Why Cary Grant revelled in all the gay rumours

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He married five times and was one of the most desired male film stars of his era. Yet throughout his career Cary Grant was dogged by rumours that he was gay. Now it has emerged that the handsome and charming Hollywood star revelled in the speculation because he thought it made women more likely to seduce him to prove it wrong. Two of his wives accused him of being gay and he supposedly lived with actor Randolph Scott on and off for 12 years. The rumours were further fanned when pictures of the men were published in magazines which showed them preparing dinner at home as if they were a couple.

But Jennifer Grant, 45, the British-born actor’s only child, denied that her father was homosexual and said he just enjoyed the speculation.

“Can’t blame men for wanting him, and wouldn’t be surprised if Dad even mildly flirted back,” she writes in her new memoir.

“When the question arises, it generally speaks more about the person asking. Dad somewhat enjoyed being called gay.

“He said it made women want to prove the assertion wrong.”

Grant was born Archibald Alexander Leach in Bristol but went to the U.S. with a stage troupe as a 16-year-old and acted in vaudeville before heading for Hollywood in 1931, where he changed his name.

He was one of cinema’s top box-office attractions for almost 30 years, and perhaps its most debonair leading man. Grant starred in films including Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, To Catch A Thief, North By Northwest and Charade and appeared alongside some of the leading ladies of the time such as Ingrid Bergman in the 1958 film Indiscreet.

He died from a brain haemorrhage in 1986 aged 82.

Miss Grant, who was the actor’s daughter by his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon, describes how despite his fame he maintained a semblance of normality in his private life.

“In my experience, Dad was neither cheap nor excessive, which, for a wealthy man, is remarkable,” she writes.

Although he may have enjoyed the gay rumours, Grant was secretive about his private life.

And his daughter’s memoir, Good Stuff: A Reminiscence Of My Father, does not pry too far into his private life. It is unlikely to end the speculation about his sexuality.

Egyptian actor Alexander D’Arcy, who appeared with Grant in The Awful Truth, once said in an interview that he knew that Grant and Scott “lived together as a gay couple”.

He added: “I think Cary knew that people were saying things about him. I don’t think he tried to hide it.”

Grant’s widow, Barbara Harris, has disputed that he had a relationship with Scott. Third wife Betsy Drake said she and Grant had a vigorous sex life but added: “Maybe he was bisexual. He lived 43 years before he met me. I don’t know what he did.” - Daily Mail