Dark, handsome.. and very very goofy

Happy Birthday Cary Grant

Comparisons to superstars from days of yore are part and parcel of the up and comer experience in any given industry.  The film industry is no exception.  Today is the birthday of my all  time favorite actor.... someone with whom I fell instantly in love as a youth when i went to a classic movie viewing and saw him fall off a chair, sing with a dog, and basically make a fool of himself, all the while engaging in clever banter and looking.... well.... perfect!

I am speaking of Cary Grant, the inimitable leading man, in reference to whom Mae West first coined the phrase "tall, dark and handsome."  Sure he has always been known for his dashing looks, but it was his willingness to play the fool that originally sent me.

Many actors have been compared to him -- in recent times, most notably George Clooney, and understandably so.  There is indeed a strong physical resemblance, and George has proven on more than one occasion that he is more than willing to act goofy.  Oh Brother Where Art Thou pretty much set that question to rest.

But there is someone else who was out of mainstream favor for quite awhile, yet whom I always thought of as embodying the same leading man mold-breaking spirit as Cary Grant.  He does not look particularly similar to him, but shares the road less traveled approach to his career that Grant pursued.  And that actor is Johnny Depp.  Many will guffaw, I am sure.... why they're nothing alike?  But in my estimation it is the eras in which they lived that are far more different than the men themselves.

Both remained true to themselves despite untold pressure to conform.  Both took risks and both changed the game and served as tremendous inspiration for those that followed them.  Sure both are unfathomably physically attractive, but as with Grant, it was not Johnny Depp's looks that stole my heart.  It was his sweet, soulful and silly portrayal as an oddball with scissors for hands.

So while I don't have new Cary Grant movies to look forward to, I do have Johnny Depp ones.  And I can't wait to see who the next generation produces in the way of a dark, handsome goofball who will set the standard for his peers with humor, humility and humanity.