# List of Cary Grant performances
[Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant)'s screen performances comprise 72 feature films and one short, *Singapore Sue*, made between 1932 and 1966, beginning with *This Is the Night* and ending with *Walk, Don't Run*.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) • [2](https://www.biography.com/actors/cary-grant) The count varies by source because catalogs differ on what counts as a performance: the AFI Catalog lists 153 titles under Grant's name when producer and history credits are included alongside acting roles.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/28068-cary-grant)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Feature films | 72 features plus one short (*Singapore Sue*), 1932–1966[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) |
| First and last | First feature *This Is the Night* (1932); last picture *Walk, Don't Run* (1966)[2](https://www.biography.com/actors/cary-grant) • [1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) |
| Decade spread | 35 pictures in the 1930s, 20 in the 1940s, 13 in the 1950s, 5 in the 1960s[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) |
| Oscar nominations | Best Actor for *Penny Serenade* (1941) and *None but the Lonely Heart* (1944); Honorary Oscar in 1969[4](https://time.com/6837670/oscar-nominees-who-never-won/) |
| AFI standing | Ranked No. 2 on the American Film Institute's 1999 list of the 25 Greatest Screen Legends, after Humphrey Bogart[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cary_grant) |
| Key directors | Four films each with Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Donen; five with Howard Hawks[6](https://www.carygrant.com/people/alfred-hitchcock) • [7](https://www.carygrant.com/people) • [8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/cary-grant-10-essential-films) |
## Counting the films
The commonly cited total of 72 features comes from Grant's official filmography, which counts any picture running under 40 minutes as a short, the threshold used by the Academy, the AFI, and the BFI.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) The AFI Catalog's 153 titles include producer credits, such as *Indiscreet* (1958, producer) and *The Grass Is Greener* (executive producer), and history entries for films Grant did not appear in.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/28068-cary-grant) Fan-maintained records note additional unlisted appearances, most notably a cameo in *Without Reservations* whose screen time exceeded his officially listed role in *Merrily We Go to Hell*.[9](https://www.carygrant.net/faq.html)
## The 1930s: studio player to star
Grant's 35 films of the 1930s began under a Paramount contract signed in 1932.[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/cary-grant) His early roles traded on his looks rather than his comic ability. In *Blonde Venus* (1932), directed by [Josef von Sternberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/josef-von-sternberg), he played Nick Townsend, a wealthy playboy entangled with [Marlene Dietrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/marlene-dietrich)'s cabaret singer; the film ran 93 minutes for Paramount.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) In 1933 he played Captain Cummings opposite [Mae West](https://www.edgepedia.org/mae-west)'s Lady Lou in *She Done Him Wrong*, the film that launched his career.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films)
The turning point came in 1937. Grant walked away from his studio contract that year to become a freelance actor, a status few stars held at the time.[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/cary-grant) *Topper*, one of the big summer hits of 1937, was his first lead in a smash hit, and *The Awful Truth*, directed by Leo McCarey, established his leading-man persona and gift for light comedy once and for all; the film received six Oscar nominations, though Grant, as a freelancer, was pointedly not among them.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/cary-grant-10-essential-films) • [11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/making-cary-grant) The screwball run continued with *Bringing Up Baby* (1938), the first of his five films with [Howard Hawks](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-hawks), in which he played a paleontologist opposite [Katharine Hepburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/katharine-hepburn).[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/cary-grant-10-essential-films)
## The 1940s: the classic run
The 20 films of the 1940s contain the performances most closely identified with Grant. In 1940 alone he appeared as Nick Arden in *My Favorite Wife*, Walter Burns in *His Girl Friday*, and C.K. Dexter Haven in *The Philadelphia Story*, George Cukor's adaptation of Philip Barry's play opposite Katharine Hepburn and [James Stewart](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-stewart).[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/28068-cary-grant) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/754d95d1-9937-5d30-b6dd-f422a0a9bc49/the-philadelphia-story) His two Best Actor nominations came in this decade, for the drama *Penny Serenade* (1941) and *None but the Lonely Heart* (1944).[4](https://time.com/6837670/oscar-nominees-who-never-won/)
His partnership with [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock) began in this period. The four films they made together over eighteen years are *Suspicion* (1941), in which Grant's charm is deliberately read as possible menace; *Notorious* (1946), widely regarded as the peak achievement for both men; *To Catch a Thief* (1955); and *North by Northwest* (1959).[6](https://www.carygrant.com/people/alfred-hitchcock) In *Notorious* he played Devlin, the US agent who recruits [Ingrid Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-bergman)'s character to ingratiate herself with a Nazi associate of her father.[13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/c30e3963-b2c3-56d4-80f2-154f0e814dc5/notorious)
## The 1950s and 1960s: independence and retirement
Grant slowed his output to 13 films in the 1950s and 5 in the 1960s, working increasingly as an independent producer as well as actor.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/28068-cary-grant) *Indiscreet* (1958), directed by [Stanley Donen](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-donen), was made through Grant and Donen's own company; Donen directed Grant in four films in total, fewer than the five films directed by Howard Hawks, and the same amount as Alfred Hitchcock: *Kiss Them for Me* (1957), *Indiscreet*, *The Grass Is Greener* (1960), and *Charade* (1963).[7](https://www.carygrant.com/people) • [16](https://www.carygrant.com/people/howard-hawks) In 1959 he appeared in two films released that year, Hitchcock's *North by Northwest*, in which he played [Madison Avenue](https://www.edgepedia.org/madison-avenue) ad man Roger Thornhill, and [Blake Edwards](https://www.edgepedia.org/blake-edwards)'s *Operation Petticoat*, in which he played Lieutenant Commander Matt Sherman.[1](https://www.carygrant.com/films)
*Charade*, made when Grant was fifty-nine, is often cited as the finest performance of his late career; Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone built the film around Grant's own reluctance to play a conventional romance with a much younger co-star, writing his discomfort with the age gap into the dialogue.[7](https://www.carygrant.com/people) His final picture, *Walk, Don't Run* (1966), directed by Charles Walters, was a remake of *The More the Merrier* relocated to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, in which Grant played matchmaker to a younger couple rather than the romantic lead.[7](https://www.carygrant.com/people) He retired from filmmaking after it.[2](https://www.biography.com/actors/cary-grant)
## Recurring collaborators
Grant's filmography is organized around a small set of repeated partnerships. Howard Hawks directed him five times, beginning with *Bringing Up Baby*.[8](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/cary-grant-10-essential-films) Hitchcock and Donen directed him four times each.[6](https://www.carygrant.com/people/alfred-hitchcock) • [7](https://www.carygrant.com/people) Among co-stars, Katharine Hepburn was his most frequent leading lady in the classic comedies (*Sylvia Scarlett*, *Holiday*, *Bringing Up Baby*, *The Philadelphia Story*), and he also starred opposite [Irene Dunne](https://www.edgepedia.org/irene-dunne), Ingrid Bergman, Ginger Rogers, Eva Marie Saint, and [Grace Kelly](https://www.edgepedia.org/grace-kelly).[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cary_grant) Frank Capra directed him only once, in *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944).[14](https://www.carygrant.com/people/frank-capra)
## Recognition
Grant never won a competitive Academy Award. Beyond his two Best Actor nominations, he received an Honorary Oscar in 1969, presented by [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra).[4](https://time.com/6837670/oscar-nominees-who-never-won/) In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him the second male star of Golden Age Hollywood cinema, after Humphrey Bogart.[15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/fullcredits)
## References
1. [Cary Grant Movies in Order — The Complete Filmography, 1932–1966, CaryGrant.com](https://www.carygrant.com/films)
2. [Cary Grant - Movies, Spouse & Career, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/actors/cary-grant)
3. [Cary Grant, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/28068-cary-grant)
4. [The Most Surprising Oscar Nominees Who Have Never Won, TIME](https://time.com/6837670/oscar-nominees-who-never-won/)
5. [Cary Grant Movies List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cary_grant)
6. [Alfred Hitchcock — Director, Cary Grant Archive](https://www.carygrant.com/people/alfred-hitchcock)
7. [The People — Collaborators, Family and Wives of Cary Grant, CaryGrant.com](https://www.carygrant.com/people)
8. [Cary Grant: 10 essential films, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/cary-grant-10-essential-films)
9. [Frequently Asked Questions, The Ultimate Cary Grant Pages](https://www.carygrant.net/faq.html)
10. [Grant, Cary, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/cary-grant)
11. [The making of Cary Grant, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/making-cary-grant)
12. [The Philadelphia Story (1940), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/754d95d1-9937-5d30-b6dd-f422a0a9bc49/the-philadelphia-story)
13. [Notorious (1946), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/c30e3963-b2c3-56d4-80f2-154f0e814dc5/notorious)
14. [Frank Capra | Director, CaryGrant.com](https://www.carygrant.com/people/frank-capra)
15. [Cary Grant, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/fullcredits)
16. [Howard Hawks, Director, CaryGrant.com](https://www.carygrant.com/people/howard-hawks)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Individual filmographies › Western and East Asian filmographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license