Cary Grant is Hollywood's most fascinating and timeless star. Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, he went on to become the movies' favourite romantic lead, remarkably, for over thirty-five years. He starred in no less than seventy-two films, ranging from groundbreaking classic comedies like Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby to Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion and North by Northwest. He appeared opposite some of the most glamorous women of the silver screen: Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren. But because of his pioneering role as an independent player Grant was repeatedly denied the Oscar he coveted. As this new and definitive biography shows, however, Grant's sparkling on-screen image hid a tumultuous private life and a tortured soul: five marriages, numerous affairs and even an eleven-year relationship with Randolph Scott. Above all, as Marc Eliot reveals, Cary Grant always wanted to be the intensely private individual that his Olympian screen reputation could never allow.