Should Cary Grant have recieved a Knighthood

[stuart.uk]

Next to Charlie Chaplin i would say Cary Grant was the greatest British born actor. however, i think i'm right in saying that Cary became an American citizen in the 1940s and that might have been the reason he wasn't honoured by the Country of his birth.

while Bob Hope was born in the UK, he wasn't really British. he left very young and became as much of an American as John Wayne. i think it was different for Cary. he lived in Bristol for many yrs, before heading for the U.S. while i accept that he was more American than British, i believe he was also an actor for Britain to be proud of. he also made a handful of very good British movies like Indiscreet and in his last film Walk Don't Run he played an English Knight. in 1939 he was an outstanding English cockney soldier Archibald Cutter in Gunga Din. Speaking of GD I think i'm right in sayiing Douglas Fairbank's jnr is a British Knight, though i think that's something to do with his war record.

it was said Jack Warner wanted Grant to play Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady, but that Cary said 'If Rex Harrison doesn't play the role i won't even see the movie' one of the biggest complement's i could play him is that if Rex had turned down the film role of Higgins, the one actor who could have pulled of the role was Cary himself. there are two reasons for this-one, Cary could easily play the upperclass Englishman and two, he proved in films like Suzy and Night And Day he could speak sing, using the style 20-yrs before Rex did it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Stuart I'm a massive Cary Grant fan. I think he is one of the most talented actors of his generation. I don;t think he should have been knighted. To me knighthoods should be given for great works, innovations, national security, scientific discovery or works of charity.

Chaplin deserved his, he was a great innovator and the great shame that he was only given his when he was in his eighties, he should have got it years before.

If you compare Cary Grant to some of the actors and actresses who have knighthoods these days he should have been one of the first in the queue.

I don't agree with knighthoods and honours given out to thespians and entertainers, why do they deserve them more than teachers, nurses etc.

My big bugbear is that Elizabeth Taylor is a Dame. Only this government would have done that. In my book she isn't even British.

Sorry about the rant but the honours system is a fine system but it is mightily misused for political ends.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think the big problem I have with the honours system is that it is misused. There is no consistancy. Recently a young woman died named Jane Tomlinson, she had been diagnosed with cancer and in the remaining years she had left she campaigned tirelessly and raised milliions, she didn't get a damehood like Elizabeth Taylor but to me her contribution was far greater. To me Elizabeth Taylor is a lady who hasn't visited our island in a long time and doesn't deserve an honour under our honours system.

Audrey Hepburn is as British as Elizabeth Taylor and worked tirelessly for Unicef and put herself on the front line. No damehood for her. She didn't just promote her charities but she gave her time and visited dangerous countries even when she was dying.

The last ten years have seen a big increase in the amount of damehoods, knighthoods and honours given out to thespians. Some will be very deserving. There is nothing more refreshing that a celebrity who really gives something back but I'm cynical I suppose.

As for the original question I wonder what Cary would have made of it himself.

[stuart.uk]

I think Angela has an OBE, one of the more minor awards given out by The Queen

Douglas Fairbanks jnr is fully American, but i think he did some brave stuff for the British during the war. i think he was Knighted for that with an honourary knighthood the KBE. Irish citizens quailfy for those, broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan is an example. that being the case, could the British Goverment give one to Maureen O'Hara.

you don't have to be only British to recieve Knighthoods. if you were part of the Commonwealth, you qualified. Dame Judith Anderson was an Aussie. West Indian cricketers with knighthoods were Viv Richards and Gary Sobers, as was New Zealand batsman/bowler Richard Hadlee

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm not sure about Cary qualifying. He did take American citizen ship but he was a child of our shores so to speak. That's the problem with our honours system so complicated

I think it's great that Stuart has named Cary as the most important actor borne on this isle apart from Charlie Chaplin. It's a matter of opinion of course but for sheer enjoyment and talent I wholeheartedly agree with him.

They shared a few things is common. Both were borne into relative poverty, both had mothers who were confined in mental institutions (in Cary's case he thought she was dead for most of his childhood and only when he married for the first time did he find out the truth) both were left handed, both joined the theatrical profession at a very young age. Cary Grant married the only one of Chaplin's leading ladies who didn't fall for Chaplin.

Sir Cary, yes, I think even I could have gone along with that