Late Actor Cary Grant Was Haunted By Heartbeak and Betrayal, Says Friend

Movie great Cary Grant seemed to have “woman trouble” all his life — beginning with his estranged mother and abusive grandmother, through five turbulent marriages and secret crushes. His beloved daughter, Jennifer, brought him both immense joy and lingering anxiety.

Born Archibald Leach, the suave star of the Hitchcock classics Notorious, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest was extremely close to his mother, Elsie. But at age 9, his world turned upside down when his alcoholic father, Elias Leach, had Elsie committed to a mental institution so he could live openly with his mistress.

Cary wasn’t told what happened and didn’t learn the truth about her disappearance until he was 31. Sadly, their relationship never fully recovered.

“He rented a lovely little cottage for her, but she always maintained a distance from him,” the actor’s friend Bill Royce — author of the heartwarming memoir Cary Grant: The Wizard of Beverly Grove —  told Closer Weekly in an interview published in its June 16, 2025 issue. “He visited her every year, but they never resumed the intensity of the love that had been there in his childhood.”

As a child, Cary was also sent to live with his grandmother, whom Bill described as “alcoholic and abusive.” Her cruelty left deep scars.

“Grandmother Leach would lie in her bed, curse at him and the world in the filthiest language,” Bill said. “He just hated it. She would also chain him to a stove when she went out to the pubs.”

Cary went on to marry five times: Virginia Cherrill (1934–35), Barbara Hutton (1942–45), Betsy Drake (1949–62), Dyan Cannon (1965–68) and Barbara Harris, his wife from 1981 until his death in 1986 at age 82.

He was 62 when he became a father to daughter Jennifer with actress Cannon.

“There was this underlying fear [after he and Cannon divorced] that if [Jennifer] didn’t spend enough time with him, she’d forget him,” Bill revealed.

“Young girls want to be with their friends. He got the impression that she felt he was a ‘helicopter parent.’ If he was supposed to have her on a scheduled day and, for whatever reason, he didn’t get her, it would be a very, very dark day.”

Rumors about Cary’s sexuality also swirled throughout Hollywood, especially regarding fellow actor Randolph Scott. “The biggest rumors were about Randolph Scott… [who] was not gay,” Bill said. “Cary didn’t want to lose a friend, so he stopped pushing.”

Despite the heartache and whispers, Bill remembers Cary as a deeply kind and generous friend — one who loved hot dogs with all the fixings at L.A. Dodgers games, and chopped turkey sandwiches with watercress, a recipe he got from Doris Day.

“The thing that is always left out when you talk about Cary is his kindness,” Bill noted. “He took an interest in people. He said, ‘You don’t give to receive. It’s just the act of giving that matters.’ ”