Cary Grant-his transition from homosexual-bisexual to a straight life!
English-American actor, Cary Grant was a famous personality who carved a name in both crime as well as romantic movies of yesteryears. He was an accomplished actor who had married five times and has one child, daughter Jennifer Grant. But there is a suspense surrounding his personal life and sexuality. While there are claims that he was initially homosexual who later married to shut the rumors, his family denies these claims.
Cary Grant and his marriages and relationships
Cary Grant was born in Bristol in the UK into an impoverished family. His date of birth was 18 January 1904 while he expired on 29 November 1986. He was active in films and television from 1922 to 1966. Outwardly, it appears that he was a straight person. But insiders state that Cary was homosexual and bisexual. He might not have come out due to the stigma associated with it during his active years in the film industry.
Cary married five times. His first wife was Virginia Cherrill. They had a court marriage on 9 February 1934 at the Caxton Hall Register office in London. She accused him of domestic violence and divorced him on 26 March 1935. It was a messy divorce with Virginia demanding from her ex-husband USD 1000 per week as allowance.
In 1937, Cary began dating actress Phyllis Brooks. They toured Europe together in mid-1939 but split later that year. Subsequently, Cary dated and wed Barbara Hutton in 1942. She was extremely wealthy and in order to show the world that he did not marry her for money, Cary made a prenup. In this, he refused any financial settlement in case they divorce. The couple divorced amicably in 1945 and continued to remain friends.
Cary’s other marriages
Betty Hensel was Cary’s love partner for a while before he dated and soon wed his third wife, Betsy Drake. She was his co-star in some films and the wedding took place on 25 December 1949. However, it ended on 14 August 1962 with no kids.
Later, Cary started dating Dyan Cannon and the two married on 22 July 1965 in Las Vegas at the Desert Inn. on 26 February 1966, Dyan gave birth to their daughter, Jennifer. Cary considers Jennifer his best production and had said:
“My life changed the day Jennifer was born. I’ve come to think that the reason we’re put on this earth is to procreate. To leave something behind. Not films, because you know that I don’t think my films will last very long once I’m gone. But another human being. That’s what’s important.”
The couple split in August 1967. Cary had a brief relationship with actress Cynthia Bouron. In between 1973 and 1977, he was in relationships with English photojournalist, Maureen Donaldson and Victoria Morgan. On 11 April 1981, Cary married British hotel public relations agent, Barbara Harris who was 46 years younger to him.
Cary’s hidden sexual orientation
During his struggling years, Cary had stayed with costume designer Orry-Kelly from 1925 to 1931 in the West Village, New York. It is widely rumored that the two had an on-off type of relationship until the death of Orry-Kelly in 1964. In his memoir, Orry did not name Cary as his boyfriend but director Gillian Armstrong in his documentary had stated that the two were love partners.
Read here: British singer, Cliff Richard: Know what he said about his sexuality!
Moreover, biographer Bill Royce has stated that during his last years, Cary had confided in him about his sexuality. Cary had confessed that he and Randolph were bisexual. While Cary wanted to have Randolph, the latter did not have the same attraction towards Cary. Yet, the two had experimented this imbalance in attraction.
Both Dyan and Jennifer have denied that Cary was homosexual, though they admitted that they are not sure about what sexual orientation he had in his growing and young days. Cary’s biographer Scott Eyman had said that Cary had admitted that he was basically gay as a young man, later bisexual, still later straight. For him, homosexuality was just a part of the journey, but not necessarily the final destination.
