One of the most handsome of leading men from The First Golden Era of Hollywood, Randolph Scott was born on this very day, January 23rd, 125 years ago. Interesting that his very special pal, Cary Grant, has a birthday just a few days earlier, I would like to have been a fly on the wall at their shared birthday party. The two hunks were called “merry bachelors” while they lived together off and on for 12 years, between marriages.

The Husband and I once owned a photograph, in a silver frame, of Grant and Scott on the diving board of the pool at the bungalow that the pair shared. Their stories fascinate me still.

The tall (6 foot 3inches) Virginia stud, a veteran of World War I (he saw battle in France when he was just 19 years old), just was 34 years old when he met Grant on the set of Hot Saturday in 1932, and they moved in together shortly after. Watch this fun video of naughty clips from the movie:

Press reports during their first two years described the actors’ shared celebrity home and domestic life using phrases like: “Hollywood’s favorite twosome” and “The happy couple”. The innuendos provided some details about the actors’ personal lives, which thrilled fans, making the actors appear to be a couple of men sharing more than a home. They winkingly named their house” Bachelor Hall”.

The pair continued their domestic relationship even after Grant’s studio arranged a marriage to Virginia Cherrill in early 1934. A reporter noted:

“The Grants and Randolph Scott have moved, all three, but not apart.”

Indeed, this choice for living arrangements was pre-planned. A news item from two weeks prior to Grant’s marriage observed that Scott would not seek any permanent quarters until he heard from Grant. Grant and his new bride spent most of their time apart and divorced 11 months later.

In 1936 it was Scott’s turn to provide a career cover and he chose heiress Marion duPont. They never lived together. Scott remained in Los Angeles, while duPont pursued her passion for equestrian sports at her estate in Orange County, Virginia, a 55-room mansion that was the ancestral and retirement home of President James Madison. Today, a framed black and white photograph of Scott sits on a piano in the estate’s museum. The photo is the only reference to their marriage. Strangely, Scott had served as best man at duPont’s first wedding. Stranger still, Scott was born in Orange County, Virginia. Clearly fond of each other, duPont and Scott remained close friends all their lives.

In 1941, copycat Grant married his own heiress, Barbara Hutton, and that marriage lasted three years before divorcing.

Shortly after Grant’s divorce from Cherrill, an article proclaimed that Randolph Scott had moved back in with Grant. This article was titled “A Woman Is Only a Woman” which suggested that the two men forged a home life with each other and that they probably had no room for a woman. These press items associated the two actors’ home with a forbidden sexuality, turning the place into an exotic sounding residence.

The Paramount publicity department shot over 30 photographs of Grant and Scott within different rooms of their Santa Monica beach house. The studio focus of these pictures was on the stars’ personalities, bachelorhood, and their use of the house. The caption stamped on the back of each photograph highlighted that the actors were Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors who shared quarters, but lived independent lives.

Their good friend, Carole Lombard, when joking about Grant’s notorious flintiness, claimed:

“Their relationship is perfect. Randy pays the bills and Cary mails them.”

Between the two men, they had seven failed marriages, but they were most likely “modern marriages”.

Gay director George Cukor said this about their relationship:

“Oh, Cary won’t talk about it. At most, he’ll say they did some wonderful pictures together. But Randolph will admit it… to a friend.”

Fashion critic Mr. Blackwell claimed in his memoir to have had affairs with both Grant and Scott during this period.

The actors’ living arrangement lasted from 1932 until 1944, when they moved apart for the remainder of their lives.

Scott’s early years were almost the exact opposite of Grant’s. Scott was born in 1898 to a rich and distinguished Southern family. He attended the best private schools and had a happy, care free childhood.

After serving in World War I, he decided on a career in acting. Scott’s father knew Howard Hughes, who was a film producer at that time, and arranged an introduction for his son. In Hollywood, Scott found work as an extra in films. On the advice of the most famous filmmaker of the time, Cecil B. DeMille, Scott sought training and acting experience at the famed Pasadena Playhouse. His acting improved and soon he was landing bigger, better roles in films.

Debonair, funny, and radiating a steel-hard stoicism, the versatile Scott was cast in Comedies, Adventure Stories, Melodramas, and War pictures, but he was at his best in the saddle. He starred of dozens of Westerns.

Scott was even cast in musicals like Roberta (1935) and Follow The Fleet (1936); in both of these films Scott played Fred Astaire‘s lunkheaded but likable buddy. But, Scott was so identified as the ultimate cowboy that when his name is mentioned in Mel Brooks‘ classic comedy Blazing Saddles (1974), it is accompanied by the sound of a reverent heavenly choir.

Scott reached his widest appeal in his 50s when he was a Top Ten box-office draw for five years in a row. In the 1950s, as an older, weathered, but still handsome Western star, he remained one of the top box-office draws of the decade. His seven Western films with director Budd Boetticher are recognized as the apex of the genre’s art. Scott really created the archetype of the solitary anti-hero, facing daunting challenges and tough moral dilemmas, later adopted by Clint Eastwood.

His final film was Ride The High Country (1962), with fellow mythic Western star, Joel McCrea, one of the few male stars that matched his hotness, directed by Sam Peckinpah. When Scott finally retired, he was one of the richest and most respected men in showbiz.

When Scott retired at 64 years old he had a fortune of $100 million from investments. He lived in Beverly Hills for another 25 years, finally taken in 1987 by lung cancer at 89 years old.

Grant and Scott had remained very close friends throughout their lives and were seen socializing around Hollywood into the 1960s. He was still married to his second wife, with whom he adopted two children, one of whom wrote books celebrating his dad and hotly denying the persistent gay rumors.

My favorite of Scott’s films is the ironically titled screwball comedy My Favorite Wife (1940) with Irene Dunne, where he fits nicely against Grant.

“Some things in life you just can’t ride around.”