However, the real truth was that she had been placed in a mental institution, where she would remain for years, and he was never told about it (he would not see his mother again until he was in his late 20s). At age nine, he came home from school one day and was told his mother had gone off to a seaside resort. His early years in Bristol would have been an ordinary lower-middle-class childhood, except for one extraordinary event. Once told by an interviewer, 'Everybody would like to be Cary Grant', Grant is said to have replied, 'So would I.'Ĭary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on Januin Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory.
