Betsy Drake

Betsy Drake was born on September 11, 1923 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France as Betsy Gordon Drake.

Drake's marriage to Cary Grant on Christmas Day 1949 took place in an Arizona farmhouse and was arranged by Grant's best man, millionaire Howard Hughes. Amid the turmoil of her marriage to Grant, Drake took the advice of a friend and began the then-new therapy involving LSD. She persuaded Grant to try it and he became involved in nearly 100 sessions over several years, becoming the drug's earliest notable advocate, several years before Dr. Timothy Leary, who stated that it was reading about Grant's use of the drug that persuaded him to give LSD a try. She later credited LSD with giving her the courage to eventually leave the actor. In their 1962 divorce, she was awarded more than $1 million in cash plus a percentage of the earnings from the 13 films Grant had made during their marriage.

She was an actress and writer, known for The Second Woman (1950), Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) and Room for One More (1952). She was married to Cary Grant.

She was with husband Cary Grant in Cannes in 1954 while he made To Catch a Thief (1955) and also with him in Spain in 1956, when he filmed The Pride and the Passion (1957). In Spain, she learned Grant was reportedly in love with co-star Sophia Loren. Drake left before the press found out and sailed back to New York on the ill-fated Italian liner Andrea Doria, which collided with another ship off the coast of Nantucket and capsized. Drake was one of the 1,660 passengers and crew rescued. Then, Loren came to America to star again with Grant, this time in the romantic comedy Houseboat (1958). Drake had written an early script for the film, hoping that it would be a vehicle for her and Grant, but he insisted the script be reworked with Loren playing the role Drake thought would be hers.