“I don't know how I consider death. So many of my friends have been doing it recently. I hope I do it well …I would like to be remembered as a congenial fellow who didn't rock the boat, I suppose.”
—CARY GRANT
As word of his passing flashed around the world, tributes from friends began to pour in, paying homage to the little boy from Bristol who grew up in search of love, only to have the whole world fall in love with him. These are among the more notable ones:
Frank Sinatra: “I am saddened by the loss of one of the dearest friends I ever had. I have nothing more to say except that I shall miss him terribly.”
Jimmy Stewart: “He was one of the great people in the movie business.” George Burns: “He was one of the greats.” Charlton Heston: “What he did he did better than anyone ever has. He was surely as unique as any film star and as important as anyone since Charlie Chaplin.”
Loretta Young: “He was the elegant man.” Polly Bergen: “We have just lost the man who showed Hollywood and the world what the word class really means. He was the one star that even other stars were in awe of.”
Eva Marie Saint: “He was the most handsome, witty, and stylish leading man both on and off the screen. I adored him. It's a sad loss for all of us.”
Dean Martin: “He was one of my heroes. He was not only a great actor, he was a refined and polished gentleman. We were very close friends, and I'm going to miss him.”
Alexis Smith: “The best movie actor that ever was. There's a term ‘romance with a camera,’ and I doubt anybody had as great a romance with the camera as he did.”
President Ronald Reagan: “We were very saddened by news of the death of our old Hollywood friend. He was one of the brightest stars in Hollywood and his elegance, wit and charm will endure on film and in our hearts. We will always cherish the memory of his warmth, his loyalty and his friendship and we will miss him dearly.”
AS WAS HIS WISH, there was no funeral. On Monday, December 2, his body was cremated by the Neptune Society. A small ceremony was held by his wife and daughter to dispose of the ashes.
At his death, Cary Grant was estimated to be worth approximately $60 million. His last will, signed November 26, 1984, left half his estate to his wife, Barbara Harris, the other half to be placed in trust for Jennifer until the age of thirty-five, with the ability to draw up to 50 percent of the principal until then, and the balance delivered thereafter. He left all of his real estate, including the four-acre home in Beverly Hills and its contents, to Harris, $150,000 to be divided among long-term employees, $50,000 to the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund, and $25,000 to Variety Clubs International. He left $10,000 to Dr. Mortimer Hartman, who had administered many of the LSD treatments Grant took in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and $25,000 to Stanley Fox's son and granddaughter. Grant's extensive custom-made wardrobe, ornaments, and jewelry were all left to Stanley Fox, who was charged with dividing them among Frank Sinatra, Betsy Drake Grant, Irene Selznick, Roderick Mann, Stanley Donen, Kirk Kerkorian, and a few others whose names meant nothing to the public. A trunk filled with personal items associated with Grace Kelly was left to Princess Caroline of Monaco.
SHORTLY AFTER HER FATHER'S DEATH, Jennifer returned to Stanford University, to complete her senior year in political science and history. She then studied law, until she decided to try acting as a career, something Grant had discouraged her from doing while he was alive. She became one of the regulars on the popular TV show Beverly Hills 90210 and today lives as a single woman in Santa Monica, California.
The highlight of Virginia Cherrill's film career remains Chaplin's City Lights. Her last film was Albert Parker's Troubled Waters, after which she gave up movies to marry a wealthy British earl. She became the Countess of Jersey and went on to find real meaning in her life by doing selfless, some might say heroic, work during the bombing of London in the darkest years of World War II. Upon the earl's death, Cherrill returned to Hollywood, where she married twice more before choosing to live in wealthy seclusion in Santa Barbara, about ninety miles north of Hollywood. She died there in 1996.
Betsy Drake retired from films and became an “alternative” psychotherapist and the author of several books. She lives in Desert Hot Springs, California.
Dyan Cannon continued with her successful acting career. She married an older businessman in 1980 and retired from films. Three years later, she divorced and returned to her career in movies and television. She lives in Los Angeles.
Randolph Scott went on to a successful career in Hollywood westerns of the '50s. He retired from films in 1962, and was worth several hundred million dollars. That same year he left Los Angeles with his second wife and retired to North Carolina, where he played golf and followed his many investments. He died in 1987, one year after Grant, at the age of eighty-nine. Although he remained friendly with his former roommate, he rarely saw him again after Grant married Barbara Hutton.
Two years after his death, on October 19, 1988, the only formal public memorial ceremony was held for Cary Grant, attended by 940 of his most famed admirers and friends. They paid tribute to him at a $1,000-a-plate dinner at emcee and host Merv Griffin's Beverly Hilton Hotel, with the proceeds going to the Princess Grace Foundation. Barbara Harris, a foundation trustee, helped organize the evening. Dyan Cannon was not invited and did not attend. Among those who did were Frank Sinatra and his wife Barbara, Monaco's Prince Rainier, his children Princess Stephanie and Prince Albert, Shirley Temple Black, Griffin's girlfriend Eva Gabor, Jennifer Grant and her then live-in fiancé television producer Randy Zisk, Gregory Peck, Richard Baskin, Barbra Streisand, Michael Caine, Jackie Collins, Liza Minnelli, Jack Haley Jr., Kirk Kerkorian, Angie Dickinson, Dina Merrill, Robert Wagner, Eva Marie Saint, Maureen Donaldson, and Sammy Davis Jr.
Also in 1988, a pavilion at the Hollywood Park Race Track was dedicated to Cary Grant. John Forsythe spoke at the ceremony: “Cary Grant was a man who had such presence and magnetism that every close-up was riveting to watch—you couldn't take your eyes off him. And did you ever notice that when he was presenting a trophy down in the winners circle after a big race, everything stopped at the track. People put down their racing forms and picked up their binoculars to get a closer look at him. Others ran down to the winners circle to catch a glimpse of him. Believe me, that rarely happens at a racetrack. He was also a star in the business community, a star as a member of our board of directors, and perhaps most important of all, he was a star as a friend.”
In the universe of the imagination, as long as there are movies and audiences who seek to find in them the reflection of their highest hopes and their deepest dreams, Cary Grant's star will indeed shine forever, offering the illusion of the pleasure of his company as it guides us along the most difficult journey of all: the one into ourselves.