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Below, you will find a
link to Zoë's online biography of Cary Grant. Before you
read it, I want to let everyone know that her views and opinions
aren't necessarily mine.
In fact, before you read
her account, I wish to respond specifically to a question that I
get asked very frequently and one where I think my opinion
and Zoë's differs.
"How would you
characterize the relationship between Cary and Randolph Scott?
"
First of all, Cary came from
a very impoverished childhood, emotionally and physically, as
well as monetarily. At the age of nine, his mother
mysteriously disappeared, never to return. (Cary was to learn
twenty years later that Elsie had been
committed to a mental institution by Cary's father, Elias Leach.)
Elias was an alcoholic. Cary was a very lonely little boy
who eventually ran away from home at fourteen to join the
camaraderie of Pender's circus troupe. He found himself a
family, basically.
Once in America and the
Pender Troupe having gone back to the U.K., Cary was again
without family. He had many friends, but no family.
After many years in the U.S.,
and after moving to California, I believe that in Randolph Scott
he found a friend that felt like family: someone who accepted
him for who he was and cared deeply for him. This type of
friendship is possible between two people of the same sex
without it being a homosexual relationship. They were
buddies. Buddies hang out together and help each other out in
good times and bad. In fact, their
relationship wasn't called into question until a series of
publicity photographs was taken and released. Photos that
were set up to entice women to see how "domestic" these
two handsome bachelors were, instead sparked rumors that such
domestic bliss must mean something sexual.
The two remained friends for
years. I do believe that the rumors that haunted them both all
of their lives, and exists even after their deaths, eventually
took its toll on their friendship.
I do not believe that Cary
was homosexual. Were that true, I believe he would have
married once to appease the studio moguls and then pursued his
pleasures quietly, e.g. Rock Hudson. The truth is, he was
married five times, dated (intimately) very extensively and had
a grand passion for Sophia Loren.
My thoughts are that Cary and
Randy had a deep and caring bond, like brothers. Cary lived with
Randolph off and on before and between marriages for the sense
of family, for the moral support (who isn't shattered after a
divorce?), the companionship, and for monetary reasons.
From a lonely child sprang a man who spent a lifetime searching
for the happiness and security of home; Randolph Scott provided
that for a period in Cary's life.
Click here to
read:
CARY
GRANT - AN INTERNET BIOGRAPHY
by Zoë Shaw
 Please
take the time to read Cary's own words about his life in his
autobiography. He is very forthright about his life, not
glossing over the rough edges, but facing them squarely.
In fact, reading Cary's account of his life is very much
like sitting down to a cup of tea with the dashing
fellow.
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Click photo at left to read "Archie Leach"
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