The Quotebook
On retirement.
Leaving the screen in 1966, while still in demand.
He stopped making films at sixty-two, after Walk, Don't Run, and gave the same reason every time he was asked: his daughter.
The lines.
14 quotationsVerified
“I did quit once for 18 months. I can’t say I was bored, never have been. But I just wasn’t as interested in life. During my retirement I had the time to indulge in some long, long thoughts about myself, my work, my marriages. Did I find any answers? I don’t know.”
Cary Grant · 1961 · essay · Films and Filming
On an earlier withdrawal from filmmaking.
'What it Means to be a Star,' Films and Filming, July 1961.
Verified
“I want to know how I stand, where I fit into the picture, what it’s all going to mean to me. I can’t find that out sitting behind some desk in an office, so as soon as I get enough money together, I’m gonna knock off for a while.”
Cary Grant as Johnny Case · 1938 · film · Holiday (1938)
Johnny Case explains the holiday of the title — an argument Grant himself would make about his own retirement thirty years later.
Spoken as Johnny Case in Holiday (1938).
Verified
“There is too much heavy breathing and shooting going on.”
Cary Grant · 1986 · television
His verdict on contemporary movies, given from the stage months before his death.
Remark during A Conversation with Cary Grant, Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, New Jersey, May 1986.
Verified
“I do it because I enjoy it. That’s reason enough, isn’t it?”
Cary Grant · 1986 · interview
At eighty-two, explaining why he was still touring with A Conversation with Cary Grant.
Philip Wuntch, 'A Few Words with Cary Grant,' syndicated newspaper interview, 1986.
Verified
“I promised myself that I’ll only play in another picture if the role is really worthwhile.”
Cary Grant · 1961 · essay · Films and Filming
On becoming selective about roles.
'What it Means to be a Star,' Films and Filming, July 1961.
Attributed
“I’d rather be a happy man than a great actor.”
Cary Grant · 1966 · interview
On his decision to leave the screen while still in demand.
Verified
“I could see no reason to go on. I’d had enough. I wanted to see my daughter grow up.”
Cary Grant · 1966 · interview
On retiring from film after Walk, Don't Run, following the birth of Jennifer Grant.
Verified
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten much more tolerant of my fellow man and I make less demands on people in general. Perhaps I’m more inclined to let Jennifer find her own way than a younger father would be.”
Cary Grant · 1986 · interview · The Dallas Morning News
On becoming a father late in life.
Philip Wuntch, "A Few Words with Cary Grant", The Dallas Morning News, 20 March 1986.
Attributed
“I got tired of getting up at six o’clock and tripping over all those cables and drinking out of Styrofoam cups. It’s not as glamorous as you might think.”
Cary Grant · interview
His wry explanation for leaving pictures in 1966.
Compiled undated on The Ultimate Cary Grant Pages under his retirement from acting; no dated primary publication cited.
Verified
“I wouldn’t know what to do in the bathroom all day!”
Sir William Rutland · 1966 · film · Walk, Don't Run (1966)
Sir William complains about the apartment-sharing arrangements forced on him by the Tokyo Olympics housing shortage.
Screen dialogue, spoken by Sir William Rutland in Walk, Don't Run (1966).
Verified
“If I were to go back, I’d like to do something entertaining and amusing, yet unfictional. Something informative that would appeal to both children and grown-ups. And there’s no such thing. It can’t be found.”
Cary Grant · 1981 · press · The Washington Post
Speculating in 1981 about the conditions under which he might return to work.
Gary Arnold, "The Kennedy Center Honors", The Washington Post, 6 December 1981.
Verified
“Jennifer is studying how to be happy in this life. She’s well-adjusted, she doesn’t smoke or drink, and I think she’s absolutely perfect.”
Cary Grant · 1986 · interview · The Dallas Morning News
On his twenty-year-old daughter.
Philip Wuntch, "A Few Words with Cary Grant", The Dallas Morning News, 20 March 1986, on his daughter Jennifer, then a student at Stanford.
Attributed
“Jennifer is the best production I ever made.”
Cary Grant · interview
On his only child, born in 1966.
Much repeated and entirely consistent with his recorded remarks about his daughter, but no dated primary publication has been established.
Verified
“That film coincided with the birth of my daughter, and I wanted to stay as close to her as possible.”
Cary Grant · 1981 · press · The Washington Post
Explaining that his retirement in 1966 coincided with Jennifer's birth.
Gary Arnold, "The Kennedy Center Honors", The Washington Post, 6 December 1981, on why Walk, Don't Run became his last film.