What Was Cary Grant's Net Worth?
Cary Grant was an English actor who had a net worth of $60 million at the time of his death in 1986. That's equal to approximately $130 million today after adjusting for inflation.
According to the American Film Institute, Cary Grant was listed as second to Humphrey Bogart as the "Greatest Male Star of All Time." His most famous work includes the films "The Awful Truth," "Bringing Up Baby," "Gunga Din," "The Philadelphia Story," "His Girl Friday," "Suspicion," "Arsenic and Old Lace," "Notorious," "The Bishop's Wife," "To Catch a Thief," "An Affair to Remember," "North by Northwest," "Charade," "Penny Serenade," and "None But the Lonely Heart."
Grant eventually established his own production company in the 1950s and released the films "Operation Petticoat," "Indiscreet," "That Touch of Mink," "Father Goose," "Charade," and "Walk, Don't Run." He was the first to become a technically independent actor, not having renewed his contract, and was able to oversee everything regarding his acting career.
Cary was nominated for two Academy Awards and five Golden Globes. He received the Honorary Oscar in 1970, which was given by Frank Sinatra.
Grant was married five times. His wives were Virginia Cherrill, Barbara Hutton, Betsy Drake, Dyan Cannon, and Barbara Harris.
Cary was known to have experimented with LSD while married to Betsy Drake. He had one daughter with Cannon, who today is known as actress Jennifer Grant.
Grant retired from acting when he was 62 years old to focus on raising his daughter. He eventually pursued a one-man show known as "A Conversation with Cary Grant," which involved him interacting with his audience. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while on tour on November 29, 1986.
Early Life
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 4, 1904, in Bristol, England. His father, Elias James Leach, worked as a tailor's presser at a clothing factory, while his mother, Elsie Maria Leach, worked as a seamstress. His parents had another son, John, who had died before he turned one year old prior to Grant's birth. Cary's upbringing was not a happy one, as his father was an alcoholic, and his mother had clinical depression. When Grant was nine, his father placed his mother in a mental institution and told his son that she had gone away on a long holiday and later died, which was not true. His father remarried and started a new family. Cary subsequently grew up resenting his mother, as she had also not been very affectionate towards him before she was sent to the institution. He did not learn that she was still alive until he was 31 years old, and his father confessed to the lie on his deathbed. He made arrangements for her to leave the institution once he found out her whereabouts.
Despite his challenging upbringing, Grant did show promise as an entertainer. He enjoyed attending the theater with his father and later trained to be a stilt walker and began touring with a group of acrobatic dancers called the Bob Pender Stage Troupe. While he had won a scholarship to attend Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, Cary was expelled at the age of 14. It was suspected he intentionally sought expulsion in order to pursue a career in entertainment with the Pender Troupe. His father then signed a three-year contract with the Troupe by which Grant would train with them for three years until the age of 18 and receive a weekly salary and room and board.
(Photo by Robert Coburn Sr/Getty Images)
Career
Grant began touring England with the Pender Troupe and then toured the U.S. when he was 16 years old. He decided to stay in the U.S. and became part of the vaudeville circuit there. He later began booking roles in theatre and earned national attention after booking the lead romantic part in the musical "Nikki," which earned a positive review in "The New York Daily News." This role led to him booking early film roles and signing a contract with Paramount Pictures.
Grant set out to establish himself as the epitome of masculine glamour in all of the roles he booked. He was successful in this endeavor due to his undeniable charm and good looks. He made his feature film debut in "This is the Night" in 1932. The same year, he appeared as a wealthy playboy in "Blonde Venus." Cary went on to play similar roles in films like "Merrily We Go to Hell," "Hot Saturday," and "Madame Butterfly," among others. One of his most successful early films with the 1933 "She Done Him Wrong." He continued appearing primarily in crime films and dramas throughout the 1930s before gaining more renown for his roles in romantic comedies like "Bringing Up Baby" and "The Philadelphia Story."
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Grant had a close working relationship with director Alfred Hitchcock who cast him in four films. He received critical acclaim for these films. He also received more praise from critics towards the end of his film career, receiving five Golden Globe Award nominations in the Best Actor category for his roles in films like "Indiscreet," "That Touch of Mink," and "Charade." He took on his final film roles in the 1960s before retiring from the screen in 1966 to focus on raising his daughter.
Grant is remembered as being one of the most charismatic, suave, and charming actors of the early American film tradition.
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Personal Life and Death
In 1942, Grant became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of 38. At this time, he also legally changed his name to Cary Grant, though he had already been going by this name professionally. As one of the wealthiest stars in Hollywood, Cary owned housed in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Palm Springs. He was married five times throughout his life. In 1934, he wed Virginia Cherrill. They divorced one year later after Cherrill claimed he had hit her. He married Barbara Hutton in 1942, one of the wealthiest women in the world. They divorced in 1945 though they remained friends. He then married Betsy Drake in December 1949. Their marriage ended in 1962. In 1965, he married Dyan Cannon. The couple had a daughter, Jennifer, in 1966. She is Grant's only child. The couple separated in 1967 and then divorced in 1968. He had a number of other relationships throughout the 1960s and 1970s and then married Barbara Harris, 47 years his junior, in 1981. It is also widely speculated that Grant may have had a long-term relationship with actor Randolph Scott throughout his career, though his daughter denies that her father was gay.
In 1986, Grant was preparing for a performance at the Adler Theater in Iowa when he became ill. He was taken back to his hotel, where a doctor discovered he was having a massive stroke. He died later that day at the age of 82. Following his request, his ashes were spread in the Pacific Ocean, and no funeral was conducted for him.
