My wife Valerie and I attended the first night of the stage musical JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR when it opened at The Casino Theatre (now called The Prince Edward Theatre) in London’s West End. We had tickets for the third row in the stalls. As we sat down, we realised that sitting immediately in front of us was Cary Grant.
Valerie was very excited. She tapped the Hollywood star on his shoulder and, handing him our programme, asked him to sign it. “Madam” he said, “I do not give autographs.” and turned his face away. We were surprised and a bit disappointed, but we didn’t let it spoil our enjoyment of the show.
Later, as we were walking back to our car, a man approached us from behind and, speaking to my wife, said “Madam, before the show you asked Cary Grant for his autograph.” “Yes,” Valerie said “But he refused.”
“He had to.” said the man. “I’m his chauffeur and he’s asked me to find you and apologise. You see, he has arthritis in both hands and he can’t write.”
We both thought it was very sweet of the star to go to all that trouble to explain.
