Cary Grant
Cary Grant in trailer for ”To Catch a Thief”, 1955
Birth Name: Archibald Alec Leach
Date of Birth: January 18, 1904
Place of Birth: Horfield, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, U.K.
Date of Death: November 29, 1986
Place of Death: Davenport, Iowa, U.S.
Ethnicity: English, as well as one quarter Welsh, possibly some Scottish
Cary Grant was an English and American actor. A classic movie star, his roles included Blonde Venus, She Done Him Wrong, The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, Penny Serenade, Suspicion, Arsenic and Old Lace, None but the Lonely Heart, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, Indiscreet, North by Northwest, That Touch of Mink, and Charade.
Born Archibald Alec Leach, he was the son of Elsie Maria (Kingdon/Kingdom) and Elias James Leach. Cary moved to the U.S. around 1920, and became a United States citizen in 1942. He also used the middle name Alexander.
Cary was married to Barbara Harris, until his death. He had a daughter, actress Jennifer Grant, with his former wife, actress Dyan Cannon.
Cary’s paternal grandfather was John James Lake/Leach (the son of John James Lake and Eliza Sweet). Cary’s grandfather John was born in Brent Knoll, Somerset, England. Cary’s great-grandfather John was the son of John James Lake and Jane Scott. Eliza was the daughter of James Sweet and Rebecca Lawes.
Cary’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Leafe/Leaf (the daughter of Henry Leafe/Leaf and Elizabeth Anness/Anniss). Cary’s grandmother Elizabeth was born in Poole, England. Cary’s great-grandmother Elizabeth was the daughter of John Anniss and Elizabeth Cruwys.
Cary’s maternal grandfather was named William Kingdon (the son of William Kingdom/Kingdon and Ann). Cary’s grandfather William was born in St James, Bristol, England. Cary’s great-grandfather William was the son of William Kingdon.
Cary’s maternal grandmother was named Elizabeth Morgan. Elizabeth was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Cary donated to the charity United Jewish Appeal. There are various statements on the internet that Cary had some degree of Jewish heritage, sometimes on his father’s side, sometimes on his mother’s. It appears that Cary himself may have said that he is of Jewish heritage. However, no Jewish ancestry has ever been verified/documented for Cary Grant.
Sources: Genealogies of Cary Grant – http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk
http://www.wikitree.com
http://www.geni.com
Birth registration of Cary Grant (as Archibald Alec Leach) – https://familysearch.org
Do people realize that he tanned himself to look brown?
This guy is as white as Bill O’Reilly.
Why isn’t this guy called Black English?
Probably for the same reason why you don’t use your real name of Irish-twat.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Martin+Johnson+England+v+Australia+bHzA2L5NX2Jl.jpg
@gel, watch the Irish series “Red Rock”, to see plenty of “black Irish.” Then again, I don’t have a problem with white people’s coloring — like you seem to do.
Twat.
hey can someone tell me what country i could pass??
i will share here a pic of min i am Brasilian with Austrian,german and italian origins
https://imageshack.com/i/hlOky3ptj
Looking at your face, i would say you have other roots, apart from austrian, German or italian, as you would not pass for any of those people.
I think that you look very mixed brazilian, i think you could have a mulatto or black background in your roots.
I am european myself and let me tell you, you do not look european at all.
ok thanks
maybe i have some asian because my austrian relatives have origins in easter europe,and there is some asian influence i think
but i am not sure
yeappp::.i got it..
i think you could have indian or pakistanà ancestry, i can tell by your eyes,, skintone and hair.
@ bts15
one pic is not enough to say (and poor lighting doesn’t help), your could have some colonial ancestry besides your recent austrian, german, italian..ask your family what they know. And Austrians are not East Euro and they dont have Asian genes.
@ andrew
about colonial acestry i am almost sure i dont have it because i am just the 2th generation was bron in brazil my grandparents are both imigrants
about Austrian,yep i know its not east euro and there is no asian genes,but i meant my austrian relatives,they just was born in Austria,but they have ancestors in east europe,in countries like Hungary,Slovakia and Romania i am not sure if there is asian influence,i just heard about it so that would explain a lot in my apparence hehe
here another pic with a better light,maybe it would help
http://imageshack.com/a/img905/4197/naB19B.jpg
I’m Austrian and German too! Sorry I just like ethnicities haha
Correction.
Shouldn’t this profile mention that in his own entry to Who’s Who in America in 1962, Grant listed his mother’s name as ‘Lilian’, not “Elsie” Leach, and in 1948 he donated a considerable sum of money to the new State of Israel in the name of his “dead Jewish mother”?
I realize the profile already alludes to the his possible Jewish heritage, but adding these facts to the profile, really wouldn’t take up much space.
I don’t know if the name difference (Elsie/Lillian) in a book is all that notable.
Is there proof that Cary Grant really said “my dead Jewish mother”? I’ve heard it repeated online that he did, but I’m not sure I quite believe it.
The whole idea that Cary Grant had a different biological mother seems bizarre to me.
I find it interesting that Roger Ebert stated that Cary’s father was “part Jewish”. We know that’s not true, but I wonder what his source was?
http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/in-memory-cary-grant-1904-1986
I think the name difference is pretty notable as he entered the name himself, how exactly would he confuse his own mother’s name with someone else?
In Cary Grant: A Biography By Marc Eliot, the author seems to think he entered the name incorrectly on purpose to protect his mother’s identity, or chalks it up to a mistake that Cary didn’t cared to correct.
As for the donation and the quote Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart by Charles Higham and Roy Moseley, is the only source. I can’t even find a record of the fund to which he donated.
Another weird fact about the identity of his biological mother was something his ex-wife Dyan Cannon revealed. In her book ‘Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant’, she said Cary told her that when he was 10, he was told his mother was Jewish and had “gone away to the seaside for a rest”. That easily could have been a cover story because of his own mother’s mental illness. Yet it’s odd his father would choose to say his mother was Jewish.
Maybe Grant just liked the idea that he may be Jewish, sort if like Richard Burton. Or maybe it was his idea of a joke, to explain why he was circumcised.
I’m not sure what you want me to say about the name difference. Are you seriously suggesting that Grant’s biological mother was a different woman? Have any biographers other than Higham ever suggested this, outside of the context of Grant possibly having Jewish ancestry?
The Higham book states that Grant gave a check for $10,000 to the United Jewish Appeal, in the name of his “dead Jewish mother”.
The excerpt in this other book explains the story of the $10,000, with the author refuting the claim that Grant was actually Jewish.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=Q8fq8ct7KmgC&pg=PA467&dq=%22For+the+past+30+years+this+pleasant+invention%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5Uv1VObcIeaBsQTmm4HoBQ&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA
BTW, it’s true that the old Biography Yearbooks list the name “Lillian”. However, her maiden name is given as “Kingdom”, which was Elsie’s maiden name. So Grant was presumably talking about the same woman.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=%22Elias+and+Lillian+%28Kingdom%29+Leach%22&btnG=Search&hl=en-CA&gbv=1&tbm=bks
I guess the profile is as accurate as it can be. Correction withdrawn I suppose.
In the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century the rule of circumcision was followed to assure that males would not lose their penis or die deform penile cancer. Penile cancer was prevalent here in the US and UK. They noticed the incidence of penile cancer in Jews was nearly 0% compared to other populations and was likely due to circumcision. Boys born in England in 1904, the year Grant was born, were routinely circumcised.
He’s not Jewish this has been disproved.
His dad’s parents were of Scottish descent. Look at his real name. All three of his names are Scottish and the surname he chose as his stage name is also Scottish.
The whole Leach/Lake thing is a bit sketchy, but the surname Scott is in his family tree, so he almost certainly has some Scots blood.
Ridiculous statement. You have no DNA proof. Record keeping is definitely not proof. The matrilineal side can be somewhat more reliable, but that’s not always true due to women scooping up babies others have left behind and claiming them as their own. Even in the avian world, mothers convince non-fathers that babies are theirs, even if they’re not. Harder to do now for humans due to DNA. This is life in the old days. Get over it.