The future star grow up as Archie Leach, son of a tailor in Bristol, but was traumatized when his parent's marriage broke down, leading to his father leaving for another and the bottle, his mother utterly abandoning him to be raised by an aunt. A friend introducing him as knave to the variety theatre, he joined a traveling company and on their first-ever tour overseas stayed behind in New York. He gradually made his way I-on Broadway as handsome antagonist, until offered a Hollywood contract with Paramount, which proved rather disappointing, but he went on to become a major star, brilliant under directors like Hitchcock who tapped into his commoner past. Several marriages brought mostly frustration, like the reconciliation with his mother, whom he put up in an English home, only his daughter proved a relationship for life.