Nickie Ferrante, a playboy about to marry into money, meets Terry McKay on a transatlantic crossing — and their romance becomes one of Hollywood’s most beloved love stories.
In An Affair to Remember (1957), directed by Leo McCarey, Cary Grant plays Nickie Ferrante, a painter and playboy engaged to a wealthy heiress. On a ship from Europe to New York he meets Terry McKay, played by Deborah Kerr, a former nightclub singer also engaged to someone else. They fall in love and agree to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building, if they can make a life on their own terms.
Grant brings a rare tenderness to Nickie. He is witty and self-assured, but the film asks him to be vulnerable as well, especially in its final scenes, when a misunderstanding keeps the couple apart. His scenes with Kerr are gentle and beautifully played, and the film’s reputation as a great romance rests largely on their chemistry.
An Affair to Remember remains a touchstone of romantic cinema, and Grant’s performance as Nickie Ferrante is one of his most enduring: elegant, funny, and finally deeply moving.