Hitchcock Chronology: Cary Grant
Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Cary Grant...
1941
February
- 10th - Hitchcock commences filming on Suspicion for RKO, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine.[1]
June
- Still unsure of the best ending for the film, Suspicion is shown to a test audience. The filmed ending — which sees Joan Fontaine drinking a glass of milk she believes to be poisoned only to discover Cary Grant is instead intending to commit suicide by poisoning himself — is rejected. Hitchcock later tells the New York Herald Tribune, the audience "booed [the ending], and I don't blame them." In desperation, Joan Harrison and Hitchcock eventually come up with a new ending, which is the one used in the released film.[2]
1945
October
- Principal photography begins on Notorious, starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains.[3]
1947
May
- Playwright Irving Fiske files a law suit against Cary Grant and Hitchcock for infringing upon his work "Hamlet in Modern English". Hitchcock had a previously announced plans to make a modern-language version of Hamlet in 1945, although the project was soon dropped. Fiske sought damages of $1,250,000 and the case was eventually heard in October 1954.
June
- The Hitchcocks celebrate their daughter Patricia's high school graduation with a lavish party at their Bellagio Road house. Among the guests are Alida Valli, Whitfield Cook, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Arthur Laurents, Farley Granger, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.[4]
December
- 6th - To celebrate the imminent start of filming on the first Transatlantic Pictures production, Rope, Hitchcock hosts a party at his Bellagio Road home. Among the guests are Sidney Bernstein and his wife, Arthur Laurents, Whitfield Cook, John Hodiak, Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.[5]
1952
September
- 10th - The Los Angeles Times carries a brief report that Cary Grant is keen to star in a Hitchcock adaptation of David Dodge's book To Catch a Thief. They report the actor as saying, "I read the book some time ago and loved it. If Alfred Hitchcock, who's to direct the picture, gets a good movie script from the story we'll have more conversation about my doing the film."[6]
1954
May
- The prinipal cast members of To Catch a Thief — Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams — arrive in Cannes where they stay at the Carlton Hotel. John Michael Hayes joins them where he works with Hitchcock to tighten the screenplay.[7][8]
June
- 19th - Cary Grant is treated at Saint Nicolas Clinic for back and shoulder injuries sustained during the filming of the To Catch a Thief flower market scene.[9]
July
- Film censor Joseph Breen continues to object to certain planned scenes in To Catch a Thief, including the dropping of a casino chip down a woman's cleavage, the symbolic firework display and some of Cary Grant's more risqué dialogue.[10]
- 13th - Filming of To Catch a Thief's Hotel Carlton raft sequence with Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and Brigitte Auber begins in Paramount's "A" water tank on Set #12.[11]
October
- The law suit originally filed by Irving Fiske in 1947, which claimed Hitchcock and Cary Grant had plagiarised Fiske's concept of a modern-language version of Hamlet, is heard at New York Federal Court with Judge William Bondy presiding. Fiske sought $750,000 in damages. After 11 days of detailed testimony, including key statements by Maurice Evans, Judge Bondy halted the trial and directed the jury to find the case "not proven". Hitchcock, who was busy filming The Trouble with Harry, did not attend the trial. Fiske was later ordered to pay $5,000 towards the director's legal costs.
1955
February
- 24th - Geoffrey Shurlock, the new director of the Production Code Administration, issues the certificate of approval to To Catch a Thief on the proviso that an edit is made to the scene with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant which ends with the fireworks display. Hitchcock eventually appeases Shurlock by toning down Lyn Murray's sensuous tenor saxophone in the scene.[12]
1958
August
- 27th - Principal photography begins on North by Northwest in New York City, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.[13]
1974
August
- The Hitchcocks celebrate their 75th birthdays at a special party organised by Lew Wasserman at Chasen's Restaurant. Among the guests are Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Paul Newman and François Truffaut.[14]
1982
September
- 18th - Following a requiem mass held at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco, Grace Kelly is buried in the Grimaldi family vault. Cary Grant is among the attendees at the service.
1986
November
- 19th - Actor Cary Grant, who starred in Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest, dies aged 82.
References
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 285
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, pages 288-89
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 285
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 405
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 411
- ↑ "Stage Producers Help Cowan Cast His Film" in Los Angeles Times (10/Sep/1952)
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 351
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 105
- ↑ "Hitchcock and France: The Forging of an Auteur" - by James M. Vest (2003), page 58
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 116
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 116
- ↑ Writing with Hitchcock (2001) by Steven DeRosa, page 122
- ↑ The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, page 406
- ↑ Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) by Patrick McGilligan, page 721
