His Final Curtain Call
In the final years of his life, Cary Grant toured America including some of his old vaudeville haunts with his one-man show, ‘A Conversation with Cary Grant’. He would get up on stage, answer audience questions and screen clips from his films. Sadly, just before one of these performances, in November 1986, Grant suffered a stroke.
He passed away later that night and, per his wishes, his ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. His daughter, Jennifer, and his wife, Barbara, inherited most of his estate, which was worth between $60 and $80 million. The man was gone, but the legend remained.
Unofficial Retirement
Grant did officially retire after the birth of his daughter, but he unofficially quit appearing in movies more than ten years earlier, in 1952. At that time, he began to believe that his type of acting was old-fashioned and that the method acting being showcased by James Dean and Marlon Brando was the future.
He was also not acting as a form of protest against the shunning of Charlie Chaplin by Hollywood for his liberal point of view. He did agree to appear in 'To Catch A Thief' after Alfred Hitchcock convinced him.
No Comeback
Although the actor semi-retired in 1952, people were still surprised by Grant’s official retirement. Even Alfred Hitchcock could not lure him back this time to star in the movie 'Torn Curtain'. Over the years, many important directors approached Grant and asked to work with him, including Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, and even Stanley Kubrick, but Grant said no to all of them.
The only time the actor appeared on screen for the remainder of his life was in the audience and backstage in the Elvis Presley concert documentary, 'Elvis: That’s the Way It is'.
Wives One, Two and Three
When Grant passed away, he was married to Barbara Harris, who was his fifth wife. Grant’s first marriage to Virginia Cherrill took place in 1934. She accused him of domestic abuse, and they called it quits. He married one of the richest women in the world, Barbara Hutton, in 1942.
They were married for three years before they separated. Grant’s next marriage was to a fellow actress by the name of Betsy Drake, and the pair actually stayed together for 12 and a half years, which for Hollywood is quite a good run.
Wives Four and Five
The third divorce was probably brought about by Grant’s affair with his 'The Pride and The Passion' and 'Houseboat' costar, Sophia Loren, ironically written by Betsy Drake, his wife at the time. He tied the knot again in 1965 with Dyan Cannon, another actress and the mother of his only child, daughter Jennifer, born in 1966.
The couple split in 1986, but Grant did not give up on love. He continued searching and in 1981, he married his fifth and last wife, Barbara Harris, a hotel public relations agent. They were married until his death in 1986.