Chapter 16

Abstract

Abstract In September 1939, the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany placed Cary Grant in a difficult position. He had been living in the USA for all of his adult life, but because he was known to be British, the British press put pressure on him to return and serve in the military. He resisted this, and instead threw himself into his work. Two of his finest comedies were made over the next year. One was My Favourite Wife (1940), which reunited the principal talents behind The Awful Truth. Irene Dunne co-starred, and Leo McCarey produced and co-wrote the film. The result was a very similar yet also very entertaining screwball comedy. The other was The Philadelphia Story (1940), Grant’s third film with director George Cukor and his fourth film with co-star Katharine Hepburn. A marvellously sophisticated screwball comedy, the film also benefits from a third co-star, James Stewart. The Howards of Virginia (1940), a historical film set during the American Revolutionary period, was much less successful, and Grant’s attempt to play a backwoods pioneer was not well received. In his personal life, meanwhile, he began seeing the Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton, who was well known as the richest woman in the world. Despite their very different backgrounds, they fell in love very quickly, and she established a home in Hollywood in order to be near him.