Just Roommates?
Cary Grant & Randolph Scott
American actor Randolph Scott (1898-1987) reaches out to British born Cary Grant (1904-1986).
The two stars shared a Santa Monica beach house (jokingly known as Bachelor Hall) during the 1930s as well as a mansion in Los Feliz (2177 West Live Oak Drive – the house still stands). The two cohabitated for 11 years and remained friends throughout their lives, and between them had seven marriages. Randolph Scott’s career reached its peak in the 1950s, when he was the king of Hollywood westerns.
Both went on to marry heiresses. It is well known that Grant was married to Barbara Hutton. Scott was married to heiress Marion DuPont for three years, but they did not live together. Scott remained in Los Angeles, while Marion pursued her equestrian interests at her estate in Virginia; Montpelier, her 55-room mansion in Orange, Virginia, was the ancestral and retirement home of President James Madison. Today a framed black and white photograph of Scott sits on a bookcase in the Montpelier museum annex that preserves the Art Deco interior of DuPont’s equestrian trophy room; the photo is the sole reference to their marriage. The rest of the house has been returned to its appearance as it was when President Madison lived there. Weirdly, Scott had served as best man at Marion’s first wedding. Stranger still is the fact that Scott had been born in Orange County, Virginia. Clearly fond of each other, Marion and Randolph remained close friends all their lives.
People who knew them early in their careers said Grant and Scott lived openly gay lives behind closed doors, but, as was the case with Rock Hudson, arranged marriages were the order of the day. Studios had to protect their financial properties and interests. The name "Bachelor Hall" and the reported parade of women through there were orchestrated by the studios, who wanted to keep their valuable actors away from any scandal.
Famed homosexual film director George Cukor said this about the homosexual relationship between the two: “Oh, Cary won't talk about it. At most, he'll say they did some wonderful pictures together. But Randolph will admit it – to a friend.” Fashion critic Richard Blackwell claimed he had affairs with both Grant and Scott; before meeting Scott, Grant had lived with gay Hollywood costume designer John Orry-Kelly.
An oft-repeated swipe was: “Archie Leach was gay, but Cary Grant was straight.” Cary Grant later said that ultimately, he BECAME Cary Grant, the guy up on the screen, because that’s what everyone wanted him to be.
That says it all, I think.
Now, back to the boys and their tan lines.
I was just watching Cary in "north by northwest" last night and thinking about how talented, respected and well liked he was by just about everyone. Thinking of his many marriages--not sure what to make of them but, that was the standard of the day. And thinking of course his relationship with Randolph. The photos of the two of them always seem like Randolph is completely relaxed and comfortable with himself and Cary seems a little guarded in their closeness. But just like the shot of them in the pool water, every now and then Cary would let his guard down and you'd see a genuine smile and a hint of the real Cary ;)
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