January 18, 1904 - November 29, 1986 Archibald Alec Leach better known by his screen name, Cary Grant, was a English-born American film actor. With his distinctive Mid-Atlantic accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man, handsome, virile, charismatic and charming. He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time of American cinema, after Humphrey Bogart, by the American Film Institute. Although he was married five times, his sexual orientation is matter of dispute. Born in Horfield, Bristol, England in 1904. He attended Bishop Road Primary School. An only child, he had a confused and unhappy childhood. His mother Elsie was placed by his father in a mental institution when Archie was ten. She never overcame her depression after the death of a previous infant child. His father, who had a son with another woman, told him that she had gone away on a "long holiday". It was only when he was in his thirties that he discovered she was still alive, but institutionalized. After being expelled from Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918, he joined the "Bob Pender stage troupe" and traveled with the group as a stilt walker to the United States in 1920, on the RMS Olympic for a two-year tour. When the troupe returned to England, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career. Still as Archie Leach, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931); Music in May (1931); Nina Rosa (1931); Rio Rita (1931); Street Singer (1931); The Three Musketeers (1931); and Wonderful Night (1931). Over time, he created a unique accent and persona that mixed working and upper class accents, while supporting himself as a hawker and a male escort for socialites. After some success in light Broadway comedies, he came to Hollywood in 1931, where he acquired the name Cary Lockwood. He chose the name Lockwood after the surname of his character in a recent play called Nikki. He signed with Paramount Pictures, but while studio bosses were impressed with him, they were less than impressed with his adopted stage name. They decided that the name Cary was OK, but Lockwood had to go due to a similarity with another actor's name. It was after browsing through a list of the studio's preferred surnames, that Cary Grant was born. Grant chose the name because the initials C and G, had already proved lucky for Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, two of Hollywood's then-biggest movie stars.