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186-478: Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach ; January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his Mid-Atlantic accent , debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he was one of classic Hollywood 's definitive leading men . He was nominated twice for the Academy Award , received an Academy Honorary Award in 1970 , and received
372-540: A Salvation Army director in She Done Him Wrong , which made it all the more charming. The film was a box office hit, earning more than $ 2 million in the United States, and has since won much acclaim. For I'm No Angel , Grant's salary was increased from $ 450 to $ 750 a week. The film was even more successful than She Done Him Wrong , and saved Paramount from bankruptcy; Vermilye cites it as one of
558-629: A county corporate . From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts. A major port , Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. At the height of the Bristol slave trade , from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried an estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in
744-411: A statue of Colston was pulled down from its plinth by protestors and pushed into Bristol Harbour. The statue was recovered on 11 June and has become a museum exhibit. Bristol City council consists of 70 councillors representing 34 wards, with between one and three per ward serving four-year terms. As of May 2024, no party has an overall controlling majority, but Green Party are the largest group on
930-554: A "genuine charm", which made him stand out among the other good looking actors at the time, making it "remarkably easy to find people who were willing to support his embryonic career". He made his feature film debut with the Frank Tuttle -directed comedy This is the Night (1932), playing an Olympic javelin thrower opposite Thelma Todd and Lili Damita . Grant disliked his role and threatened to leave Hollywood, but to his surprise
1116-693: A British army sergeant opposite Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the George Stevens -directed adventure film Gunga Din , set at a military station in India . Roles as a pilot opposite Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth in Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings , and a wealthy landowner alongside Carole Lombard in In Name Only followed. In 1940, Grant played a callous newspaper editor who learns that his ex-wife and former journalist, played by Rosalind Russell ,
1302-489: A Male War Bride in which he appeared in scenes dressed as a woman, wearing a skirt and a wig. During the filming he was taken ill with infectious hepatitis and lost weight, affecting the way he looked in the picture. The film, based on the autobiography of Belgian resistance fighter Roger Charlier , proved to be successful, becoming the highest-grossing film for 20th Century Fox that year with over $ 4.5 million in takings and being likened to Hawks's screwball comedies of
1488-539: A Mid-Atlantic accent. Vincent Price often used the accent in his performances, being from Missouri but attending elite Northeastern schools for high school and college, and also being British-trained. Patrick Cassidy noted that his father, actor and performer Jack Cassidy , affected the Mid-Atlantic accent, despite having a native New York accent . Alexander Scourby was an American stage, film, and voice actor who continues to be well-known for his recording of
1674-793: A Shubert production of A Wonderful Night . It premiered at the Majestic Theatre on October 31, 1929, two days after the Wall Street Crash , and lasted until February 1930 with 125 shows. The play received mixed reviews; one critic criticized his acting, likening it to a "mixture of John Barrymore and cockney ", while another announced that he had brought a "breath of elfin Broadway" to the role. Grant found it difficult forming relationships with women, remarking that he "never seemed able to fully communicate with them" even after many years "surrounded by all sorts of attractive girls" in
1860-571: A bright greatcoat and a sandwich board that advertised the amusement park. Grant spent the next couple of years touring the United States with "The Walking Stanleys". He visited Los Angeles for the first time in 1924, which made a lasting impression on him. The group split up and he returned to New York, where he began performing at the National Vaudeville Artists Club on West 46th Street, doing comic sketches, juggling, performing acrobatics, and as "Rubber Legs", riding
2046-492: A car accident. Topper became one of the most popular movies of the year, with a critic from Variety noting that both Grant and Bennett "do their assignments with great skill". Vermilye described the film's success as "a logical springboard" for Grant to star in The Awful Truth that year, his first film made with Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy . Though director Leo McCarey reportedly disliked Grant, who had mocked
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#17327719052642232-591: A car, van, motorbike or taxi, 2.2% commute by rail and 9.8% by bus, while 19.6% walk. The Runnymede Trust found in 2017 that Bristol "ranked 7th out of the 348 districts of England & Wales (1=worst) on the Index of Multiple Inequality." In terms of employment, the report found that "ethnic minorities are disadvantaged compared to white British people nationally, but this is to a greater extent in Bristol, particularly for black groups." Black people in Bristol experience
2418-521: A career comeback, and would respond to the suggestion with "fat chance". He did, however, briefly appear in the audience for Elvis Presley 's 1970 Las Vegas concert documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is . In the 1970s, he was given the negatives from a number of his films, and he sold them to television for a sum of over $ 2 million dollars in 1975 ($ 11.3 million in 2023). Morecambe and Stirling argue that Grant's absence from film after 1966
2604-642: A career in entertainment with the troupe, and he did rejoin Pender's troupe three days after being expelled. His father had a better-paying job in Southampton, and Grant's expulsion brought local authorities to Pender's door with questions about why he was living in Bristol and not with his father in Southampton. His father then co-signed a three-year contract between Grant and Pender that stipulated Grant's weekly salary, along with room and board, dancing lessons, and other training for his profession until age 18. There
2790-530: A career's best with an "extraordinary and agile performance", which was matched by Rogers, it received a mixed reception overall. Grant had hoped that starring opposite Deborah Kerr in the romantic comedy Dream Wife would salvage his career, but it was a critical and financial failure upon release in July 1953, when Grant was 49. Though he was offered the leading part in A Star is Born , Grant decided against playing that character. He believed that his film career
2976-533: A case of mistaken identity. Like Indiscreet , it was warmly received by the critics and was a major commercial success, and is now often listed as one of the greatest films of all time. Weiler, writing in The New York Times , praised Grant's performance, remarking that the actor "was never more at home than in this role of the advertising-man-on-the-lam" and handled the role "with professional aplomb and grace". Grant wore one of his most well-known suits in
3162-412: A close working relationship with director Alfred Hitchcock , who cast him in four films: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). For the suspense-dramas Suspicion and Notorious , Grant took on darker, morally ambiguous characters, both challenging Grant's screen persona and his acting abilities. Toward the end of his career he starred in
3348-461: A commercial failure, his dominating performance was praised by critics, and Grant always considered the film to have been the breakthrough for his career. When his contract with Paramount ended in 1936 with the release of Wedding Present , Grant decided not to renew it and wished to work freelance . Grant claimed to be the first freelance actor in Hollywood. His first venture as a freelance actor
3534-565: A commercial organisation, 'The Company Adventurers to the New Found Land', to assist their endeavours. However, they seem to have lost interest in North America after 1509, having incurred great expenses and made little profit. During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies. This included the smuggling of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia during
3720-417: A compulsory load line on ships. By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 ft (90 m) from reaching the harbour, resulting in falling trade. The port facilities were migrating downstream to Avonmouth and new industrial complexes were founded there. Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline, but
3906-546: A convict on the run in The Talk of the Town (1942), who escapes after being wrongly convicted of arson and murder. He hides in a house with characters played by Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman , and gradually plots to secure his freedom. Crowther praised the script, and noted that Grant played Dilg with a "casualness which is slightly disturbing". After a role as a foreign correspondent opposite Ginger Rogers and Walter Slezak in
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#17327719052644092-461: A critic from Variety praised his performance, and thought that he looked like a "potential femme rave". In 1932, Grant played a wealthy playboy opposite Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus , directed by Josef von Sternberg . Grant's role is described by William Rothman as projecting the "distinctive kind of nonmacho masculinity that was to enable him to incarnate a man capable of being
4278-687: A developed area between the Bristol city boundary and the M4, M5 and M32 motorways (now in South Gloucestershire) was so named as part of a 1987 plan prepared by the Northavon District Council of Avon county. The West of England Combined Authority was created on 9 February 2017. Covering Bristol and the rest of the old Avon county with the exception of North Somerset, the new combined authority has responsibility for regional planning, roads, and local transport, and to
4464-450: A family of modest means, both used natural rhotic accents. Yet presidents William McKinley of Ohio and Grover Cleveland of Central New York , who attended private schools, clearly employed a non-rhotic, upper-class, Mid-Atlantic quality in their public speeches that does not align with the rhotic accents normally documented in Ohio and Central New York State at the time; both men even use
4650-468: A half minutes. Wansell notes how Grant's performance "underlined how far his unique qualities as a screen actor had matured in the years since The Awful Truth ". In 1947, Grant played an artist who becomes involved in a court case when charged with assault in the comedy The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (released in the U.K. as "Bachelor Knight"), opposite Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple . The film
4836-509: A lesser extent, education and business investment. The authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England , Dan Norris . Bristol's boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol . The city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of
5022-402: A mental institution, and told him she had gone away on a "long holiday", later declaring that she had died. Grant grew up resenting his mother, particularly after being told she left the family. After she was institutionalised, Grant and his father moved into Grant's grandmother's home in Bristol. When Grant was ten, his father remarried and started a new family. Grant did not learn that his mother
5208-544: A noise in the back row and would never do his homework". He spent his evenings working backstage in Bristol theatres, and at the age of 13, was responsible for the lighting for magician David Devant at the Bristol Empire in 1917. He began hanging around backstage at the theatre at every opportunity, and volunteered for work in the summer as a messenger boy and guide at the military docks in Southampton , to escape
5394-715: A non-rhotic Mid-Atlantic accent, though without the tapped R. In and around Boston , Massachusetts, a similar accent, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, was associated with the local urban elite: the Boston Brahmins . In the New York metropolitan area , particularly including its affluent Westchester County suburbs and the North Shore of Long Island , other terms for the local Transatlantic pronunciation and accompanying facial behavior include " Locust Valley lockjaw" or " Larchmont lockjaw", named for
5580-478: A non-rhotic pronunciation of words like assert and firm , along with a falling diphthong in the word fear , all of which distinguishes it from other forms of surviving non-rhotic speech in the United States. " Linking R " appears in Roosevelt's delivery of the words "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"; this pronunciation of R is also famously recorded in his Pearl Harbor speech , for example, in
5766-561: A prominent role in funding Richard Strongbow de Clare and the Norman invasion of Ireland . The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon , adjacent to Bristol Bridge just outside the town walls. By the 12th century, there was an important Jewish community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were expelled from England. The stone bridge built in 1247
Cary Grant - Misplaced Pages Continue
5952-472: A reputation as a romantic leading man. Significant influences on his acting in this period were Gerald du Maurier , A. E. Matthews , Jack Buchanan , and Ronald Squire . He admitted that he was drawn to acting because of a "great need to be liked and admired". He was eventually fired by the Shuberts at the end of the summer season when he refused to accept a pay cut because of financial difficulties caused by
6138-574: A result of moving to London with the Pender troupe and working in so many music halls in the UK and the US, eventually becoming a sort of transatlantic or mid-Atlantic accent . In 1927, he was cast as an Australian in Reggie Hammerstein's musical Golden Dawn , for which he earned $ 75 a week. The show was not well received, but it lasted for 184 performances and several critics started to notice Grant as
6324-654: A romantic hero". Grant found that he conflicted with the director during the filming and the two often argued in German. He played a suave playboy type in a number of films: Merrily We Go to Hell opposite Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney , Devil and the Deep with Tallulah Bankhead , Gary Cooper and Charles Laughton (Cooper and Grant had no scenes together), Hot Saturday opposite Nancy Carroll and Randolph Scott , and Madame Butterfly with Sidney. According to biographer Marc Eliot, while these films did not make Grant
6510-479: A self-help author and a 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate , has a unique accent that, following her participation in the first 2020 presidential debate in June 2019, was widely discussed and sometimes described as a Mid-Atlantic accent. An article from The Guardian , for example, stated that Williamson "speaks in a beguiling mid-Atlantic accent that makes her sound as if she has walked straight off
6696-412: A sense of permanence and stability in her life. He had become increasingly disillusioned with cinema in the 1960s, rarely finding a script of which he approved. He remarked: "I could have gone on acting and playing a grandfather or a bum, but I discovered more important things in life". He knew after he had made Charade that the "Golden Age" of Hollywood was over. Grant expressed little interest in making
6882-786: A stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After a series of successful performances in New York City, he decided to stay there. He established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Grant initially appeared in crime films and dramas, such as Blonde Venus (1932) and She Done Him Wrong (1933), but later gained renown for his performances in romantic screwball comedies such as The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), and The Philadelphia Story (1940). These pictures are frequently cited among
7068-485: A star, they did well enough to establish him as one of Hollywood's "new crop of fast-rising actors". In 1933, Grant gained attention for appearing in the pre-Code films She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel opposite Mae West . West would later claim that she had discovered Cary Grant. Of course Grant had already made Blonde Venus the previous year in which he was Marlene Dietrich's leading man . Pauline Kael noted that Grant did not appear confident in his role as
7254-564: A successful screen-test directed by Marion Gering , Schulberg signed a contract with the 27-year-old Grant on December 7, 1931, for five years, at a starting salary of $ 450 a week. Schulberg demanded that he change his name to "something that sounded more all-American like Gary Cooper ", and they eventually agreed on Cary Grant. Grant set out to establish himself as what McCann calls the "epitome of masculine glamour", and made Douglas Fairbanks his first role model. McCann notes that Grant's career in Hollywood immediately took off because he exhibited
7440-473: A three-week tour of the United States as part of a group to help the war effort and was photographed visiting wounded marines in hospital. He appeared in several routines of his own during these shows and often played the straight-man opposite Bert Lahr . In May 1942, when he was 38, the ten-minute propaganda short Road to Victory was released, in which he appeared alongside Bing Crosby , Frank Sinatra and Charles Ruggles . On film, Grant played Leopold Dilg,
7626-544: A tormented character who hysterically discovers that his amnesia has affected the masculine order in society in The Black Curtain . After making a brief cameo appearance opposite Claudette Colbert in Without Reservations (1946), Grant portrayed Cole Porter in the musical Night and Day (1946). The production proved to be problematic, with scenes often requiring multiple takes, frustrating
Cary Grant - Misplaced Pages Continue
7812-605: A troupe of acrobatic dancers known as The Penders or the Bob Pender Stage Troupe. He subsequently trained as a stilt walker and began touring with them. Jesse Lasky was a Broadway producer at the time and saw Grant performing at the Wintergarten theater in Berlin around 1914. In 1915, Grant won a scholarship to attend Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol, although his father could barely afford to pay for
7998-466: A unicycle. The experience was a particularly demanding one, but it gave Grant the opportunity to improve his comic technique and to develop skills that benefitted him later in Hollywood. Grant became a leading man alongside Jean Dalrymple and decided to form the "Jack Janis Company", which began touring vaudeville. He was sometimes mistaken for an Australian during this period and was nicknamed "Kangaroo" or "Boomerang". His accent seemed to have changed as
8184-464: A variety show named "Better Times" at the Hippodrome towards the end of the year. While serving as a paid escort for the opera singer Lucrezia Bori at a Park Avenue party, he met George C. Tilyou Jr. , whose family owned Steeplechase Park . Learning of his acrobatic experience, Tilyou hired him to work as a stilt-walker and attract large crowds on the newly opened Coney Island Boardwalk , wearing
8370-475: Is 106 mi (171 km) west of London, 77 mi (124 km) south-southwest of Birmingham and 26 mi (42 km) east of the Welsh capital Cardiff . Areas adjoining the city fall within a loosely defined area known as Greater Bristol . Bath is located 11 mi (18 km) south east of the city centre, Weston-super-Mare is 18 mi (29 km) to the south west and the Welsh city of Newport
8556-455: Is 19 mi (31 km) to the north west. The climate is oceanic ( Köppen : Cfb) , milder than most places in England and United Kingdom. Located in southern England, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK with a mean annual temperature of approximately 10.5 °C (50.9 °F). It is among the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885 hours of sunshine per year. Although the city
8742-501: Is almost wholly superfluous. Perhaps the inference to be taken is that a man in his 50s or 60s has no place in romantic comedy except as a catalyst. If so, the chemistry is wrong for everyone". Hitchcock had asked Grant to star in Torn Curtain that year, only to learn that he had decided to retire. In 1966, when his daughter Jennifer Grant was born, Grant retired from the screen so he could focus on bringing her up and to provide
8928-588: Is any of various accents of English that are perceived as blending features from both American and British English . Most commonly, the informal label refers to accents of the late 19th century to mid-20th century spoken by the Northeastern American upper class , as well as related accents in the early half of the 20th century taught in American schools of acting. Both types of accents incorporated notable features from Received Pronunciation ,
9114-404: Is extremely difficult. Your timing has to change from show to show and from town to town. You're always adjusting to the size of the audience and the size of the theatre. —Grant on stand-up comedy. Grant became a part of the vaudeville circuit and began touring, performing in places such as St. Louis, Missouri , Cleveland , and Milwaukee , and he decided to stay in the US with several of
9300-481: Is often called "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made". In 1964, Grant changed from his typically suave, distinguished screen persona to play a grizzled beachcomber who is coerced into serving as a coastwatcher on an uninhabited island in the World War II romantic comedy Father Goose . The film was a major commercial success, and upon its release at Radio City at Christmas 1964 it took over $ 210,000 at
9486-525: Is often popularly described as "Mid-Atlantic", though his specific accent more naturally and unconsciously mixed British and American features, because he arrived in the United States from England at age 16. Although it has disappeared as a standard of high society and high culture, the Transatlantic accent has still been heard in some media in the 21st century for the sake of historical, humorous, or other stylistic reasons. The Mid-Atlantic accent
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#17327719052649672-692: Is partially sheltered by the Mendip Hills, it is exposed to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel . Rain is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with autumn and winter the wetter seasons. The Atlantic Ocean influences Bristol's weather, keeping its average temperature above freezing throughout the year, but winter frosts are frequent and snow occasionally falls from early November to late April. Summers are warm and drier, with variable sunshine, rain and clouds, and spring weather
9858-405: Is represented by 5 constituencies, East , North East , North West , South , and Central . The city has a tradition of political activism. Edmund Burke , MP for the Bristol constituency for six years beginning in 1774, insisted that he was a Member of Parliament first and a representative of his constituents' interests second. Women's-rights advocate Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954)
10044-408: Is the hardest thing in the world". In 1952, Grant starred in the comedy Room for One More , playing an engineer husband who with his wife ( Betsy Drake ) adopt two children from an orphanage. He reunited with Howard Hawks to film the off-beat comedy Monkey Business , co-starring Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe . Though the critic from Motion Picture Herald wrote gushingly that Grant had given
10230-579: Is to marry insurance officer Ralph Bellamy in Hawks' comedy His Girl Friday , which was praised for its strong chemistry and "great verbal athleticism" between Grant and Russell. Grant reunited with Irene Dunne in My Favorite Wife , a "first rate comedy" according to Life magazine, which became RKO's second biggest picture of the year, with profits of $ 505,000. After playing a Virginian backwoodsman in The Howards of Virginia , set during
10416-675: Is unique, with not entirely consistent Mid-Atlantic features), C. Z. Guest Joseph Alsop , Robert Silvers , Julia Child (though, as the lone non-Northeasterner in this list, her accent was consistently rhotic), Cornelius Vanderbilt IV , and Gloria Vanderbilt . Except for Child, all of these example speakers were raised, educated, or both in the Northeastern United States . This includes just over half who were raised specifically in New York (most of them New York City) and five of whom were educated specifically at
10602-984: Is unsettled. The weather stations nearest Bristol for which long-term climate data are available are Long Ashton (about 5 mi (8 km) south west of the city centre) and Bristol Weather Station, in the city centre. Data collection at these locations ended in 2002 and 2001, respectively, and following the closure of Filton Airfield, Almondsbury is the nearest weather station to the city. Temperatures at Long Ashton from 1959 to 2002 ranged from 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) in July 1976 to −14.4 °C (6.1 °F) in January 1982. Monthly high temperatures since 2002 at Filton exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include 25.7 °C (78.3 °F) in April 2003, 34.5 °C (94.1 °F) in July 2006 and 26.8 °C (80.2 °F) in October 2011. The lowest recent temperature at Filton
10788-596: Is unusual among major British towns and cities in its larger black than Asian population. These statistics apply to the Bristol Unitary Authority area, excluding areas of the urban area (2006 estimated population 587,400) in South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) and North Somerset—such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Filton and Warmley. 56.2% of the 209,995 Bristol residents who are employed commute to work using either
10974-646: The trap–bath split , when Boston was the American center for training in elocution , public speaking , and acting. Therefore, this upper-class Boston accent also may have contributed to the sound then becoming popular among the wider Northeastern elite and in the American theatre. Furthermore, the popularity of a Mid-Atlantic sound was indirectly inspired by the Australian phonetician William Tilly ( né Tilley), teaching in Columbia University 's extension program in New York City from 1918 to around
11160-404: The /r/ is vocalized to [ə] , commonly known as schwa, while the long vowel itself is laxed. However, when preceded by a short vowel, the /ə/ is elided. Therefore, tense and lax vowels before /r/ are typically only distinguished by the presence/absence of /ə/ . The following distinctions are examples of this concept: Other distinctions before /r/ include the following: A table containing
11346-542: The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) . Bristol's illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy. The original Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542, when the former Abbey of St. Augustine (founded by Robert Fitzharding four hundred years earlier) became Bristol Cathedral . Bristol also gained city status that year. In the 1640's, during the English Civil War ,
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#173277190526411532-921: The Ashton Court Estate , South Bristol crematorium and cemetery, High Ridge common and Whitchurch, with a further area around Frenchay Farm. The belt extends outside the city boundaries into surrounding counties and districts, for several miles in places, to afford a protection from urban sprawl to surrounding villages and towns. According to the 2011 census , 84% of the population was White (77.9% White British , 0.9% White Irish , 0.1% Gypsy or Irish Travellers and 5.1% Other White ); 3.6% mixed-race (1.7% white-and-black Caribbean, 0.4% white-and-black African, 0.8% white and Asian and 0.7% other mixed); 5.5% Asian (1.6% Pakistani , 1.5% Indian , 0.9% Chinese , 0.5% Bangladeshi , and 1% other Asian); 6% Black (2.8% African, 1.6% Caribbean , 1.6% Other Black ), 0.3% Arab and 0.6% with other heritage. Bristol
11718-464: The Black Death of 1348–49, which checked population growth, and its population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the 15th century, Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland, Iceland and Gascony . It was the starting point for many voyages, including Robert Sturmy 's (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break
11904-638: The Depression . His unemployment was short-lived, however; impresario William B. Friedlander offered him the romantic lead in his musical Nikki , and Grant starred opposite Fay Wray as a soldier in post-World War I France. The production opened on September 29, 1931, in New York, but was stopped after just 39 performances due to the effects of the Depression. Grant's role in Nikki was praised by Ed Sullivan of The New York Daily News , who noted that
12090-534: The IRA , in 1974 and again in 1978 . The 20th-century relocation of the docks to Avonmouth Docks and Royal Portbury Dock , 7 mi (11 km) downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour). Although the docks' existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 International Festival of
12276-691: The Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999. Grant was born into an impoverished family in Bristol , where he had an unhappy childhood marked by the absence of his mother and his father's alcoholism. He became attracted to theatre at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome . At 16, he went as
12462-453: The Kennet and Avon Canal , which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London. Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760), disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of Northern England and
12648-647: The Memorial Stadium . The city has two universities; the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). It is connected to the world by Bristol Airport ; to the rest of the Great Britain via Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations; by road by both the south-west to West Midlands M5 and the London to South Wales M4 (which connect to
12834-436: The West Midlands . The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–09 plan to improve the city's port with a floating harbour designed by William Jessop was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees. During the 19th century, Samuel Plimsoll , known as "the sailor's friend", campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for
13020-429: The West of England combined authority area, which includes the Greater Bristol area ( eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom) and nearby places such as Bath . Iron Age hillforts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became
13206-402: The consonant phonemes is given below: Bristol Bristol ( / ˈ b r ɪ s t əl / ) is a city , unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England , the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon , it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. The county is in
13392-518: The independent boarding school Groton in Massachusetts: Franklin Roosevelt, Harriman, Acheson, Alsop, and Auchincloss. Examples of individuals described as having a cultivated New England accent or "Boston Brahmin accent" include Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. , Charles Eliot Norton , Samuel Eliot Morison , Harry Crosby , John Brooks Wheelwright , George C. Homans , Elliot Richardson , George Plimpton (though he
13578-510: The most prestigious accent of British English. This speaking style also became associated with certain Hollywood actors of that era. A Mid-Atlantic accent was never the widespread or typical accent of any region; rather, according to voice and drama professor Dudley Knight , "its earliest advocates bragged that its chief quality was that no Americans actually spoke it unless educated to do so". The late 19th century first produced recordings of and commentary about such accents associated with
13764-416: The "best thing he's done in a long time". After a commercial failure in his second RKO venture The Toast of New York , Grant was loaned to Hal Roach 's studio for Topper , a screwball comedy film distributed by MGM , which became his first major comedy success. Grant played one half of a wealthy, freewheeling married couple with Constance Bennett , who wreak havoc on the world as ghosts after dying in
13950-403: The "frustrated advertising man" was one of his best screen portrayals. In Every Girl Should Be Married , an "airy comedy", he appeared with Betsy Drake and Franchot Tone , playing a bachelor who is trapped into marriage by Drake's conniving character. He finished the year as the fourth most popular film star at the box office. In 1949, Grant starred alongside Ann Sheridan in the comedy I Was
14136-500: The "pleasant new juvenile" or "competent young newcomer". The following year, he joined the William Morris Agency and was offered another juvenile part by Hammerstein in his play Polly , an unsuccessful production. One critic wrote that Grant "has a strong masculine manner, but unfortunately fails to bring out the beauty of the score". Wansell notes that the pressure of a failing production began to make him fret, and he
14322-519: The "young lad from England" had "a big future in the movies". The review led to another screen test by Paramount Publix, resulting in an appearance as a sailor in Singapore Sue (1931), a ten-minute short film by Casey Robinson . Grant delivered his lines "without any conviction" according to McCann. Through Robinson, Grant met with Jesse L. Lasky and B. P. Schulberg , the co-founder and general manager of Paramount Pictures respectively. After
14508-600: The 12th century. An older form of the name survives as the surname Bristow , which is derived from the city. Archaeological finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000 years old made with the Levallois technique , indicate the presence of Neanderthals in the Shirehampton and St Annes areas of Bristol during the Middle Palaeolithic . Iron Age hill forts near
14694-567: The Academy will take me seriously". Film historian David Thomson wrote that "the wrong man got the Oscar" for The Philadelphia Story and that "Grant got better performances out of Hepburn than (her long-time companion) Spencer Tracy ever managed." Stewart's winning the Oscar "was considered a gold-plated apology for his being robbed of the award" for the previous year's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . Grant's not being nominated for His Girl Friday
14880-621: The American Revolution – which McCann considers to have been Grant's worst film and performance – his last film of the year was in the critically lauded romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story , in which he played the ex-husband of Hepburn's character. Grant felt his performance was so strong that he was bitterly disappointed not to have received an Oscar nomination, especially since both his lead co-stars, Hepburn and James Stewart , received them, with Stewart winning for Best Actor. Grant joked "I'd have to blacken my teeth first before
15066-589: The Canadian actor Christopher Plummer , Sally Kellerman , Tammy Grimes , Fred Astaire , William Powell , Orson Welles , and Westbrook Van Voorhis . Despite the accents of their native regions, Grace Kelly , Norma Shearer , and Ginger Rogers developed a Mid-Atlantic accent, including (variable) non-rhoticity and a trap–bath split , likely due to its high prestige in their era and their formal dramatic schooling. Roscoe Lee Browne , defying roles typically cast for black actors, also consistently spoke with
15252-637: The Future 's 2008 Sustainable Cities Index. Local initiatives include Sustrans (creators of the National Cycle Network , founded as Cyclebag in 1977) and Resourcesaver, a non-profit business established in 1988 by Avon Friends of the Earth. In 2014 The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live. The city received the 2015 European Green Capital Award , becoming
15438-492: The Italian monopoly of Eastern Mediterranean trade. New exploration voyages were launched by Venetian John Cabot , who in 1497 made landfall in North America. A 1499 voyage, led by merchant William Weston of Bristol, was the first expedition commanded by an Englishman to North America . During the first decade of the 16th century Bristol's merchants undertook a series of exploration voyages to North America and even founded
15624-477: The Mid-Atlantic accent was a popular affectation onstage and in other forms of high culture in North America. According to Knight, Americans had the tendency to perceive World English as sounding British, which Tilly's students sometimes acknowledged and other times denied. The codification of such an accent particularly for theatrical training is credited to several disciples of Tilly, notably including Margaret Prendergast McLean and Edith Warman Skinner . McLean, by
15810-418: The Mid-Atlantic pronunciation of American classical actors for decades. According to Dudley Knight: World English was a speech pattern that very specifically did not derive from any regional dialect pattern in England or America, although it clearly bears some resemblance to the speech patterns that were spoken in a few areas of New England, and a very considerable resemblance ... to the pattern in England which
15996-466: The Northeastern elite and their private preparatory-school education. With their (limited) high prestige , such accents were also then used by some stage and film actors in the early 20th century, particularly in their performances of classical plays. The prestige of Mid-Atlantic speech largely ended by 1950, presumably as a result of cultural and demographic changes in the United States following
16182-795: The River Kwai at the time, but found that it was not possible because of his commitment to The Pride and the Passion . The film was shot on location in Spain and was problematic, with co-star Frank Sinatra irritating his colleagues and leaving the production after just a few weeks. Although Grant had an affair with Loren during filming, Grant's attempts to woo Loren to marry him during the production proved fruitless, which led to him expressing anger when Paramount cast her opposite him in Houseboat (1958) as part of her contract. The sexual tension between
16368-599: The Screen Trade . In the late 1970s and early '80s, Grant became troubled by the deaths of many close friends, including Howard Hughes in 1976, Howard Hawks in 1977, Lord Mountbatten and Barbara Hutton in 1979, Alfred Hitchcock in 1980, Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman in 1982, and David Niven in 1983. At the funeral of Mountbatten , he was quoted as remarking to a friend: "I'm absolutely pooped, and I'm so goddamned old. ...I'm going to quit all next year. I'm going to lie in bed... I shall just close all doors, turn off
16554-628: The Sea held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city. From 2018, there were lively discussions about a new explicative plaque under a commemorative statue of one of the city's major benefactors in the 17th and 18th centuries. The plaque was meant to replace an original which made no reference to Edward Colston 's past with the Royal African Company and the Bristol Slave Trade . On 7 June 2020
16740-553: The Second World War. A similar accent that resulted from different historical processes, Canadian dainty , was also known in Canada, existing for a century before waning in the 1950s. More generally, "mid-Atlantic accent" may refer to any accent, including more recent ones, with a perceived mixture of American and British characteristics. In the 19th century and into the early 20th century, formal public speaking in
16926-573: The United States focused primarily on song-like intonation, lengthily and tremulously uttered vowels (including overly articulated weak vowels ), and a booming resonance. Moreover, since at least the mid-19th century, upper-class communities on the East Coast of the United States increasingly adopted many of the phonetic qualities of Received Pronunciation —the standard accent of the British upper class—as evidenced in recorded public speeches of
17112-546: The appropriate American pronunciation for "classics and elevated texts". She vigorously drilled her students in learning the accent at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now, Carnegie Mellon) and, later, the Juilliard School . As used by actors, the Mid-Atlantic accent is also known by various other names, including American Theatre Standard or American stage speech . American cinema began in
17298-566: The arrest, trial and subsequent acquittal of a local slaver captain named Kimber. The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel , who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington , two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing steamships ( SS Great Britain and SS Great Western ), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge . The new railway replaced
17484-652: The best comedy films of the 1930s. After a string of financially unsuccessful films, which included roles as a president of a company who is sued for knocking down a boy in an accident in Born to Be Bad (1934) for 20th Century Fox, a cosmetic surgeon in Kiss and Make-Up (1934), and a blinded pilot opposite Myrna Loy in Wings in the Dark (1935), and press reports of problems in his marriage to Cherrill, Paramount concluded that Grant
17670-606: The board of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . He died of a stroke in 1986 at the age of 82. Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904, at 15 Hughenden Road in the northern Bristol , England suburb of Horfield . He was the second child of Elias James Leach and Elsie Maria Leach (née Kingdon). His father worked as a tailor's presser at a clothes factory, while his mother worked as a seamstress. His older brother John William Elias Leach died of tuberculous meningitis two days before his first birthday. Grant may have considered himself partly Jewish. He had an unhappy upbringing; his father
17856-456: The box-office in the first week, breaking the record set by Charade the previous year. Grant's final film, Walk, Don't Run (1966), a comedy co-starring Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar , was shot on location in Tokyo, and is set amid the backdrop of the housing shortage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics . Newsweek concluded: "Though Grant's personal presence is indispensable, the character he plays
18042-558: The cast and crew. Grant next appeared with Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains in the Hitchcock-directed film Notorious (1946), playing a government agent who recruits the American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy (Bergman) to infiltrate a Nazi organization in Brazil after World War II. During the course of the film Grant and Bergman's characters fall in love and share one of the longest kisses in film history at around two and
18228-560: The castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, St Nicholas was restored and after a period as a museum has now re-opened as a church. It houses a 1756 William Hogarth triptych painted for the high altar of St Mary Redcliffe . The church also has statues of King Edward I (moved from Arno's Court Triumphal Arch ) and King Edward III (taken from Lawfords' Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760), and 13th-century statues of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (builder of Bristol Castle ) and Geoffrey de Montbray (who built
18414-525: The cinema, where he enjoyed the performances of Charlie Chaplin , Chester Conklin , Fatty Arbuckle , Ford Sterling , Mack Swain , and Broncho Billy Anderson . He moved a short distance to 50 Berkeley Road at about age 4, and was sent to Bishop Road Primary School when he was 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 . Grant's biographer Graham McCann claimed that his mother "did not know how to give affection and did not know how to receive it either". Biographer Geoffrey Wansell notes that his mother blamed herself bitterly for
18600-537: The city was occupied by Royalists , who built the Royal Fort House on the site of an earlier Parliamentarian stronghold. Fishermen from Bristol, who had fished the Grand Banks of Newfoundland since the 16th century, began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at Bristol's Hope and Cuper's Cove . Growth of the city and trade came with
18786-484: The city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down , on the side of the Avon Gorge , and on Kings Weston Hill near Henbury . A Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills (connected to Bath by a Roman road ); another was at the present-day Inns Court . Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were also scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it
18972-684: The city centre by the Portway and M32 ). Bristol was named the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017; it won the European Green Capital Award in 2015. The name derives from the Old English Brycgstow , meaning "assembly place by the bridge" or simply "site of the bridge", presumably in reference to a crossing over the Avon. The final l is an unetymological addition that first appears in
19158-588: The city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock . The city's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries; the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as cultural and heritage centres. There are a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues including the Royal West of England Academy , the Arnolfini , Ashton Gate and
19344-551: The city's walls) from Bristol's Newgate . The rebuilding of Bristol city centre was characterised by 1960s and 1970s skyscrapers , mid-century modern architecture and road building . Beginning in the 1980s some main roads were closed , the Georgian-era Queen Square and Portland Square were restored, the Broadmead shopping area regenerated, and one of the city centre's tallest mid-century towers
19530-1111: The city, and its surrounding land has been protected from development as The Downs and Leigh Woods. The Avon estuary and the gorge form the county boundary with North Somerset , and the river flows into the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth . A smaller gorge, cut by the Hazel Brook which flows into the River Trym , crosses the Blaise Castle estate in northern Bristol. Bristol is sometimes described, by its inhabitants, as being built on seven hills, like Rome. From 18th-century guidebooks, these 7 hills were known as simply Bristol (the Old Town), Castle Hill, College Green, Kingsdown, St Michaels Hill, Brandon Hill and Redcliffe Hill. Other local hills include Red Lion Hill, Barton Hill , Lawrence Hill , Black Boy Hill, Constitution Hill, Staple Hill , Windmill Hill , Malborough Hill, Nine Tree Hill, Talbot, Brook Hill and Granby Hill. Bristol
19716-583: The city-council boundary, such as Kingswood , Mangotsfield , Stoke Gifford , Winterbourne , Almondsbury , Easton in Gordano , Whitchurch village, Filton , Patchway and Bradley Stoke , but excludes undeveloped areas within that boundary. Bristol lies within a limestone area running from the Mendip Hills in the south to the Cotswolds in the northeast. The rivers Avon and Frome cut through
19902-450: The council. Between 2012 and 2024, the council was led by a directly elected mayor, the Mayor of Bristol . The post was abolished following a 2022 referendum, in which voters chose to replace it with a council committee system. The lord mayor of Bristol is a figurehead elected each May by the city council. The lord mayor is Councillor Andrew Varney. In the House of Commons , Bristol
20088-604: The country with 237, as against London's 147. It was a major supplier of slaves to South Carolina before 1750. The 18th century saw an expansion of Bristol's population (45,000 in 1750) and its role in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery to the Americas. Bristol and later Liverpool became centres of the Triangular Trade . Manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans;
20274-511: The death of Grant's brother John, and never recovered from it. Grant acknowledged that his negative experiences with his mother affected his relationships with women later in life. She frowned on alcohol and tobacco, and would reduce pocket money for minor mishaps. Grant attributed her behavior to overprotectiveness, fearing that she would lose him as she did John. When Grant was nine, his father placed his mother in Glenside Hospital ,
20460-648: The director by enacting his mannerisms in the film, he recognized Grant's comic talents and encouraged him to improvise his lines and draw upon his skills developed in vaudeville. The film was a critical and commercial success and made Grant a top Hollywood star, establishing a screen persona for him as a sophisticated light comedy leading man in screwball comedies. The Awful Truth began what film critic Benjamin Schwarz of The Atlantic later called "the most spectacular run ever for an actor in American pictures" for Grant. In 1938, he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn in
20646-538: The distinctive and especially archaic affectation of a " tapped R " at times when R is pronounced, often when between vowels. This tapped articulation is additionally sometimes heard in recordings of Theodore Roosevelt , McKinley's successor from an affluent district of New York City, who used a cultivated non-rhotic accent but with the addition of the coil-curl merger once notably associated with New York accents . His distant cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt also employed
20832-599: The early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock. Another new dock, the Royal Portbury Dock , opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s. As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories. The unsuccessful Bristol International Exhibition was held on Ashton Meadows in the Bower Ashton area in 1914. After the premature closure of the exhibition
21018-732: The early 1900s in New York City and Philadelphia before becoming largely transplanted to Los Angeles beginning in the mid-1910s, with talkies beginning in the late 1920s. Hollywood studios encouraged actors to learn this accent into the 1940s. For instance, in the 1952 movie Singin' in the Rain , the Skinner-like elocution coach who entreats Lina Lamont to use "round tones" is attempting to teach her American stage speech. Examples of actors known for publicly using this accent include Bette Davis , Katharine Hepburn , Laird Cregar ,
21204-539: The enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the Middle Passage under brutal conditions. Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England. Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The Somersett Case of 1772 clarified that slavery
21390-519: The entire King James Bible completed in 1953. Scourby was often employed as a voice actor and narrator in advertisements and in media put out by the National Geographic Society with his refined Mid-Atlantic accent considered desirable for such roles. Humorist Tom Lehrer lampooned the accent in a 1945 satirical tribute to his alma mater, Harvard University , called " Fight Fiercely, Harvard ". Cary Grant had an accent that
21576-455: The film (with the wife discovering her husband is innocent rather than his being guilty and she letting him kill her with a glass of poisoned milk) "a complete mistake because of making that story with Cary Grant. Unless you have a cynical ending it makes the story too simple". Geoff Andrew of Time Out believes Suspicion served as "a supreme example of Grant's ability to be simultaneously charming and sinister". In 1942, Grant participated in
21762-461: The film earned rave reviews from critics. He again appeared with Hepburn in the romantic comedy Holiday later that year, which did not fare well commercially, to the point that Hepburn was considered to be "box office poison" at the time. Despite a series of commercial failures, Grant was now more popular than ever and in high demand. According to Vermilye, in 1939, Grant played roles that were more dramatic, albeit with comical undertones. He played
21948-495: The film was possibly the finest romantic comedy film of the era, and that Grant himself had professed that it was one of his personal favorites. Grant received his first of five Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nominations for his performance and finished the year as the most popular film star at the box office. In 1959, Grant starred in the Hitchcock-directed film North by Northwest , playing an advertising executive who becomes embroiled in
22134-436: The film, which became very popular, a fourteen-gauge, mid-gray, subtly plaid, worsted wool that was custom-made on Savile Row . Grant finished the year playing a U.S. Navy submarine skipper opposite Tony Curtis in the comedy Operation Petticoat . The reviewer from Daily Variety saw Grant's comic portrayal as a classic example of how to attract the laughter of the audience without lines, remarking that "In this film, most of
22320-531: The finest performances of his career. In 1944, Grant starred alongside Priscilla Lane , Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre , in Frank Capra 's dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace , playing the manic Mortimer Brewster, who belongs to a bizarre family that includes two murderous aunts and an uncle claiming to be President Teddy Roosevelt. Grant took up the role after it was originally offered to Bob Hope , who turned it down owing to schedule conflicts. Grant found
22506-521: The first UK city to receive this award. In 2019 Bristol City Council voted in favour of banning all privately owned diesel cars from the city centre. Since then, the plans have been revised in favour of a clean air zone whereby older and more polluting vehicles will be charged to drive through the city centre. The Clean Air Zone came into effect in November 2022. The city has green belt mainly along its southern fringes, taking in small areas within
22692-424: The first of Grant's four collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock . Grant did not warm to co-star Joan Fontaine , finding her to be temperamental and unprofessional. Film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times considered that Grant was "provokingly irresponsible, boyishly gay and also oddly mysterious, as the role properly demands". Hitchcock later stated that he thought the conventional happy ending of
22878-495: The gags play off him. It is his reaction, blank, startled, etc., always underplayed, that creates or releases the humor". The film was major box office success, and in 1973, Deschner ranked the film as the highest earning film of Grant's career at the US box office, with takings of $ 9.5 million. In 1960, Grant appeared opposite Deborah Kerr , Robert Mitchum , and Jean Simmons in The Grass Is Greener , which
23064-490: The greatest comedy films of all time. Other well-known films in which he starred in this period were the adventure Gunga Din (1939), the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), and the dramas Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Penny Serenade (1941), and None but the Lonely Heart (1944), the latter two for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor . During the 1940s and 1950s, Grant had
23250-461: The history of the Irish slave trade from Bristol, which he provocatively claimed continued into the reign of Henry VII . Hannah More , originally from Bristol, and a good friend of both Wilberforce and Clarkson, published "Slavery, A Poem" in 1788, just as Wilberforce began his parliamentary campaign. His major speech on 2 April 1792 likewise described the Bristol slave trade specifically, and led to
23436-479: The idea as Grant would be committed to only one feature film; therefore, the producers decided to go after someone who could be part of a franchise after James Mason would only agree to commit to three films. In 1963, Grant appeared in his last typically suave, romantic role opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade . Grant found the experience of working with Hepburn "wonderful" and believed that their close relationship
23622-539: The import and processing of tobacco flourished with the expansion of the W.D. & H.O. Wills business. Supported by new industry and growing commerce, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801), quintupled during the 19th century, resulting in the creation of new suburbs such as Clifton and Cotham . These provide architectural examples from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing
23808-464: The late 1920s, was one of the most influential speech teachers for East Coast actors, publishing her text on the accent, Good American Speech , in 1928. Edith Skinner rose to prominence in the 1930s and 1940s, best known for her own instructional text, Speak with Distinction , published in 1942. These speech teachers referred to this accent as Good (American) Speech , which Skinner also called Eastern (American) Standard and which she described as
23994-755: The late 1930s. By this point he was one of the highest paid Hollywood stars, commanding $ 300,000 per picture. The early 1950s marked the beginning of a slump in Grant's career. His roles as a top brain surgeon who is caught in the middle of a bitter revolution in a Latin American country in Crisis , and as a medical-school professor and orchestra conductor opposite Jeanne Crain in People Will Talk were poorly received. Grant had become tired of being Cary Grant after twenty years, being successful, wealthy and popular, and remarked: "To play yourself, your true self,
24180-476: The lead role. Grant stated that Warren Beatty had made a big effort to get him to play the role of Mr. Jordan in Heaven Can Wait (1978), which eventually went to James Mason. Morecambe and Stirling claim that Grant had also expressed an interest in appearing in A Touch of Class (1973), The Verdict (1982), and a film adaptation of William Goldman 's 1983 book about screenwriting, Adventures in
24366-490: The limestone to the underlying clay, creating Bristol's characteristically hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through flood plains and areas which were marshes before the city's growth. To the west the Avon cuts through the limestone to form the Avon Gorge, formed largely by glacial meltwater after the last ice age . The gorge, which helped protect Bristol Harbour, has been quarried for stone to build
24552-539: The macabre subject matter of the film difficult to contend with and believed that it was the worst performance of his career. That year he received his second Oscar nomination for a role, opposite Ethel Barrymore and Barry Fitzgerald in the Clifford Odets -directed film None but the Lonely Heart , set in London during the Depression. Late in the year he featured in the CBS Radio series Suspense , playing
24738-495: The neighbouring village of Kingswood , often in the open air. Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled Thoughts Upon Slavery, in 1774 and the Society of Friends began lobbying against slavery in Bristol in 1783. The city's scions remained nonetheless strongly anti-abolitionist. Thomas Clarkson came to Bristol to study the slave trade and gained access to the Society of Merchant Venturers records. One of his contacts
24924-503: The off-beat comedy Once Upon a Honeymoon , in which he was praised for his scenes with Rogers, he appeared in Mr. Lucky the following year, playing a gambler in a casino aboard a ship. The commercially successful submarine war film Destination Tokyo (1943) was shot in just six weeks in September and October, which left him exhausted; the reviewer from Newsweek thought it was one of
25110-549: The other members when the rest of the troupe returned to Britain. He became fond of the Marx Brothers during this period, and Zeppo Marx was an early role model for him. In July 1922, he performed in a group called the "Knockabout Comedians" at the Palace Theater on Broadway. He formed another group that summer called "The Walking Stanleys" with several of the former members of the Pender Troupe, and he starred in
25296-652: The phrase "naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan". After the accent's decline following the end of World War II, this American version of a "posh" accent has all but disappeared even among the American upper classes, as Americans have increasingly dissociated from the speaking styles of the East Coast elite; if anything, the accent is now subject to ridicule in American popular culture. The clipped, non-rhotic English accents of George Plimpton and William F. Buckley Jr. were vestigial examples. Marianne Williamson ,
25482-433: The rise of England's American colonies in the 17th century. Bristol's location on the west side of Great Britain gave its ships an advantage in sailing to and from the New World, and the city's merchants made the most of it, with the city becoming one of the two leading outports in all of England by the middle of the 18th century. Bristol was the slave capital of England: In 1755, it had the largest number of slave traders in
25668-492: The road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic medieval gothic style appeared, partially as a reaction against the symmetry of Palladianism , and can be seen in buildings such as the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery , the Royal West of England Academy , and The Victoria Rooms . Riots broke out in 1793 and 1831; the first over the renewal of tolls on Bristol Bridge, and
25854-594: The romance An Affair to Remember , playing an international playboy who becomes the object of her affections. Schickel sees the film as one of the definitive romantic pictures of the period, but remarks that Grant was not entirely successful in trying to supersede the film's "gushing sentimentality". That year, Grant also appeared opposite Sophia Loren in The Pride and the Passion . He had expressed an interest in playing William Holden 's character in The Bridge on
26040-675: The romantic films Indiscreet (1958), Operation Petticoat (1959), That Touch of Mink (1962), and Charade (1963). He is remembered by critics for his unusually broad appeal as a handsome, suave actor who did not take himself too seriously, and in comedies was able to toy with his dignity without sacrificing it entirely. Grant was married five times, three of them elopements with actresses Virginia Cherrill (1934–1935), Betsy Drake (1949–1962), and Dyan Cannon (1965–1968). He had daughter Jennifer Grant with Cannon. He retired from film acting in 1966 and pursued numerous business interests, representing cosmetics firm Fabergé and sitting on
26226-497: The same ship, returning from their honeymoon; Grant played shuffleboard with Fairbanks, who became an important role model for him. After arriving in New York, the group performed at the New York Hippodrome , the largest theater in the world at the time with a capacity of 5,697. They performed there for nine months, putting on 12 shows a week, and they had a successful production of Good Times . Doing stand-up comedy
26412-447: The same year is also a "sin of omission" for the Oscars. The following year Grant was considered for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Penny Serenade —his first nomination from the academy. Wansell claims that Grant found the film to be an emotional experience, because he and wife-to-be Barbara Hutton had started to discuss having their own children. Later that year he appeared in the romantic psychological thriller Suspicion ,
26598-414: The screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby , featuring a leopard and frequent bickering and verbal jousting between Grant and Hepburn. He was initially uncertain how to play his character, but was told by director Howard Hawks to think of Harold Lloyd . Grant was given more leeway in the comic scenes, the editing of the film and in educating Hepburn in the art of comedy. Despite losing over $ 350,000 for RKO,
26784-462: The second against the rejection of the second Reform Bill by the House of Lords . The population by 1841 had reached 140,158. The Diocese of Bristol had undergone several boundary changes by 1897 when it was "reconstituted" into the configuration which has lasted into the 21st century. From a population of about 330,000 in 1901, Bristol grew steadily during the 20th century, peaking at 428,089 in 1971. Its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during
26970-465: The set of a Cary Grant movie". According to the vocal coach and drama professor Dudley Knight , when the 20th century began, "American actors in classical plays all spoke with English accents", due to the high prestige of English Received Pronunciation (RP). Early in this century, the wealthy Brahmin accent of Boston, Massachusetts , a subset of Eastern New England English , had already absorbed notable features from RP such as non-rhoticity and
27156-441: The site was used, until 1919, as barracks for the Gloucestershire Regiment during World War I . Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids during World War II ; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair. The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed churches and fragments of
27342-403: The socioeconomic circumstances of the city's Afro-Caribbean residents. Local support of fair trade was recognised in 2005, when Bristol became a fairtrade zone . Bristol is both a city and a county, since King Edward III granted it a county charter in 1373. The county was expanded in 1835 to include suburbs such as Clifton , and it was named a county borough in 1889 when that designation
27528-762: The stereotypical clenching of the speaker's jaw muscles to achieve an exaggerated enunciation quality. The related term "boarding-school lockjaw" has also been used to describe the accent once considered a characteristic of elite New England boarding-school culture. Wealthy or highly educated Americans known for being life-long speakers of a Mid-Atlantic accent include William F. Buckley Jr. , Gore Vidal , H. P. Lovecraft , Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt , Alice Roosevelt Longworth , Averell Harriman , Dean Acheson , George Plimpton , John F. Kennedy , Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (who began affecting it permanently while at Miss Porter's School ), Louis Auchincloss , Norman Mailer , Diana Vreeland (though her accent
27714-423: The telephone, and enjoy my life". Grace Kelly's death was the hardest on him, as it was unexpected and the two had remained close friends after filming To Catch a Thief . Grant visited Monaco three or four times each year during his retirement, and showed his support for Kelly by joining the board of the Princess Grace Foundation . Mid-Atlantic accent A Mid-Atlantic accent , or Transatlantic accent ,
27900-406: The theater, on the road, and in New York. In 1930, Grant toured for nine months in a production of the musical The Street Singer . It ended in early 1931, and the Shuberts invited him to spend the summer performing on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri ; he appeared in 12 different productions, putting on 87 shows. He received praise from local newspapers for these performances, gaining
28086-763: The time of his death in 1935, who championed a version of the accent that, for the first time, was standardized with an extreme and conscious level of phonetic consistency. Calling his new standard "World English", Tilly mostly attracted a following of English-language learners and New York City public-school teachers, and his goal was to popularize his standard of a "proper" American pronunciation for teaching in public schools and using in one's public life. While he did not specifically work with actors himself, some of his prominent students ended up doing so. Linguistic prescriptivists , Tilly and his adherents emphatically promoted World English, and its slight variations taught in classes of theatre and oratory, helping to eventually define
28272-409: The time. Grant received more than $ 700,000 for his 10% of the gross of the successful To Catch a Thief , while Hitchcock received less than $ 50,000 for directing and producing it. Though critical reception to the overall film was mixed, Grant received high praise for his performance, with critics commenting on his suave, handsome appearance in the film. In 1957, Grant starred opposite Deborah Kerr in
28458-538: The time. One of these qualities is non-rhoticity , sometimes called "R-dropping", in which speakers delete the phoneme /r/ except before a vowel sound (thus, in pair but not pairing ), which is also shared by the traditional regional dialects of Eastern New England (including Boston), New York City , and some areas of the South , although precisely how varied by exact location, social class, and other demographic factors. Sociolinguists like William Labov describe that non-rhoticity, "following Received Pronunciation,
28644-439: The two was so great during the making of Houseboat that the producers found it almost impossible to make. Later in 1958, Grant starred opposite Bergman in the romantic comedy Indiscreet , playing a successful financier who has an affair with a famous actress (Bergman) while pretending to be a married man. During the filming he formed a closer friendship and gained new respect for her as an actress. Schickel stated that he thought
28830-530: The unhappiness of his home life. The time spent at Southampton strengthened his desire to travel; he was eager to leave Bristol and tried to sign on as a ship's cabin boy, but he was too young. On March 13, 1918, the 14-year-old Grant was expelled from Fairfield. Several explanations were given, including being discovered in the girls' lavatory and assisting two other classmates with theft in the nearby town of Almondsbury . Wansell claims that Grant had set out intentionally to get himself expelled from school to pursue
29016-400: The uniform. He was quite capable in most academic subjects, but he excelled at sports, particularly fives , and his good looks and acrobatic talents made him a popular figure. He developed a reputation for mischief, and frequently refused to do his homework. A former classmate referred to him as a "scruffy little boy", while an old teacher remembered "the naughty little boy who was always making
29202-433: The western Severn Estuary ending at (but not including) the islands of Flat Holm (in Cardiff , Wales) and Steep Holm . This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III in 1373. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has defined a Bristol Urban Area , which includes developed areas adjoining Bristol but outside
29388-461: Was The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936), which was shot in England. The film was a box office bomb and prompted Grant to reconsider his decision. Critical and commercial success with Suzy later that year in which he played a French airman opposite Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone , led to him signing joint contracts with RKO and Columbia Pictures , enabling him to choose the stories that he felt suited his acting style. His Columbia contract
29574-418: Was "absolutely terrible in the role", but he exhibited a charm that endeared him to people and effectively saved the show from failure. The play ran for 72 shows, and Grant earned $ 350 a week before moving to Detroit, and then to Chicago. To console himself, Grant bought a 1927 Packard sport phaeton . He visited his half-brother Eric in England, and he returned to New York to play the role of Max Grunewald in
29760-432: Was "possibly the finest actress I've ever worked with". Grant was one of the first actors to go independent by not renewing his studio contract, effectively leaving the studio system , which almost completely controlled all aspects of an actor's life. He decided which films he was going to appear in, often had personal choice of directors and co-stars, and at times negotiated a share of the gross revenue, something uncommon at
29946-441: Was a four-film deal over two years, guaranteeing him $ 50,000 each for the first two and $ 75,000 each for the others. In 1937, Grant began the first film under his contract with Columbia Pictures, When You're in Love , portraying a wealthy American artist who eventually woos a famous opera singer ( Grace Moore ). His performance received positive feedback from critics, with Mae Tinee of The Chicago Daily Tribune describing it as
30132-407: Was a major commercial and critical success, and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Life magazine called it "intelligently written and competently acted". The following year, Grant played neurotic Jim Blandings, the title-sake in the comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House , again with Loy. Though the film lost money for RKO, Philip T. Hartung of Commonweal thought that Grant's role as
30318-483: Was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name. By 1067, Brycgstow was a well-fortified burh , and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of Harold Godwinson 's sons. Under Norman rule, the town had one of the strongest castles in southern England . Bristol was the place of exile for Diarmait Mac Murchada , the Irish king of Leinster , after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played
30504-437: Was actually a life-long member of the New York City elite), and John Kerry , who has noticeably reduced this accent since his early adulthood toward a more General American one. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , who came from a privileged New York City family, has a non-rhotic accent, though it is not an ordinary New York accent but rather a Mid-Atlantic one. One of Roosevelt's most frequently heard speeches has
30690-465: Was also a provision in the contract for salary raises based on job performance. The Pender Troupe began touring the country, and Grant's performing pantomime developed his physical skills, broadening the range of his acting. The troupe traveled on the RMS Olympic to conduct a tour of the United States on July 21, 1920, when he was 16, arriving a week later. Biographer Richard Schickel writes that Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were aboard
30876-448: Was an alcoholic and his mother had clinical depression. He had such a traumatic childhood, it was horrible. I work with a lot of kids on the street and I've heard a lot of stories about what happens when a family breaks down — but his was just horrendous. —Grant's wife Dyan Cannon on his childhood Grant's mother taught him song and dance when he was four, and she was keen on his having piano lessons. She occasionally took him to
31062-410: Was becoming defined in the 1920s as "RP" or "Received Pronunciation". World English, then, was a creation of speech teachers, and boldly labeled as a class-based accent: the speech of persons variously described as "educated," "cultivated," or "cultured"; the speech of persons who moved in rarefied social or intellectual circles; and the speech of those who might aspire to do so. From the 1920s to 1940s,
31248-431: Was born in Bristol, and the left-winger Tony Benn served as MP for Bristol South East in 1950–1960 and again from 1963 to 1983. In 1963 the Bristol Bus Boycott , following the Bristol Omnibus Company 's refusal to hire black drivers and conductors, drove the passage of the UK's 1965 Race Relations Act . The 1980 St. Pauls riot protested against racism and police harassment and showed mounting dissatisfaction with
31434-457: Was carefully taught as a model of "correct" English in American elocution classes before 1945 and it was also taught for use in American theatre into the 1960s, after which it fell out of vogue. It is still taught to actors for use in playing historical characters. A codified version of the Mid-Atlantic accent for the American theatre, advocated by voice coaches like Margaret Prendergast McLean and Edith Skinner ("Good Speech" as she called it),
31620-408: Was clear on camera, though according to Hepburn, he was particularly worried during the filming that he would be criticized for being far too old for her and seen as a "cradle snatcher". Author Chris Barsanti writes: "It's the film's canny flirtatiousness that makes it such ingenious entertainment. Grant and Hepburn play off each other like the pros that they are". The film, well received by the critics,
31806-401: Was demolished. Bristol's road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the M4 and M5 motorways , which meet at the Almondsbury Interchange just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), Swansea (M4 westbound across the Severn Estuary ), Exeter (M5 southbound) and Birmingham (M5 northbound). Bristol was bombed twice by
31992-495: Was eventually dropped from the run after six weeks of poor reviews. Despite the setback, Hammerstein's rival Florenz Ziegfeld made an attempt to buy Grant's contract, but Hammerstein sold it to the Shubert Brothers instead. J. J. Shubert cast him in a small role as a Spaniard opposite Jeanette MacDonald in the French risqué comedy Boom-Boom at the Casino Theater on Broadway, which premiered on January 28, 1929, ten days after his 25th birthday. MacDonald later admitted that Grant
32178-450: Was expendable. Grant's prospects picked up in the latter half of 1935 when he was loaned out to RKO Pictures . Producer Pandro Berman agreed to take him on in the face of failure because "I'd seen him do things which were excellent, and [Katharine] Hepburn wanted him too." His first venture with RKO, playing a raffish Cockney swindler in George Cukor 's Sylvia Scarlett (1935), was the first of four collaborations with Hepburn. Though
32364-417: Was illegal in England. At the height of the Bristol slave trade from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. In 1739, John Wesley founded the first Methodist chapel, the New Room , in Bristol. Wesley, along with his brother Charles Wesley and George Whitefield , preached to large congregations in Bristol and
32550-506: Was introduced. On 1 April 1974, Bristol became a local government district of the county of Avon . On 1 April 1996, Avon was abolished and Bristol became a unitary authority . The former Avon area, called Greater Bristol by the Government Office of the South West (now abolished) and others, refers to the city and the three neighbouring local authorities— Bath and North East Somerset , North Somerset and South Gloucestershire previously in Avon. The North Fringe of Bristol ,
32736-415: Was not because he had "irrevocably turned his back on the film industry," but because he was "caught between a decision made and the temptation to eat a bit of humble pie and re-announce himself to the cinema-going public". In the 1970s, MGM was keen on remaking Grand Hotel (1932) and hoped to lure Grant out of retirement. Hitchcock had long wanted to make a film based on the idea of Hamlet , with Grant in
32922-411: Was once widely taught in acting schools of the early mid-20th century. In a Mid-Atlantic accent, the postvocalic /r/ is typically either dropped or vocalized. The vowels /ə/ or /ɜː/ do not undergo R-coloring . Linking R is used, but Skinner openly disapproved of intrusive R . In Mid-Atlantic accents, intervocalic /r/ 's and linking r 's undergo liaison . When preceded by a long vowel,
33108-430: Was over, and briefly left the industry. In 1955, Grant agreed to star opposite Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief , playing a retired jewel thief named John Robie, nicknamed "The Cat", living in the French Riviera . Grant and Kelly worked well together during the production, which was one of the most enjoyable experiences of Grant's career. He found Hitchcock and Kelly to be very professional, and later stated that Kelly
33294-429: Was praised by critics, and it received three Academy Award nominations and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Picture , in addition to landing Grant another Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor. Deschner ranked the film as the second highest grossing of Grant's career. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman originally sought Grant for the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962) but discarded
33480-438: Was praised by the critics, who admired the picture's slapstick qualities and chemistry between Grant and Loy; it became one of the biggest-selling films at the box office that year. Later that year he starred opposite David Niven and Loretta Young in the comedy The Bishop's Wife , playing an angel who is sent down from heaven to straighten out the relationship between the bishop (Niven) and his wife (Loretta Young). The film
33666-413: Was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s. The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a county in 1373, the first town in England to be given this status. During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre. By the 14th century, Bristol, York and Norwich were England's largest medieval towns after London. One-third to one-half of the population died in
33852-549: Was shot in England at Osterley Park and Shepperton Studios . McCann notes that Grant took great relish in "mocking his aristocratic character's over-refined tastes and mannerisms", though the film was panned and was seen as his worst since Dream Wife . In 1962, Grant starred in the romantic comedy That Touch of Mink , playing suave, wealthy businessman Philip Shayne romantically involved with an office worker, played by Doris Day . He invites her to his apartment in Bermuda , but her guilty conscience begins to take hold. The picture
34038-415: Was still alive until he was 31, his father confessing to the lie shortly before his own death. Grant made arrangements for his mother to leave the institution in June 1935, shortly after he learned of her whereabouts. He visited her regularly, including after filming Gunga Din in October 1938. Grant enjoyed the theater, particularly pantomimes at Christmas, which he attended with his father. He befriended
34224-485: Was taught as a model of correct, international English by schools of speech, acting, and elocution in the United States up to the end of World War II". Early recordings of prominent Americans born in the middle of the 19th century provide some insight into their adoption (or not) of a carefully employed non-rhotic Mid-Atlantic speaking style. President William Howard Taft , who attended public school in Ohio, and inventor Thomas Edison , who grew up in Ohio and Michigan in
34410-401: Was the owner of the Seven Stars public house , who boarded sailors Clarkson sought to meet. Through these sailors he was able to observe how slaver captains and first mates "plied and stupefied seamen with drink" to sign them up. Other informants included ship surgeons and seamen seeking redress. When William Wilberforce began his parliamentary abolition campaign on 12 May 1788, he recalled
34596-463: Was −10.1 °C (13.8 °F) in December 2010. Although large cities in general experience an urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, this phenomenon is minimal in Bristol. Bristol was ranked as Britain's most sustainable city (based on its environmental performance, quality of life, future-proofing and approaches to climate change, recycling and biodiversity), topping environmental charity Forum for
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