Hitchcock Lured Cary Grant Out of Retirement With This Iconic Twisty Thriller

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It would not be an overstatement to say that Alfred Hitchcock is the single most influential commercial filmmaker of all time. By merging artistic sensibilities with narratives that appealed to a broad audience, Hitchcock helped pioneer the concept of a “star director” long before Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese began their careers. Although Hitchcock was known for creating innovative camera techniques and pushing the technical limits of his projects, Hitchcock played an important role in establishing the careers of some of the most beloved movie stars ever. Although he briefly considered bringing his career to an early close, Cary Grant decided to end his retirement when Hitchcock asked him to star in To Catch a Thief.

Alfred Hitchcock Convinced Cary Grant to End His Retirement

Although he was only in his mid-50s by the time he considered retirement, Grant had become one of the most signature movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. His upbeat, charismatic personality made him perfectly suited for classic romantic comedies, earning him significant roles in classics like Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and Arsenic and Old Lace. While there was certainly a difference between being a “great movie star” and a “great actor,” Grant was among the rare performers who appealed to both commercial audiences and prestigious voting bodies. His more sensitive, emotionally authentic performances in the romantic dramas Penny Serenade and None But the Lonely Heart earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Actor.

Throughout his career, Grant worked with such esteemed filmmakers as George Cukor and Howard Hawks, often selecting prestigious collaborators to ensure the quality of his output. However, Grant’s career rose to a new level thanks to his collaborations with Hitchcock. While many in the industry saw Grant as merely a handsome face, Hitchcock showed that he could bring more depth to his performances by casting him in significantly darker roles. After playing a mischievous scoundrel with malicious intentions in Suspicion and a two-faced American spy in Notorious, Grant proved that he could subvert his stardom. The success of Suspicion and Notorious created a lifelong friendship between Grant and his most beloved director.

Although he planned to retire to spend more time with his family, Grant was unable to turn down a meeting with Hitchcock. While the notion of playing a cat burglar in the film that would become To Catch a Thief intrigued him, Grant was resistant to reading any of Hitchcock’s scripts, fearing that the “Master of Suspense” would attempt to lure him out of retirement. Hitchcock remained respectful of Grant’s wishes, but managed to inform him that his new heist adventure film would be shot on the French Riviera, and that the Academy Award-nominated High Noon co-star Grace Kelly was set to be the main love interest. The notion of filming in such an exotic, gorgeous location with one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation proved to be too much of a good offer for Grant, and he subsequently agreed to star in To Catch a Thief.

Cary Grant Was Perfect For ‘To Catch a Thief'

Frances, played by Grace Kelly, and John, played by Cary Grant, standing and facing one another, in To Catch a Thief

Although Hitchcock had presented a completed copy of the script during their initial meeting, it was obvious that To Catch a Thief was written with Grant in mind. Set in France during the aftermath of World War II, To Catch a Thief starred Grant as the retired cat burglar John Robie, whose expedition within a hilltop villa begins to attract the suspicions of local authorities. The cops are trying to catch the culprit behind a series of robberies, and theorize that Robie (who was formerly known as “The Cat”) may be responsible for the heists. Disturbed that he is under suspicion of a series of crimes that he did not commit, Robbie decides to work on identifying the new thief. This brings him back into the world of high-stakes burglaries that he had once thought were well behind him.

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"Apparently the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead."

Given the parallels with his own proposed retirement, Grant gives a very self-aware performance in To Catch a Thief that ranks among the best work of his career. Similar to Grant himself, Robie is a seasoned professional who is forced through mitigating circumstances to return to his old profession, where he must prove that he hasn’t lost any of the skills that made him so successful in the first place. Although he initially sets out on the mission to clear his name, Robie discovers that he actually enjoys getting to participate in the heists again; ironically, Grant may have felt similar, as he gives one of the most joyous performances of his career. The genuine spark of energy within hi romantic chemistry with Kelly suggests that Grant was having more fun filming To Catch a Thief than he had in the previous decade of his career.

Grant Made Some of His Best Movies After ‘To Catch a Thief'

Although Robie suggests that he’s only coming back for “one last job,” To Catch a Thief ended up kicking off a new renaissance within Grant’s career. The film served as a reminder of how willfully charismatic and humorous Grant could be; despite the intense nature of the heist sequences, To Catch a Thief managed to merge comedy and action into a perfect blend. He subsequently re-launched his career as a romantic lead with roles in the romance films An Affair to Remember, The Pride and the Passion, Kiss Them For Me, and Indiscreet.

While it gave them both a comeback, To Catch a Thief was not the last collaboration between Hitchcock and Grant. They would unite once more for the classic adventure film North by Northwest, which solidified Grant as an action star and became one of the highest-grossing films of Hitchcock’s career.North by Northwest may have been the superior film, but To Catch a Thief was instrumental in convincing one of the industry’s most charismatic actors to not quit his career when he was ahead.

Grant and Kelly Have Great Chemistry in ‘To Catch a Thief'

Grace Kelly sitting on a couch in To Catch a Thief (1955)-1

Although the film is primarily remembered for providing Grant with a comeback vehicle, Kelly was integral to the success of To Catch a Thief, proving once again why she was one of the greatest muses that Hitchcock ever worked with. She may have played the original “final girl” in Hitchcock’s suspense thriller Dial M For Murder and starred opposite James Stewart in Rear Window, but To Catch a Thief allowed Kelly to play a smart, incisive protagonist who does not suffer fools lightly. One of the more remarkable aspects of Hitchcock’s filmography is that he consistently had great roles for women, and granted Kelly much more freedom than other filmmakers at the time. In addition to being instrumental in convincing Grant to return to acting, Kelly provided a boost of energy that was essential in crafting the fun tone of To Catch a Thief. Kelly even gets the final joke of the film, as Frances remarks to Robie that her mother will love their new home at the very end, which inspires him to give a bemused glare of annoyance.

To Catch a Thief was ahead of its time in the way it combined action and romance, as it didn’t try too hard to pin itself to one specific genre. While many action films at the time were largely focused on the tremendous spectacle at stake, Hitchcock understood that audiences would only be interested in the setpieces if they had a reason to care about the characters. The romance that blooms between Frances and Robie is central to the main heist and does not feel like a subplot. Many of Hitchcock’s films have been remembered fondly, but it’s easy to see how To Catch a Thief may have inspired similar adventure stories to incorporate a heavy amount of romance; the dynamic between Grant and Kelly may have inspired Harrison Ford and Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone, or Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro.