It was the moment Hollywood film legend Cary Grant first laid eyes on the woman who would become his fourth wife, Dyan Cannon.
As the 57-year-old actor sat in his living room in Palm Springs, California, watching the 1961 television series Malibu Run, he spotted a 24-year-old blonde in a pink gingham bikini.
After courting her for four years, she finally agreed to become his wife and the couple had a daughter, Jennifer, in 1966. But the marriage was acrimonious and the couple divorced two years later.
Now a new ITV series Archie, based on Cannon’s biography Dear Cary and Jennifer’s memoir Good Stuff, explores the relationship between the screen’s leading man and the 33-years-younger ingénue.
The four-part series, starring Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs as Grant and Gavin and Stacey actress Laura Aikman as Cannon, mixes scenes from Grant’s tragic childhood – his birth name was Archibald Leach – with episodes from his later life.
Jennifer Grant, 3 1/2 months old, smiles at the cameraman as she makes her debut with her famous parents Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant and Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon in the new ITV series Archie
Cary Grant, actor, and his wife Dyan Cannon at the 1967 World Series
It contrasts the poverty of his upbringing in Bristol following the death of his older brother John, the abandonment of his father Elias and the incarceration of his mother Elsie in a mental asylum, with his luxurious lifestyle in America.
When Cannon met Grant, he was already a major movie star, appearing alongside Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief and Sophia Loren in Houseboat. Their first date was on the set of the Doris Day film That Touch of Mink.
For Aikman, 37, it was a big challenge to play someone a decade younger than her and whom she had admired since she was a teenager on the hit TV series Ally McBeal.
“My makeup artist Jess Bass applied this silicone-based product under my foundation, which made my skin look really clear,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Mail on Sunday.
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant and Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Watkins as Stanley Fox and Linda John Pierre as Mae in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant in the new ITV series Archie
Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon in the new ITV series Archie
She also had to squeeze into costumes from the 1950s and 1960s, when women were more petite. “They were pretty small,” she adds.
“I love going to the gym and I’m probably the smallest I’ve ever been.”
“But after about two months a button popped open. We had to have a whole set of capris made because we couldn’t find any that fit. “They wouldn’t even go over my butt.”
Costume designer Annie Hardinge, who worked on the Helena Bonham Carter show Nolly, sourced about 50 outfits for Laura, making adjustments on the Cosprop and Carlo Manzi costumes.
She also created 15 of Cannon’s most famous outfits, including the light blue dress she wore when she first met Grant on the Universal set and the Chanel suit she wore in London in 1966.
Before her audition, Aikman watched hours of interviews with Cannon, her films and listened to her podcasts. Her favorite was The Johnny Carson Show. “I was obsessed with Ally McBeal as a teenager,” she smiles.
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant and Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon in the new ITV series Archie
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant and Laura Aikman as Dyan Cannon in the new ITV series Archie
Dainton Anderson as little Archie, Oaklee Pendergast as teenage Archie, Calam Lynch as Archie in his 20s and Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant
Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant
Cary Grant, wife Dyan Cannon and their daughter Jennifer, 3 months old, just before boarding the SS Oriana, which is heading to England to visit Grant’s mother
Cary Grant and his wife Dyan Cannon and their three-month-old daughter Jennifer, just before boarding the SS Oriana to England to visit Grant’s mother
Cary Grant with his wife, actress Dyan Cannon, in London, August 3, 1966
Cary Grant with his wife, actress Dyan Cannon and their daughter Jennifer
They then talked for hours. “She once Facetimed me from her walk-in closet as she was putting on her knee-high boots to go to an LA Lakers game,” laughs Aikman. She looked at me in my bed in a hoodie and asked, “Do you like fashion, Laura?”
But it was the hair and makeup that took time. “It’s the first thing I’ve ever done where the lead actor was in makeup for the same amount of time as the lead actress,” smiles Aikman, who is married to actor Matt Kennard.
“Jason and I sat next to each other in the makeup chair every morning for about two hours playing Guess That Tune while I got my wigs fitted and he got his prosthetic chin.”
How was her performance received by Cannon? “She’s very polite,” Aikman adds. “She always says, ‘Laura has my heart,’ and that’s the most important thing.”
Archie will be shown on ITV on Thursday (November 23).