Cary Grant's Real Name: Archibald Alec Leach

Quick answer: Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904, in Horfield, Bristol, England. He was known as Archie Leach. Paramount Pictures gave him the name Cary Grant in 1932, and he later made it his legal name. He starred in Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Notorious, and North by Northwest, and he died on November 29, 1986, in Davenport, Iowa (Historic England; Britannica).

Real name and early life

Historic England's blue plaque entry says Grant "was born into poverty as Archibald Alec Leach on 18 January 1904 in Horfield, a suburb to the north of Bristol." The official Cary Grant site gives his birthplace as 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield. It names his parents as Elias James Leach, a tailor's presser, and Elsie Maria Leach. The Library of Congress name authority lists the variants "Leach, Archie" and "Leach, Archibald Alexander." Some of its sources expand his middle name as Alexander, but Historic England and the official site give Alec.

Britannica says that to escape poverty and a fractious family, Archie Leach left home at 13 to perform as a juggler with the Bob Pender Troupe. In London music halls he picked up a Cockney accent. He stayed in the United States after the troupe's 1920 American tour, working as a Coney Island barker, a stilt walker, and a vaudeville straight man.

Career highlights

Stage work in musicals and comedies led to a Paramount contract in 1932. Britannica says studio executives thought "Archie Leach" unsuitable for a leading man and "rechristened the actor 'Cary Grant.'" Britannica says he legally adopted the name in 1941. The official site ties the legal change "from Archibald Alec Leach to Cary Grant" to his naturalization as a U.S. citizen.

Mae West made him a star in She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (both 1933). Freelancing after 1935, he made The Awful Truth (1937) and Topper (1937). With Katharine Hepburn he made Bringing Up Baby (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940), and he starred as editor Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940). For Alfred Hitchcock he made Notorious (1946) and North by Northwest (1959). He was nominated for Oscars for Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart (1944) and received an honorary Oscar in 1970. Walk, Don't Run (1966) became his final film.

Death

The official site says he suffered a stroke while preparing for a stage appearance in Davenport, Iowa, and died that evening, November 29, 1986, at 82.

Name notes for searchers

Archibald Alec Leach was his birth name, Archie his childhood nickname, and Cary Grant a studio-created name he later made legal. Library records sometimes give the middle name as Alexander; primary heritage sources give Alec.