‘Becoming Cary Grant’, Showtime Documentary: Meet the Cast

Tonight, Showtime will air a new celebrity documentary, Becoming Cary Grant.

According to the New York Times, viewers will learn about Grant through the words of an autobiography that was never published, which will be voiced by Jonathan Pryce. We will also be presented with scenes from Grant’s home videos.

Cary Grant died in 1985 at age 82, and has since been recognized as one of Hollywood’s most famous leading men. He was born and raise din Horfield, Bristol, and starting performing at the ripe age of six. Over the course of his illustrious career, Grant appeared in films like Blonde VenusHis Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, I Was a Male War Bride, Arsenic and Old Lace, and She Done Him Wrong, among others. Grant was been nominated for two Oscars for Best Actor for Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart. 

Becoming Cary Grant will chronicle the actor’s rise to fame, while also shedding light on his personal relationships and romances. The movie was written, created, and directed by Mark Kidel, and runs 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Read on to learn about the cast of the film.

Judy Balaban as Herself

Actress Judy Balaban, 84, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and married Don Quine in 1971. She was a good friend of Cary Grant, and is one of the few people interviewed for the documentary.

Mark Glancy as Himself

Mark Glancy is the founder and convenor of the Film hisotry seminar at the Institute of Historical Research in London, and frequently contributes to BBC Magazine.

He has penned a number of books, including Hollywood and the Americanization of Britain, When Hollywood Loved Britain, and his next book to be published will be a study of Cary Grant.

Barbara Jaynes as Herself

Barbara Jaynes is the fifth and last wife of Cary Grant. The couple married in 1981.

Prior to Jaynes, Grant was married to Dyan Cannon from 1965-1968, Betsy Drake from 1949-1962 Barbara Hutton from 1942-1945, and Virginia Cherrill from 1934-1935.

David Thomson as Himself

David Thomson is a British film critic and historian, and has written over 20 books. Described as “the greatest living writer on the movies”, Thomson penned notable and often-referenced works like “Have You Seen…? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films” and “The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.”

He was born in London and taught film studies at Dartmouth College. As well as serving on the board of the New York Film Festival, he has written for The New York Times, The New Republic and Movieline.

According to Variety, film critic David Thomson will speak throughout the movie as an “authority on Grant”.

The outlet writes, “Even his accent, so utterly distinctive, was unplaceable. On the surface, it had the clipped cadences of British cultivated elegance, but the music it carried had a harder America edge.”