Cary Grant Comes Home Festival

About

A biennial festival celebrating how Bristol born Archie Leach changed his name and his fortunes to become internationally famous film star Cary Grant, yet never forgot his Bristol roots. 

This year's festival will focus on the theme ‘Class’ when it presents its fifth edition from 18 - 20 November.

Highlights will include:

A screening in the parish church of St Mary Redcliffe on Friday 18 November of THE BISHOP’S WIFE, starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young, with a video introduction from the last surviving member of the cast, Karolyn Grimes, now 82 but who appeared in this film and in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE as a child star. Find out more

A gala event at one of the UK’s oldest cinemas - the Curzon, Clevedon - on Saturday 19 November offering prizes for the guests whose outfits best echo the Golden Age of Hollywood, a photo booth, live music, cocktails and a showing of the film often described as the best Alfred Hitchcock thriller Hitchcock didn’t make: CHARADE (1963) in which Grant’s co-star is Audrey Hepburn. Find out more

SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER

2pm LOOKING FOR ARCHIE/ FINDING CARY GRANT WALK

Meet outside Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, College Green, BS1 5TA

As part of the latest Cary Grant Comes Home festival, a walking tour of Bristol city centre sites exploring the early life of Bristol boy Archie Leach and the reasons he stayed in touch with his roots long after his transformation into the Hollywood star and style icon Cary Grant. Easy pace, mostly flat, lasts 90 mins approx. Tickets £10. £5 concessions.  To book: https://www.carycomeshome.co.uk/events/looking-for-archie-walking-tour

Morning screenings with expert introductions at Watershed of two films (SYLVIA SCARLETT on Saturday 19th and NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART on Sunday 20th) in which Grant drops his familiar chic to portray a Cockney wideboy -  engaging in cons with a cross-dressing Katharine Hepburn in the first and mothered by an Oscar-winning Ethel Barrymore in the second. Find out more

A Sunday afternoon takeover of Bristol’s biggest screen, the former IMAX at Bristol Aquarium that will include film journalist and historian Pamela Hutchinson introducing the censorship-defying BLONDE VENUS, co-starring Marlene Dietrich, and a showing of another Pre-Code rule-breaker BORN TO BAD, in which Loretta Young lives up to the title and Cary gets blackmailed. Find out more

To finish, the zany and hilarious ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, featuring murderous old ladies, an embarrassed bridegroom, a killer on the run, a brother who thinks he’s President and, for the eagle-eyed, a gravestone bearing Grant’s Bristol birthname, Archie Leach. Find out more

Born out of a passion for Bristol’s vibrant cinema culture and film heritage, the festival’s aims are to celebrate Cary Grant’s Bristol roots, develop new audiences for his films and recreate the golden age of cinema-going. Cary Grant’s incredible journey – from Bristol boy, Archie Leach, born in Horfield in 1904, to global style icon, Cary Grant – is inspiring for Bristolians and beyond. At the age of eleven Archie was tragically separated from his mother when she was committed to mental hospital and he was led to believe that she'd died, only reunited with her in his thirties, after he’d become famous. As a child, young Archie haunted Bristol docks, longing to be carried away from his troubles in one of the tall ships. He eventually sailed away to New York with a troupe of acrobats in 1920, where he worked his way to Hollywood and reinvented himself as Cary Grant. 

This year, the theme will be "Class" exploring Cary Grant's incredible journey from working class poverty as son of a tailor's presser in Bristol, UK to the epitome of Hollywood elegance and style. Attractions will include screenings, talks and walks exploring how a working class boy named Archie Leach transformed himself, on and off screen,  into a Hollywood legend and global style icon.

To stay up to date with the plans, sign-up for the free e-newsletter via www.carycomeshome.co.uk or find/follow @carycomeshome on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

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