Cary Grant’s Suit

While filming “Vertigo” (1958), Alfred Hitchcock described some of the plot of “North by Northwest” (1959) to frequent Hitchcock leading man and “Vertigo” star James Stewart, who naturally assumed that Hitchcock meant to cast him in the Roger Thornhill role, and was eager to play it.

Actually, Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to play the role.

By the time Hitchcock realized the misunderstanding, Stewart was so anxious to play Thornhill that rejecting him would have caused a great deal of disappointment. So Hitchcock delayed production on this movie until Stewart was already safely committed to filming Otto Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959) before “officially” offering him the role in this movie. Stewart had no choice but to turn down the offer, allowing Hitchcock to cast Grant, the actor he had wanted all along.

Grant found the screenplay baffling, and midway through filming told Hitchcock, “It’s a terrible script. We’ve already done a third of the picture and I still can’t make head nor tail of it!” Hitchcock knew this confusion would only help the movie; after all, Grant’s character had no idea what was going on either. Grant thought the movie would be a flop right up until its premiere, where it was rapturously received.

The day before the scene where Thornhill is hidden in an upper berth was to be filmed, Grant took a look at the set which had been built and told Hitchcock that it had been constructed sloppily and would not do for the movie. Hitchcock trusted Grant’s judgment so completely, that he ordered the set rebuilt to better standards without ever checking the situation for himself.

In 2006, a panel of GQ Magazine fashion experts said the gray suit worn by Grant throughout almost the entire movie was the best suit in movie history. It was also the most influential on men’s style, stating that it has since been copied for Tom Cruise’s character in “Collateral” (2004) and Ben Affleck’s character in “Paycheck” (2003).

This sentiment has been echoed by writer Todd McEwen, who called it “gorgeous,” and wrote a short story “Cary Grant’s Suit,” which recounted this movie’s plot from the viewpoint of the suit. (IMDb)