Archie Leach

Archie Leach

Archie Leach was born in Bristol
in nineteen hundred and four.
Straight away he may sound like one
who was born to be obscure.

Do not take this as a sermon,
I’m not qualified to preach.
My lines beam like a lighthouse lamp
on the life of Archie Leach.

He became an entertainer
while he was still young of age.
Friendly faces in the theatre
drew his first steps on the stage.

Now with actors and acrobats,
sailed the ocean to New York.
Behind lay his broken childhood
that sorrowed his thought and talk.

He knew if he was to make it good,
he’d have to go to Hollywood.
Once he was there, an agent of a studio
told him first things he ought to know,
said that no one would want to see a film
starring Archie Leach.
It sounded like the name of a man met in a bar
who says he sleeps on the beach.
That advice proved beyond price.
His life took an upward slant
when he changed his name to Cary Grant.
Now the mirror has been wiped clean.
You may have seen him on the screen.
Where do I begin?
Maybe you saw him in Gunga Din,
North By Northwest, Notorious or Charade?
Just a few of the films he made.
The list is long.
Now you know why Archie Leach deserves a song.

Archie Leach was born in Bristol,
Cary Grant in Hollywood.
He used the gift he was given
in the best way that he could.