The Oscar-winning role Cary Grant rejected: “I think I could have done it”
From Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story to North By Northwest and Charade, Cary Grant’s Hollywood career was nothing short of impressive. Routinely appearing in movies that would swiftly become classics, Grant established himself as one of the most vital actors of his generation, equally at ease in tense dramas as screwball comedies.
The actor started in the industry as a teenager, appearing in theatre and vaudeville productions that prepared him for a lifetime in front of the camera. Becoming interested in comedy in various forms, including stand-up and sketch comedy, Grant soon transferred these skills to the silver screen, making his film debut in the comedy This Is the Night in 1932.
Grant’s entry into the film industry came at a pivotal time when sound cinema had firmly established itself as the dominant mode of filmmaking, and Hollywood was only getting bigger by the day. Early roles in movies like Blonde Venus opposite Marlene Dietrich, Merrily We Go To Hell with Sylvia Sidney, and She Done Him Wrong with Mae West asserted Grant as a promising figure, leading to even larger roles in movies like Bringing Up Baby, Gunga Din, and His Girl Friday.
Grant never won an Oscar, a fact that will shock many, although he was nominated twice for None But the Lonely Heart and Penny Serenade. While he was given an Honorary Award in 1970, the actor did not win a competitive one, even though he turned down several roles that won Academy Awards.
Of course, actors never know which roles will end up being Oscar-winning, but for Grant, it seemed to be the ones he turned down. In 1957, Alec Guinness took home the ‘Best Actor’ accolade for his performance in The Bridge on the River Kwai, directed by David Lean. The movie won seven Academy Awards, making it one of the most acclaimed movies of the decade, but that role could’ve been Grant’s if he hadn’t decided to work on another picture instead.
The actor revealed in an interview featured in Conversations with Classic Film Stars that he turned down the chance to play Colonel Nicholson so that he could star alongside an actor he considered one of the greatest – Marlon Brando. Unfortunately for Grant, the actor then dropped out of the movie he’d chosen over The Bridge on the River Kwai. “It’s true I turned down Bridge on the River Kwai for The Pride and the Passion. I did it to work with Marlon Brando, and then he quit just before we started and was replaced by Frank Sinatra. I think I could have done Kwai, although not perhaps quite as brilliantly as Alec Guinness,” he explained.
The Pride and the Passion, directed by Stanley Kramer, failed to garner reviews half as positive as The Bridge on the River Kwai, with some critics even finding issues with Grant’s performance. It seems as though Grant just got unlucky with picking roles this time around, although his choice to turn down a film in favour of Brando can hardly be questioned.
