Editing Cary Grant (section)

=== 1932–1936: Debut and early roles ===
[[File:This is the Night.jpg|thumb|right|With [[Roland Young]] (''right''), [[Lili Damita]] (''center''), and [[Charlie Ruggles]] (''far left'') in his debut film ''[[This Is the Night (1932 film)|This is the Night]]'' (1932)]]
Grant's role in ''Nikki'' was praised by [[Ed Sullivan]] of ''[[The New York Daily News]]'', who noted that the "young lad from England" had "a big future in the movies".{{sfn|Eliot|2004|pp=54–55}} The review led to another screen test by Paramount Publix, resulting in an appearance as a sailor in ''[[Singapore Sue]]'' (1931),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bonet Mojica|first=Lluis|title=Cary Grant|year=2004|isbn=84-95602-58-X|pages=37–38|publisher=T & B Editores }}</ref> a ten-minute short film by [[Casey Robinson]].{{sfn|Eliot|2004|pp=54–55}} Grant delivered his lines "without any conviction" according to McCann.{{efn|Grant was later so embarrassed by the scene and he requested that it be omitted from his 1970 Academy Award footage.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=57}}}} Through Robinson, Grant met with [[Jesse L. Lasky]] and [[B. P. Schulberg]], the co-founder and general manager of [[Paramount Pictures]] respectively.{{sfn|Eliot|2004|pp=56–57}} After a successful screen-test directed by [[Marion Gering]],{{efn|Grant would later work with Gering in ''[[Devil and the Deep]]'' and ''[[Madame Butterfly (1932 film)|Madame Butterfly]]'' (both 1932)}} Schulberg signed a contract with the 27-year-old Grant on December 7, 1931, for five years,{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=62}} at a starting salary of $450 a week.{{sfnm|1a1=Vermilye|1y=1973|p=19|2a1=Wansell|2y=2011|2p=21}} Schulberg demanded that he change his name to "something that sounded more all-American like [[Gary Cooper]]", and they eventually agreed on Cary Grant.{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=57}}{{efn|Grant agreed that "Archie just doesn't sound right in America. It doesn't sound particularly right in Britain either".{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=61}} While having dinner with Fay Wray, she suggested that he choose "Cary Lockwood", the name of his character in ''Nikki''. Schulberg agreed the name "Cary" was acceptable, but was less satisfied with "Lockwood" as it was too similar to another actor's surname. Schulberg then gave Grant a list of surnames compiled by Paramount's publicity department, out of which he chose "Grant".{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=57}}}}

Grant set out to establish himself as what McCann calls the "epitome of masculine glamour", and made Douglas Fairbanks his first role model.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=65}} McCann notes that Grant's career in Hollywood immediately took off because he exhibited a "genuine charm", which made him stand out among the other good looking actors at the time, making it "remarkably easy to find people who were willing to support his embryonic career".{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=60}} He made his feature film debut with the [[Frank Tuttle]]-directed comedy ''[[This Is the Night (1932 film)|This is the Night]]'' (1932), playing an Olympic javelin thrower opposite [[Thelma Todd]] and [[Lili Damita]].{{sfnm|1a1=Vermilye|1y=1973|1p=20|2a1=Eliot|2y=2004|2p=62}} Grant disliked his role and threatened to leave Hollywood,{{sfnm|1a1=Eliot|1y=2004|1p=62|2a1=Wansell|2y=2011|2p=22}} but to his surprise a critic from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' praised his performance, and thought that he looked like a "potential femme rave".{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=63}}

In 1932, Grant played a wealthy [[playboy lifestyle|playboy]] opposite [[Marlene Dietrich]] in ''[[Blonde Venus]]'', directed by [[Josef von Sternberg]]. Grant's role is described by [[William Rothman]] as projecting the "distinctive kind of nonmacho masculinity that was to enable him to incarnate a man capable of being a romantic hero".{{sfn|Rothman|2014|p=71}} Grant found that he conflicted with the director during the filming and the two often argued in German.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=80}} He played a suave playboy type in a number of films: ''[[Merrily We Go to Hell]]'' opposite [[Fredric March]] and [[Sylvia Sidney]], ''[[Devil and the Deep]]'' with [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Charles Laughton]] (Cooper and Grant had no scenes together), ''[[Hot Saturday]]'' opposite [[Nancy Carroll]] and [[Randolph Scott]],{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=29}} and ''[[Madame Butterfly (1932 film)|Madame Butterfly]]'' with Sidney.<ref name="Filmography">{{cite web |url = https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/75180%7C28068/cary-grant#filmography |title = Cary Grant&nbsp;– Complete Filmography With Synopsis |publisher = [[Turner Classic Movies]] |access-date = November 16, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151116122928/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/75180%7C28068/Cary-Grant/filmography-with-synopsis.html |archive-date = November 16, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Eliot|2004|pp=63–68}} According to biographer Marc Eliot, while these films did not make Grant a star, they did well enough to establish him as one of Hollywood's "new crop of fast-rising actors".{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=66}}
[[File:Grant West I'm No Angel Still 1933.jpg|thumb|left|Grant and [[Mae West]] in ''[[I'm No Angel]]'' (1933)]]
In 1933, Grant gained attention for appearing in the [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-Code films]] ''[[She Done Him Wrong]]'' and ''[[I'm No Angel]]'' opposite [[Mae West]].{{efn|''She Done Him Wrong''—an adaptation of Mae West's own play ''[[Diamond Lil (play)|Diamond Lil]]'' (1928)—was nominated in the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]] category, but lost to ''[[Cavalcade (1933 film)|Cavalcade]]'' (1933).{{sfn|Eliot|2004|pp=68–69}}<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1934 |title = The 6th Academy Awards 1934 |publisher = [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |date = March 16, 1934 |access-date = June 7, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160607094822/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1934 |archive-date = June 7, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} West would later claim that she had discovered Cary Grant.{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=30}}{{efn|According to biographer Jerry Vermilye, Grant had caught West's eye in the studio and had queried about him to one of Paramount's office boys. The boy replied, "Oh, that's Cary Grant. He's making [''Madame''] ''Butterfly'' with Sylvia Sidney". West then retorted, "I don't care if he's making Little Nell. If he can talk, I'll take him."{{sfn|Vermilye|1973|p=30}}}} Of course Grant had already made ''Blonde Venus'' the previous year in which he was Marlene Dietrich's [[leading man]]. [[Pauline Kael]] noted that Grant did not appear confident in his role as a [[Salvation Army]] director in ''She Done Him Wrong'', which made it all the more charming.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=86}}<ref name="Kael">{{cite magazine |url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/07/14/the-man-from-dream-city |title = The Man From Dream City |magazine = [[The New Yorker]] |date = July 14, 1975 |access-date = June 9, 2016 |first = Pauline |last = Kael |author-link = Pauline Kael |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160609003841/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/07/14/the-man-from-dream-city |archive-date = June 9, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was a box office hit, earning more than $2&nbsp;million in the United States,{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=31}} and has since won much acclaim.{{efn|The film is ranked at 75 in [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs]] list, while West's line "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" was voted number 26 in [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes]].<ref name="AFI Laughs">{{cite web |url = http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |title = AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time |publisher = [[American Film Institute]] |access-date = November 16, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151116134020/http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |archive-date = November 16, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.afi.com/100Years/quotes.aspx |title = AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes Of All Time |publisher = American Film Institute |access-date = November 16, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151116134035/http://www.afi.com/100Years/quotes.aspx |archive-date = November 16, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} For ''I'm No Angel'', Grant's salary was increased from $450 to $750 a week.{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=73}} The film was even more successful than ''She Done Him Wrong'', and saved Paramount from bankruptcy;{{sfn|Eliot|2004|p=73}} Vermilye cites it as one of the best comedy films of the 1930s.{{sfnm|1a1=Vermilye|1y=1973|1pp=37–38|2a1=Eliot|2y=2004|2p=91}}

A string of financially unsuccessful films followed, including roles as a president of a company who is sued for knocking down a boy in an accident in ''[[Born to Be Bad (1934 film)|Born to Be Bad]]'' (1934) for 20th Century Fox,{{efn|''The New York Times'' called ''Born to Be Bad'' a "hopelessly unintelligent hodgepodge", while ''Variety'' labelled his performance "colorless" and "meaningless".{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=36}}}} a cosmetic surgeon in ''[[Kiss and Make-Up]]'' (1934),{{sfn|Halliwell|1976|p=23}} and a blinded pilot opposite [[Myrna Loy]] in ''[[Wings in the Dark]]'' (1935). Amid press reports of problems in his marriage to Cherrill,{{efn|In December 1934 Virginia Cherrill informed a jury in a Los Angeles court that Grant "drank excessively, choked and beat her, and threatened to kill her". The press continued to report on the turbulent relationship which began to tarnish his image.{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=38}}}} Paramount concluded that Grant was expendable.{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=38}}{{efn|Though Grant's films in the 1934–1935 period were commercial failures, he was still getting positive comments from the critics, who thought that his acting was getting better. One reviewer from ''Daily Variety'' wrote of ''Wings in the Dark'': "Cary Grant tops all his past work. The part gave him a dimension to play with and he took it headlong. He never flaws in the moving, pathetic, but inspiring behavior of a man whose career seems ruined by an accident but comes back through a mental hell, by virtue of love and the saving ruses of friendship. His acting here lifts him definitely above his prior standing."{{sfn|Deschner|1973|p=84}} Graham Greene of ''The Spectator'' thought that he played his role in ''The Last Outpost'' "extremely well".{{sfn|Deschner|1973|p=86}}}}

[[File:Ladies Should Listen 2.jpg|thumb|Lobby card for ''[[Ladies Should Listen]]'' (1934) with [[Frances Drake]] and Grant]]
Grant's prospects picked up in the latter half of 1935 when he was loaned out to [[RKO Pictures]].{{sfn|Vermilye|1973|p=48}} Producer [[Pandro Berman]] agreed to take him on in the face of failure because "I'd seen him do things which were excellent, and [[Katharine Hepburn|[Katharine] Hepburn]] wanted him too."{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=39}} His first venture with RKO, playing a raffish Cockney swindler in [[George Cukor]]'s ''[[Sylvia Scarlett]]'' (1935), was the first of four collaborations with Hepburn.{{sfnm|1a1=Vermilye|1y=1973|1pp=48–49|2a1=Deschner|2y=1973|2pp=88–89}}{{efn|The pair would later on feature in ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' (1938), ''[[Holiday (1938 film)|Holiday]]'' (1938) and ''[[The Philadelphia Story (film)|The Philadelphia Story]]'' (1940).{{sfn|Vermilye|1973|pp=146–148}}}} Though a commercial failure,{{sfn|Schickel|1998|p=46}} his dominating performance was praised by critics,{{sfnm|1a1=Vermilye|1y=1973|1pp=48–49|2a1=Wansell|2y=2011|2p=41}} and Grant always considered the film to have been the breakthrough for his career.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=89}}

When his contract with Paramount ended in 1936 with the release of ''[[Wedding Present (film)|Wedding Present]]'', Grant decided not to renew it and wished to work freelance. Grant claimed to be the first freelance actor in Hollywood.{{sfn|Vermilye|1973|p=55}} His first venture as a freelance actor was ''[[The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss]]'' (1936), which was shot in England.{{sfn|McCann|1997|p=89}} The film was a [[box office bomb]] and prompted Grant to reconsider his decision. Critical and commercial success with ''[[Suzy (film)|Suzy]]'' later that year in which he played a French airman opposite [[Jean Harlow]] and [[Franchot Tone]], led to him signing joint contracts with RKO and [[Columbia Pictures]], enabling him to choose the stories that he felt suited his acting style.{{sfn|Vermilye|1973|p=55}} His Columbia contract was a four-film deal over two years, guaranteeing him $50,000 each for the first two and $75,000 each for the others.{{sfn|Wansell|2011|p=42}}