical depression and was placed in a mental institution when Archibald was only 9 years old without telling him where she was going. He was told that his mother went on a "long holiday" and she had died afterwards. It wasn't until he was 31 when his own father, on the verge of death, confessed the "lie" to his son and told him he could find her in a care centre.

Archibald performed as a stilt walker and when he was 16, he joined the "Bob Pender Stage Troupe" and traveled to the USA with them for a two-year tour around the country. When the group came back to Britain, he decided to stay in the US experiencing on stage as a stilt walker as well as acrobat, juggler and mime. When he because American citizen in 1942, he changed his name to "Cary Grant".

The attractive actor is known for comedy and dramatic roles in films such as "Bringing up, baby", "The Philadelphia Story", "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "North by Northwest" among many others.

You can see Cary Grant's statue in Millenium Square in Bristol, walking with one hand in his pocket and the other one holding a suitcase.

Wikipedia - Cary Grant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Grant