Cary Grant was an inimitable leading man, bringing grace, humor, talent, and class to the big screen. Cary Grant: A Class Apart offers a humanistic portrait of the debonair star, and strips away any public preconceptions held about him. Grant was born to lower class parents in Bristol, England in 1904. As a child, his mother suffered from a mental disorder and would leave Grant, something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. After joining the vaudeville circuit and making his way to American where he would continue stage acting, Cary's dogged determinedness would eventually land him in Hollywood on the big screen where he would rapidly ascend to be the country's foremost star. Through interviews with friends, wives, costars and others we gain a clear picture of his career and personal life. We follow his successes and the relationships he made with leading ladies and the bonds he made with his directors. We learn how he was the master of his own career, as he guided down often success and the occasional failures. Examples of his charity are evident, like when he donated his entire salary for The Philadelphia Story to the British War effort. Then there are also the scandals and rumors that come with the territory such as a supposed affair with fellow actor Randolph Scott, his advocacy of LSD before it was made illegal, his many failed marriages, as well as his affair with Sophia Loren. We also learn that his personal life may have been in contrast to the one he projected on the screen, something he may have had a difficult time with. With narration by Helen Mirren, this is a fine portrait of a man who created an unmatched presence on the screen.
