Why Cary Grant Walked Away

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” –Henry David Thoreau

Cary Grant starred in his last film Walk, Don’t Run (1966) when he was 62. He retired and resisted numerous attempts by Hollywood studios to coax him back onto the big screen. Grant realized that he had perfected himself as character—people saw him in a certain role, and that role was as a sophisticated, middle-aged gentleman.

He was embarrassed when critics panned him as a romantic partner for Audrey Hepburn in the otherwise terrific movie Charade (1963), because of their age differences (he was 59 and she was 34).

His next film, Father Goose (1964), cast him as an irascible old man, but he still got the girl, Leslie Caron who was 33, and he was 60.

In Walk, Don’t Run, he managed to avoid being the romantic lead, playing a British businessman (and matchmaker), in a light comedy that offered him a dignified exit from the movies.

Gene Siskel, the movie critic, was one of the last people to interview Grant. When Siskel pointed out that Grant had earned himself a permanent place among the gods of the silver screen, Grant offered his final pronouncement on Hollywood. “I forgot to tell you,” said Grant. “When you get off the trolley, you notice that it’s been doing nothing but going around in circles. It doesn’t go anywhere. You see the same things over and over. So you might as well get off.”