It wasn't merely a question of ideally photogenic features, the bone structure without which no leading man could possibly succeed on film. Nor was it merely a question of a classically constructed physique, with the broad shoulders, sculptured chest muscles, and narrow hips of the athlete. It was the extraordinary combination of aggressive charm and confidence, and underneath it a little boy's vulnerability, unease, and even shyness... The self-confidence was a mask; the camera saw through the mask to an insecurity within. Women would not feel threatened or overridden by his personality, and yet at the same time they would warm to his apparently unequivocal masculinity.

—Cary Grant biographers Charles Higham and Roy Moseley.