Cary Grant, The Making of a Hollywood Legend: UK Book Launch

We hope you had as best Christmas as you could have possibly had under the circumstances and we wish you a wonderful 2021. Whatever it may throw at us, may Cary Grant bring a bit of light into our lives!
UK Book Launch: Cary Grant, The Making of a Hollywood Legend
Crowdcast, Monday 18 January 2021, 6pm GMT
Tickets: Pay what you feel
On what would have been Cary Grant’s 117th birthday, 18 January 2020, 6pm, Mark Glancy – whose new book launches in the UK next week – talks about Cary Grant’s experiences growing up as Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, including startling new revelations about his family history, followed by a Q&A and panel discussion with festival director Charlotte Crofts, chaired by Andrew Kelly of Bristol Festival of Ideas.Two copies of the book will be given away in a prize draw, courtesy of publishers Oxford University Press and OUP have offered a 30% discount to attendees for books purchased via their website – only available if you attend the event.
Cary Grant, The Making of a Hollywood Legend (Oxford University Press, 2020) – A definitive new account of the professional and personal life of one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable, influential stars.

Archie Leach was a poorly educated, working-class boy from a troubled family living in the backstreets of Bristol. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s most debonair film star—the embodiment of worldly sophistication. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend tells the incredible story of how a sad, neglected boy became the suave, glamorous star many know and idolize. The first biography to be based on Grant’s own personal papers, this book takes us on a fascinating journey from the actor’s difficult childhood through years of struggle in music halls and vaudeville, a hit-and-miss career in Broadway musicals, and three decades of film stardom during Hollywood’s golden age.

Leaving no stone unturned, Cary Grant delves into all aspects of Grant’s life, from the bitter realities of his impoverished childhood to his trailblazing role in Hollywood as a film star who defied the studio system and took control of his own career. Highlighting Grant’s genius as an actor and a filmmaker, author Mark Glancy examines the crucial contributions Grant made to such classic films as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Notorious (1946), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Charade (1963) and Father Goose (1964). Glancy also explores Grant’s private life with new candor and insight throughout the book’s nine sections, illuminating how Grant’s search for happiness and fulfillment lead him to having his first child at the age of 62 and embarking on his fifth marriage at the age of 77. With this biography—complete with a chronological filmography of the actor’s work—Glancy provides a definitive account of the professional and personal life of one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable, influential stars.
What is “Pay what you feel”?We want to make our events accessible whatever your budget, but for those that can afford it, we’d really appreciate it if you can give generously to keep the festival afloat in these difficult times.We rely on ticket sales as our main source of income, but Covid-19 has made this impossible this year, creating a huge shortfall in our finances. We’re a biennial festival so we’re hoping by 2022 we’ll be able to return to live events, but in the meantime we’re determined to celebrate Cary Grant as best we can virtually.