Good Stuff

February 14, 2011
While Cary Grant's private life has always been open to wide speculation, as a father he kept a thorough family archive for his only child. Grant's daughter pays loving tribute to her father in a memoir interspersed with intimate photos, notes, and endearing transcripts of a parent dedicated to love and learning; along the way she gives insight into Cary Grant as caregiver, friend, teacher ("Dad ‘homeschooled' me in life seven days a week"), traveler, style icon, businessman, and husband to his last wife, Barbara Harris. She fondly notes his favorite pursuits like the racetrack and Dodger games, but she also addresses being the daughter of a star ("inherent fame left me entirely ill-prepared for the realities of the world), money matters (one Christmas Grant gave his seven-year-old stock shares), and even addresses the gay rumors. She writes sparingly here of her mother, Dyan Cannon (she and Grant divorced when Jennifer was one), but records her feelings as Grant remarries and a new family emerges as the octogenarian Grant struggles to father another child. Grant nicely chronicles for her father's fans the life behind the legend and the authentic image of parental love off the screen.

March 1, 2011

Cary Grant was a wonderful father. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Actress Grant's memoir about life with her famous father is like a cake made entirely of frosting: sweet, insubstantial and sickening in large servings. The author's reflexive and seemingly unconscious narcissism verges on the risible as she describes, in excruciating detail, the utterly mundane details of her privileged girlhood. Cary Grant was in his 60s and long since retired from movie stardom when he became a father, and the author avers that the icon avoided any discussion of his career. Understandably, Grant has almost nothing to say about the subject either, which begs the question—who could this extended mash note possibly interest outside of the author's immediate circle of family and friends? It's perhaps cheering to hear that Cary Grant was apparently as fine a fellow as his image would suggest, but Grant reveals nothing the general reader will not already know about the star. There is no dirt, no surprises, no analysis...just a litany of pleasant outings and a celebration of warm family togetherness. In a peculiarly cloying prose style, overly familiar and made up of informal sentence fragments, girlish exclamations, and soggy platitudes, Grant limns the archetypal movie idol as a cheerful elderly papa, padding contentedly around his well-appointed home and delighting his little girl with affectionate attention. It sounds like a lovely life, but it makes for an irritating reading experience.

Less a memoir than a hagiography—and a dull one at that.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011

Cary Grant's only child, Jennifer, was born when he was 63. His marriage to Dyan Cannon didn't last, but Jennifer's childhood was full of special times with her father, who, retired from film and leading a private life, was devoted to her. Almost 25 years after his death, Jennifer Grant, a Stanford graduate who switched from law to acting, writes of their relationship. Some fans of the debonair actor may be disappointed that she focuses squarely on the man she knew, even declaring that she hasn't read any published material about him: "I'll stick with my trusty experience as a guide." Her father never spoke of his early life, from which he had few mementos, but he carefully saved Jennifer's every creation. His tape recordings of many of their happy moments were bequeathed to her along with files of instructive clippings and notes about leading a responsible life. VERDICT This memoir, touching and authentic, of a kind man in his final happy decades (his daughter also writes lovingly of his last marriage) will offer balance to Cary Grant collections. Although his film career is not covered, his fans will be the primary readers. Dyan Cannon's own memoir, Dear Cary, is due out in September. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/10.]--Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2011
In this brief memoir, Jennifer Grant tells of growing up with her father, the urbane movie starand, as it turns out, extremely devoted dadCary Grant. After Jennifers birth to mother Dyan Cannon, the 62-year-old Grant retired from acting to concentrate on raising her. Following her parents divorce, she split her time between them but wound up mostly living with her father because Cannons film career was in full swing. To say Grant was a doting father is putting it mildly: he saved just about every childhood doodle, drawing, scrap paper, receipt, or event ticket that held any significance. He wrote hundreds of letters and messages to his daughter, and home movies and audiotapes also bear witness to his fatherly devotion. All of these items were meticulously filed away for her, and Grant plows through a lot of the material, capturing her fathers silly and loving personality, recalling all the fun times playing, laughing, dining, and dancing together. She also provides some insider details about his time in Hollywood, his travels, his friendships with other famous people and their happy relationship until Grants death at the age of 82. Many of the letters, notes, and drawings from father to daughter and from her to him are reproduced here, as are snapshots and other memorabilia. Not a full-blown biography, but a rather quick and lively glimpse of life with Cary Grant.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)