Due to the SOPA blackout, I am a day late with my Cary Grant birthday post, but I am no less sincere. Writer’s block is troubling me for the second time in two weeks as I try to be original about how handsome, charming, and debonair he was, both in his movies and apparently in real life. As Audrey Hepburn said to him in Charade: “Do you know what’s wrong with you? NOTHING.” OK, that was dialogue between their characters…but still. And though at least some of the time American acting is about playing oneself, I also think Grant was a great actor. I’m thinking of Roger O. Thornhill’s disorientation and distress in North by Northwest, Johnny Aysgarth’s furtive shadiness in Suspicion, and John Robie’s desperation in To Catch A Thief.

My favorite Cary Grant moment, right at this moment, is his entrance in Indiscreet. He’s just there suddenly when Anna (Ingrid Bergman) turns around and she reacts pretty much as I would expect. The clip is here, he apparates in (yes, I do mean apparate) around the 7:55 mark.

I think probably the best tribute ever to Cary Grant has been done, by Michael Caine, courtesy of TCM:

So what’s your favorite Cary Grant movie, scene, or line? Leave a comment!