Stewart Granger was born James Leblanche Stewart in London, the grandson of the actor "Luigi Lablache". He attended Epsom College but left after deciding not to pursue a medical degree. He decided to try acting and attended Webber-Douglas School of Dramatic Art, London. By 1935, he made his stage debut in "The Cardinal" at the Little Theatre Hull ...
Scaramouche, The Prisoner of Zenda, King Solomon's Mines, North to Alaska, Moonfleet, Adam and Evelyne, Young Bess, Blanche Fury, Caesar and Cleopatra, Bhowani Junction, The Secret Invasion, Footsteps in the Fog, The Man in Grey, The Last Hunt, Old Surehand, All the Brothers Were Valiant, Wild Geese...
TV Shows
The Virginian, Danielle Steel's Crossings
Star Sign
Taurus
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Trademark
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Played adventurers, swashbucklers and romantic leads
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Strong masculine profile
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Wavy dark hair (later silver grey)
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Quote
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[on Robert Taylor (Granger worked with him in All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) and The Last Hunt (1956)] He was such a nice guy, but he had even more hang-ups than I had. Bob Taylor was the easiest person to work with but he had been entirely emasculated by the MGM brass who insisted that he was only a pretty face. He was convinced he wasn't really a good actor and his calm acceptance of this stigma infuriated me.
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[on Alan Ladd] Spencer Tracy was an actor's actor. Everybody thought he was great. Marlon Brando is an actor's actor -- or was. Richard Burton also. I don't try to be cruel, but Alan Ladd was not an actor's actor. But he was a very successful film star.
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[on James Mason] He was one of the closest friends I ever had. A wonderful actor, and a humble and wonderful man.
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[on Deborah Kerr] I made "King Solomon's Mines" and I became popular because Quatermain was a mysterious man with a leopard skin around his hat. It was Africa romantic. Deborah Kerr and I made love up a tree. I said to Deborah -- I had a six month affair with her -- that we should never have come down from that tree.
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[on Elizabeth Taylor] The incredibly beautiful and curvaceous Liz Taylor, who disappointed me by having a rather squeaky voice, but you can't have everything, can you, and she had practically everything else in abundance.
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[on Phyllis Calvert] I'm a very good actor; I played all those love scenes with Phyllis Calvert and we didn't like each other very much.
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(quote about the play, "The Circle") "Old Granger's back! But some people are going to be shocked. If they've watched me on an afternoon film looking young and smooth, heaven knows what they'll think when they come to the theatre and see this elder-statesman figure with white hair!"
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I don't know which was the greatest disaster: my career or my wives.
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[on friends] "Damn 'em all except six - and they can be pallbearers. If they stumble, damn them, too."
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[on Joan Collins, 1984] She's common, she can't act - yet she's the hottest female property around these days. If that doesn't tell you something about the state of our industry today, what does?
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I've never done a film I'm proud of.
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I was a good costume actor, but I shortened my career because I made the wrong choices.
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I haven't aged into a character actor. I'm still an old leading man.
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The cinema world is not easy. it's full of envy from little people - heads of studios, for example, who hate people for their attractiveness.
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Fact
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He was mistakenly diagnosed with lung cancer in 1980 and had part of his lung and a rib removed, only to find he really had tuberculosis. Granger had smoked 60 cigarettes a day for the past 40 years.
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Has a daughter, Samantha, with Caroline Lecerf.
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His niece is antiques expert Bunny Campione who is often on BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow.
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His great grandfather was Italian opera singer Luigi LaBlanche who came to England and became Queen Victoria's singing master.
Took sword fencing very seriously for his dashing roles in The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) and Scaramouche (1952). He was so earnest in mastering the skill of fencing that he took lessons from a retired Olympic fencing champion. During his preparation for Scaramouche (1952), his fencing lessons and practice made him wear out a dozen or so pairs of fencing shoes. He adorned the cover of Life Magazine when the film was released and the title was "Stewart Granger: Swashbuckler". Perhaps the only actor superior to him in fencing at that time was Basil Rathbone.
Adopted his professional name not to be confused with James Stewart.
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Even though he was quoted as saying he didn't like any of his movies, he does say in his autobiography, "Sparks Fly Upwards", that Saraband (1948) was one of the movies he starred in that he did like.
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Became a naturalized US citizen together with Jean Simmons in 1956.
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Stewart became England's top box office star in the 1940s which attracted Hollywood's attention.
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Stewart became an overnight star in England after appearing the movie, The Man in Grey (1943).
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Stewart did his own stunt work
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Stewart was a friend of Michael Powell's and when he heard Powell wanted a dancer for The Red Shoes (1948) he suggested that Powell take a look at Moira Shearer.
$1.7 Million
