Cary Grant, Hollywood's non-controversial leading man for years, was once the self-appointed poster child for LSD, years before the psychedelic drug flooded the much-less-squeaky-clean Haight-Ashbury district. The Cary Grant-LSD story resurfaced with the Cannes premiere of Becoming Cary Grant (now on Showtime), a documentary that explores the iconic actor's experimentation with LSD.

Grant was introduced to the psychedelic by his wife Betsy Drake and began to attend weekly sessions at an LSD clinic in 1958, where the drug was used in a psychiatric setting. (He had a few personal demons regarding his mother to sort out.) It worked—Grant happily spoke about the drug in interviews at the time, claiming "at last, I am close to happiness." He shared his trip stories: "In one LSD dream I imagined myself as a giant penis launching off from Earth like a spaceship," he said, according to The Guardian. His praise of LSD to Good Housekeeping also reportedly inspired Timothy Leary, the unofficial godfather of psychedelic research, to try the stuff.

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Rumor has it Grant himself did LSD 100 times over the course of three years, which coincides with his biggest movies: North by Northwest, which is a little trippy itself, and Charade. "That period when he is the biggest box office star in the world is also the period when he's taking LSD. He has reached this incredible level of total minimalism, inner peace. I'm sure the acid informed the acting," documentary producer Nick Ware told The Guardian.

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Research into LSD flared around this time, but bottomed out in the late-'60s after the government made it very clear that the combo of scientific discovery and drug use was not going to be a priority. Now, however, research into the benefits of psychedelics—for PTSD, depression, and a whole host of other problems—as well as the increasing cultural interest in micro-dosing makes Grant's pursuits seem less insane.

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Sarah Rense Sarah Rense is the Associate Lifestyle Editor at Esquire, where she covers tech, food, drink, home, and more.

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