Not Just A Great Actor  
by Robert Barham

Even today, nearly twenty years after Cary Grant's death, he is known throughout the world as one of the greatest film stars in cinema's one hundred year history.

But Cary Grant's career did not start as that of an actor - it did not even start as Cary Grant - it began under his real name of Archibald Leach, and his first job was that of an acrobat.  Years later as Cary Grant, his years spent as an acrobat would show itself, albeit fleetingly, in some of Hollywood 's most memorable films.  But just how good an acrobat was Cary Grant?

At the age of just fourteen, Archibald Leach ran away from home to join a traveling troupe of acrobats called The Pendertons.  The young Archie managed to persuade the troupe's owner, Robert Pender, that he was really sixteen and old enough to join them.

It was only the fact that Archie's Father managed to track down his runaway son, and take him back to their home in Bristol that Archie's career as an acrobat was shortened.

But it was only shortened by less than a year, as Archie, this time with his Father's permission, returned to joint the troupe, setting him on the first steps to a glittering career.

To fully understand what level of expertise Archie was to finally attain as an acrobat, we first have to take a look at Bob Pender.  Pender was a master of physical comedy.  Just before forming his own troupe, he had been a highly successful clown, performing for six consecutive years at London 's Theatre Royal in Dury Lane .  When Pender formed his own troupe, they quickly became in demand not only in Great Britain , but all over Europe .  The European tours were often many months long, the sheer length and frequency of these tours points to the quality of the troupe.

Now it could be argued that the young Archie was not only in the right place at the right time, but that he was also the right age at the right time.  When Archie joined the Penders full time, Europe was deep into the battles of the First World War.  Archie was too young to join in the fighting, and as a lot of Pender's men had gone off to fight the war, this left Pender needing to find younger personnel for his acrobatic group.  The young Archie grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

So now we have a youngster entering the world of acrobatics.  But just how good, if at all would this youngster become.

Whilst we can be assured that any youngster under the tutoring of the excellent Bob Pender would be trained to the highest level, it is only the individual youngster that can turn that tutoring into performances that demand recalls, and finally being picked for the shows the troupe were to perform.

The biggest indication of how successful Archie Leach was as an acrobat can be assured by a tour to America made by The Pendertons in 1920.

There were to be only eight boys chosen for the tour, and Archie was one of the eight.

Now again, one could possibly argue that there are many reasons why only eight went on the tour, money being the main one.  It could also be argued that this was not to be a tour of some small backwater halls, in remote little towns.  The tour was to include many of the major cities of the United States .  The theatres also were by no means small.  One of the most notable theatres in New York could hold well over two and a half thousand people.

Also, you only need to look at the other acts on the same bill as The Pendertons,  Jack Benny, The Foy Family to name but two, huge acts in the early 1920s, to realize the personnel that made up the troupe needed to be of the highest caliber.  Upon these facts we can surely rest our case that Archie Leach was a first class acrobat.

In later years, Cary Grant would say that the hardest leap he ever made was the leap from acrobat to actor.
But maybe his hardest leap was that of a lonely runaway, somewhat shy fourteen year old, to that of a fine, confident, accomplished acrobat.