Stewart Granger

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Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart, 1913-2004) was an English film actor best known for heroic and romantic leading roles.

He rose to prominence in the Gainsborough melodramas from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to prominence from his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.

Early life

He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old Brompton, West London, and was the only son of Major James Stewart, OBE, and his wife Frederica Eliza (née Lablache). Granger studied at Epsom College and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He was the great-grandson of opera singer Luigi Lablache and the grandson of actor Luigi Lablache.

Stewart Granger and his mother lived in Bournemouth at 57 Grove Road with his mother. Before 1979, his mother occupied the property now known as "East Cliff Cottage Hotel."

When he became an actor, he was advised to change his name in order not to be confused with American actor James Stewart. Granger was his Scottish grandmother's maiden name. He continued to be named Jimmy for the remainder of his life, but to the general public, he became Stewart Granger.

Personal life, death, and honors

He was married three times and had four children:

Granger said in his autobiography that Deborah Kerr had romantically approached him in the back of his chauffeur-driven vehicle at the time he was visiting Caesar and Cleopatra. Despite being married to Elspeth March, the artist claims that he and Kerr continued to have an affair. Kerr's reaction was "What a gallant man he is."

Granger was a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1956.

He died in Santa Monica, California, on August 16, 1993, after suffering from prostate and bone cancer at the age of 80.

Bunny Campione, the daughter of his sister Iris's sister, is his niece.

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Early career

Granger made his film debut as an extra in 1933, with the film The Song You Gave Me (1933). He can also be seen in Give Her a Ring (1933), Over the Garden Wall (1934) and A Southern Maid (1934). Michael Wilding met him at this time, and they stayed friends until Wilding's death in 1979.

Years of theatre work followed, first at Hull Repertory Theatre and then, after a wage dispute, at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Elspeth March, a leading actor with the company who became his first wife, was here to speak to him. The Courageous Sex and Victoria, Queen and Empress performed in Birmingham; he appeared in The Millionaires and The Apple Cart as a child and appeared in the film Under Secret Orders (1937).

Granger first started acting on stage in London. He appeared in The Sun Never Sets (1938) at the Drury Lane Theatre and in Serena Blandish (1938) opposite Vivien Leigh.

He appeared Tybalt in a Romeo and Juliet production opposite Robert Donat and Constance Cummings at the Buxton Festival. In The Good Natured Man, he also appeared opposite them both physically and mentally. He was in London in Autumn with Flora Robson and The House in the Square (1940).

Granger appeared in So This Is London (1939) and Convoy (1940).

Granger enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders and later moved to the Black Watch as second lieutenant. However, he suffered from stomach ulcers and was forced to leave the army in 1942.

Granger appeared in the War Mission (1942) and a larger one in a comedy's Child (1943). He was in a stage production of Rebecca when he was asked to audition for the film that made him a star. Donat, who most recently worked with Granger on stage in To Dream Again, had recommended Granger.

American career

Granger made his move in 1949; MGM was looking for someone to play H. Rider Haggard's hero Allan Quatermain in a film version of King Solomon's Mines. Errol Flynn was given the opportunity but the company declined; Granger's signing was announced in August 1949.

MGM offered him a seven-year deal in recognition of this film's critical success, which was released in 1950 and co-starring Deborah Kerr and Richard Carlson. He signed it in May 1950, and MGM has revealed three cars for him: Robinson Crusoe, a scaramouche remake, and Soldiers Three variations.

Soldiers Three (1951), his first film under the new arrangement, was an action comedy. Granger continued it with site work for Constable Pedley in Canada. This was put on hold so Granger could make a light comedy, The Light Touch, in a role destined for Cary Grant. It was a box office flop. However, filming on Constable Pedley, which later became The Wild North (1953), was a big hit.

Granger appeared in Scaramouche in the role of Andre Moreau, the bastard son of a French nobleman, a role in Rafael Sabatini's 1923 adaptation. Granger was the only actress she did not get along with throughout her entire career, according to Granger's co-star Eleanor Parker. "Everyone hated this guy...Stewart Granger was a jerk...just awful." Just being in his presence was stressful. "I thought at one point that the crew was going to murder him." However, the finished film was still a huge critical and commercial success.

Thenalisation of The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), for which his theatrical voice, stature (6'2"), and dignified image made him a natural. It was also very popular.

He and Jean Simmons sued Howard Hughes for $250,000 damages arising from an alleged breach of employment. The lawsuit was decided out of court.

In Salome (1953), Columbia borrowed him to act Rita Hayworth's love interest. (See also: Another big hit. In Young Bess (1953), he co-starred with his wife in playing Thomas Seymour. The film was popular, but it did not recover its costs, and it remained a favorite of Granger's.

He had a commercial success in All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), portraying a villain opposite Robert Taylor. Granger was unable to appear in A Star Is Born, which was directed to James Mason. In Beau Brummell (1954), opposite Elizabeth Taylor, he was the king of the masked dance, and it was a box-office disappointment. Green Fire (1954), co-starring Grace Kelly, was more popular.

Granger went to the United Kingdom to make Footsteps in the Fog (1955), a Columbia film starring Simmons. Back to MGM in Moonfleet (1955), a man who rules a clan of cut-throat smugglers with an iron fist until he is softened by a 10-year-old boy who reveres him and believes only the best of him. Fritz Lang produced the film by John Houseman, a former Orson Welles associate. It was a disaster.

Granger and Taylor were reunited in The Last Hunt (1956), a Western, with Taylor playing the villain, and a box office disappointment. Bhowani Junction (1956), a John Masters novel about colonial India on the verge of independence, was also on the brink of achieving independence. Ava Gardner, an Anglo-Indian (mixed race) woman trapped between the British and Indian cultures, as well as Granger, the British officer with whom (in a change from the novel) she ultimately fell in love.

Gardner appeared in The Little Hut (1957), a sex farce that was a surprise hit at the box office, and was partnered with Granger. He followed it with Gun Glory (1957). It was his last film under his MGM deal, which ended on September 10, 1957. Granger had canceled the role of Messala in the 1959 film Ben-Hur, allegedly because he did not want to give Charlton Heston second billing.

Granger had become a very profitable cattle rancher. He bought property in New Mexico and Arizona and introduced Charolais cattle to America.

He continued to act in order to fund this. In Harry Black (1958), he was a professional adventurer who had partially shot in India. He went to the United Kingdom to be in The Whole Truth (1958) for Romulus, for whom he was supposed to make The Nightcomers but it was never shot.

In North to Alaska (1960), he returned to Los Angeles to help John Wayne. Granger wanted to move to Europe by now, after his marriage to Simmons had come to an end.

Later career

Granger announced in June 1960 that he would appear in The Leopard, two films for MGM in the United Kingdom, one of which was titled Thank a Fool starring Susan Hayward; Pontius Pilate for Hugo Fregonese; and The Tumbled House for John Farrow. The role in The Leopard eventually went to Burt Lancaster, the one in I Thank a Fool to Peter Finch, and the Fregonese and Farrow films were never made. Granger did not travel to MGM to appear in the thriller The Secret Partner (1961).

In Robert Aldrich's Sodom and Gomorrah (1962), filmed in Rome, he went to Italy and played Lot. Granger revealed he had signed a three-picture contract with MGM, including I Thank a Fool, Swordsman of Siena, and a third film directed by Jacques Bar. He also announced that Tracy Productions, which was supposed to make Dark Memory by Jonathan Latimer, had reactivated his production firm, Tracy Productions. Granger did not appear in I Thank a Fool, and Dark Memory was not developed. Granger then stayed in Italy to make Commando (1962), an action film and Swordsman of Siena (1963), a swashbuckler. Granger appeared in Roger Corman's film The Unconstitutional Invasion (1964) in Yugoslavia.

Granger starred in three Western movies based on German author Karl May's novels, including French actor Pierre Brice (playing the fictional Indian chief Winnetou), with Elke Sommer (1996) in Yugoslavia; and the Old Surehand (Flaming Frontier) (1965). In the crime film Gern hab' ich die Frauen gekillt (Killer's Carnival), he was teamed with Brice and Lex Barker, also a hero of Karl May films.

Granger appeared in many Eurospy films, including Red Dragon (1965), a West Germany-Italian movie shot in Hong Kong, and Requiem for a Secret Agent (1966). Robert Ryan starred in The Crooked Road (1965), a Yugoslavia crime film directed by Don Chaffey; The Trygon Factor (1966), a British co-production based on a Edgar Wallace novel;

Granger's last studio photo was The Last Safari (1967), shot in Africa and directed by Henry Hathaway. Granger was charged under Kaz Garas. "My last real film... the worst film ever made in Africa," the filmmaker later said.

In 1970, he described his latest films as "movies that no one else will discuss." He later estimated that he earned more than $1.5 million in the 1960s but that he never recovered any of it.

Granger made a television film Any Second Now (1969), which was released in the United States.

On the television western series "Colonial Mackenzie Versus the West," Robert Mackenzie appeared on The Men from Shiloh in 1970. The Men from Shiloh were previously known as The Virginian. With the latest iteration, the actors appeared more dashing and realistic for the time. On prime-time television, he followed actor Lee J. Cobb, Charles Bickford, and John McIntire as the new owner of the Shiloh ranch in its ninth year (1971). Granger said he accepted the role for money because it "looked like it would be a lot of fun," but was dissatisfied by the lack of character development for his part.

In a poorly received 1972 television film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes appeared in a poorly received script version of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Granger retired from acting in 1970 and moved to southern Spain, where he invested in real estate and lived in Estepona, Málaga. While living in Eldorado, he became a mentor and business partner of former barrister and television producer James Todesco (Eldorado TV series). They were both interested in real estate investment and growth.

In 1978, he appeared in The Wild Geese (1978) as an unscrupulous banker who recruits a team of mercenary soldiers (Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and others) to stage a military coup in an African nation. His character then makes a deal with the new government and betrays the mercenaries.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1980 and was told he had three months to live. Granger later said, "I was 67 and had smoked 60 cigarettes a day for 40 years," Granger said, but the doctor said if I had an operation, I might have a chance of two to four more years of life.

So I said "Who the hell needs that?

But you'd better leave me three months to get my house in order.' Granger underwent the surgery, suffered a lung and a rib, but was surprised to learn he didn't have cancer after all – tuberculosis.

When Eamonn Andrews surprised him at the New London Theatre in 1980, he was the subject of This Is Your Life.

He returned to acting in 1981 after the release of his autobiography Sparks Fly Upward, claiming he was bored. Granger appeared on stage and television over the past decade, including Prince Philip in The Fall Guy starring Lee Majors and being a witness in Murder She Wrote in 1985. He appeared in Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, a German soap opera (1987).

He migrated to Pacific Palisades, California.

In Harrison's last role, one of his appearances was in the 1989-1990 Broadway production The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, opposite Glynis Johns and Rex Harrison. The production opened in Duke University for three weeks, followed by performances in Baltimore and Boston, and then opened on October 14th, 1989 on Broadway. In 1990, he toured Europe in The Circle, opposite Ian Carmichael and Rosemary Harris.

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