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Philatelic News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2002
Stamp Release #02-077
Cary Grant Postage Stamp A First-Class Tribute To Hollywood's Leading Man
HOLLYWOOD - One of film history's most witty and debonair leading men received one of the nation's highest honors today when a new commemorative postage stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in Hollywood.The 37-cent Cary Grant stamp is available beginning today at Los Angeles post offices and, starting tomorrow, it will be available at post offices across the country.
"The Cary Grant stamp is a wonderful addition to the Legends of Hollywood series," said S. David Fineman, vice chairman of the presidentially appointed Postal Service Board of Governors, who dedicated the stamp. "He will long be remembered for his charming and sophisticated manner in his many roles on the silver screen."
Joining Fineman at the first day of issue ceremony held at the ArcLight Hollywood Theatre were Barbara Grant Jaynes, wife of Cary Grant; Jennifer Grant, daughter of Cary Grant; Jean Picker Firstenberg, director and CEO, American Film Institute; Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood; and Al Iniguez, vice president of the Pacific Area of the Postal Service.
Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, on Jan. 18, 1904, Cary Grant joined a troupe of performers as a teenager and came with them to the United States in 1920. He performed on the vaudeville circuit during the early 1920s. During the late 1920s he appeared on the Broadway stage, and in 1931 he was hired for his first screen performance in Singapore Sue, a one-reel film released in 1932.
Also in 1932, using the screen name Cary Grant, he appeared in his first feature film, "This is the Night." On June 26, 1942, he became a U.S. citizen and legally changed his name to Cary Grant.
Grant was best known for starring in romantic comedies such as "An Affair to Remember" (1957). He was often teamed with some of Hollywood's most prominent leading ladies, including Katharine Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) and "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) and both Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe in "Monkey Business" (1952). He also starred with Grace Kelly in "To Catch a Thief" (1955) and with Audrey Hepburn in "Charade" (1963).
Grant demonstrated his versatility as an actor throughout his career. In 1941 he played an enigmatic villain in the Alfred Hitchcock film "Suspicion." He went on to star in other Hitchcock films, including "Notorious" (1946) with Ingrid Bergman and "North by Northwest" (1959).
Grant received two Academy Award nominations for best actor: one for "Penny Serenade" (1941) and another for "None But the Lonely Heart" (1944). On April 7, 1970, at the 42nd Academy Awards, Frank Sinatra presented Grant with a special Oscar bearing an inscription that read: "for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues." In 1981 he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, on Nov. 29, 1986, at the age of 82, while on a speaking tour. In 1999, when the American Film Institute announced its list of the 50 greatest American screen legends, Grant was ranked second among the top 25 men.
The portrait of Cary Grant in the stamp art, an oil painting by Michael J. Deas of New Orleans, La., is based on a black-and-white publicity photograph made in 1951 or 1952 by Warner Bros. photographer Bert Six.
The self-adhesive stamp is available in a pane of 20 stamps. A photograph in the pane's selvage shows Grant being chased by a crop duster in a famous scene from the film "North by Northwest." In that film, Grant played Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who is mistaken for a spy. The photograph was altered for dramatic effect: the crop duster has been repositioned and clouds have been added to the background.
Grant joins seven other honorees appearing on stamps in the Legends of Hollywood series: Marilyn Monroe (1995), James Dean (1996), Humphrey Bogart (1997), Alfred Hitchcock (1998), James Cagney (1999), Edward G. Robinson (2000) and Lucille Ball (2001).
To see the Cary Grant stamp, go to on the Postal Service's Web site at www.usps.com and select "News and Events" then "Philatelic News" and open news release No. 02-067.
The stamp and other current U.S. stamps, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available toll free by calling 1 800 STAMP-24. In addition, a selection of stamps and other philatelic items are available in the Postal Store at www.usps.com.
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Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 137 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of postal services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves 7 million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.
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