In 1999, The American Film Institute named Cary Grant the second greatest male screen legend in U.S. movie history, with only Humphrey Bogart topping him. During his lifetime he was already iconic among his peers, with Tony Curtis imitating him to woo Marilyn Monroe in the comedy classic
Some Like It Hot (1959).
And Grant is still popular today, as his transcending-his-period performances seem timeless after 80+ years, despite his last film being released in 1966, and having died almost 35 years ago. Local SF/British film critic David Thomson considers Grant the most important actor in cinema history.
All these accolades are no surprise to his latest biographer, former literary critic Scott Eyman, chronicler of other Hollywood luminaries such as John Wayne, Cecil B. DeMille, John Ford, Henry Fonda and James Stewart. Eyman felt enough time had passed to reassess Grant the man and his career before many of the people who knew him died.