The meticulousness of Cary Grant

[Cary] Grant insisted that 'it takes 500 small details to add up to one favorable impression'. His attention to detail, however, went far beyond his own appearance. A reporter visiting Grant as he began shooting a new movie observed, 'On the set, he was the only star I have ever known who personally examined each extra before a scene to make sure they were dressed right.' His perfectionism was not always appreciated by his colleagues. The production manager of [1946 Cole Porter biopic] Night and Day wrote in his daily memorandum, 'I don't think there is a set in this picture that hasn't been changed by Cary, and it has cost this studio a terrific amount of money.' 

There are countless stories of Grant's insistence on minor and major changes to the dialogue, the costume design and the décor: rooms that looked, he is supposed to have said, too small or too large, paintings that needed to be replaced, doorknobs painted different colours, windows changed, camera angles altered, lenses switched - it all became too much for a few people, such as the highly experienced but no-nonsense English cinematographer Christopher Challis, who complained that Grant, although a 'consummate artist' and 'not in any way unpleasant', was also 'the biggest "old woman" I have ever worked with'. 

Normally, however, he had an unusually clear sense of what it was that he wanted, and, just as importantly, why he wanted it. The actor Thelma Orloff noted when she worked with Grant that 'he had grasped every aspect of the business... He never did anything that wasn't right on the button'. When Peter Bogdanovich asked several of Grant's directors about certain 'particularly delightful moments in their Grant films', he often received the same reply: 'That was Cary's'. Alfred Hitchcock, who did not often welcome the advice of his cast on technical (or any other) matters, always showed considerable respect for Grant's opinions. On the set of North by Northwest, for example, Grant assisted Hitchcock on the choreographing of several complicated scenes, such as the commotion in the auction-room.

Some might have been exasperated by Grant's meticulousness, but others were fascinated by it. When James Mason worked with him on North by Northwest, he began by studying Grant's playing in an early scene in which his character is kidnapped: 'I had been most eager to watch this Grant at work and figure out the secret of his perfect comedy playing. He was earnest, conscientious, clutching his script until the last moment. Then onto his feet and it would just happen'.

- Graham McCann, Cary Grant: A Class Apart, London, 1996, p.179-180.

See also:
Blog: What, no Two-Lane Blacktop?, 6 September 2015
Blog: Homer Simpson's first appearance, 20 October 2012
Blog: Age and guile beats youth and inexperience, 25 February 2006