Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant by Jennifer Grant

Author:Jennifer Grant [Grant, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Personal Memoirs, cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780307267108
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2011-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

Willie Watson, circa 1973. Not a false bone in her body.

My favorite nanny, Willie Watson, put it best with her sage advice about people: “Don’t you pay them no nevermind. You let other people do what they’re going to do. You mind your own business.” That heals almost as well as her Southern chocolate cake with powdered sugar in the frosting.

PAPARAZZI. Hmm. Mom and Dad always kept me as far away from photo hounds as possible. Mostly, I had an easy time around it. When the freewheeling press descended it was like some bizarre flood of light in the face, cameras sticking into the car windows, people calling our names … a wave of frenzied flashes. The only time it became gravely disconcerting was after Dad’s death. Finals time at Stanford and, two weeks after his death, I chose to get on with the program. There would be plenty of time to let it soak in. Plenty of time to mourn. Keeping up with my work and focusing on school would help me cope. Stay with my classmates. As I did my dailies around campus, the paparazzi trailed me a few times by car. Having had stalkers in my life, being followed is just creepy. The first time I tried to ditch whoever it was who was following me, the person in the passenger seat aimed his large telephoto lens at me. My heart skipped a beat. Thinking it was a gun, I ducked under my own steering wheel. Luckily I didn’t crash in the middle of El Camino Real. I raced back to my apartment, where they snapped a picture of me in the driveway. Must say, while Mom and Dad were at the helm, they made every effort to shield me from unnecessary exposure. They cherished my privacy and my right to choose.

My father had a zero tabloid mentality. Dad was into the thoughtful detail, the refined idea. The exact opposite of shock for shock value. Okay, bold colors are fun. If life needed a bit of a pick-me-up, CG could add splash in his wardrobe instead of filling his brain with muck. A Chinese red button-down shirt perhaps. Pow! Pizzazz! Immediate gratification of the urge to splurge.

Perhaps Dad’s reputation is as glowing as it is because he chose to celebrate life, and celebrate himself as a lucky participant in life, instead of expecting life to celebrate him. Dad didn’t want a funeral. “Funerals are for the living, not the dead. The dead are dead. If you would like to do something for me, please scatter my ashes over the ocean. Place me into infinity. Have Kirk go along, if you please.” Same theory and practice for weddings. “It’s an intimate action, it needs an intimate ceremony. Is my aunt’s second cousin’s nephew part of the marriage? If so, waaaatch out!” We never once had a big birthday party for Dad. He didn’t want one. Christmas, okay … livitup! It’s a group thing … everyone’s included. At my birthday parties, Dad insisted that we give each guest their own gift to open.

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