EVENINGS WITH CARY GRANT, by Nancy Nelson, Morrow, 411 pages, $23.

Archibald Leach — handsome, debonair and delightfully funny — was one of the finest actors ever to grace the silver screen.

He was intelligent, thoughtful, generous and kind.

This paragon was better known to you and me as Cary Grant.

According to “Evenings with Cary Grant,” those descriptions probably would embarrass him and some of them would make him giggle. Yes, his friends say, that suave, sophisticated gentleman giggled.

This book is a loving collection of Grant’s words and the thoughts of his friends — including actors, directors and producers — and reveals the human being behind the screen legend. Author Nancy Nelson details how the book came about and then takes us on a memorable ride through the life of a man who knew what it was to be poor and ultimately found his riches in his love for his wife and daughter.

“Evenings with Cary Grant” overflows with something for which Grant was known: humor. What is seen in his movies is truly a part of him. From his one-man show “Conversations with Cary Grant” (from which the book stems) come these

jewels of repartee:

Fan: Would you do a pratfall?

Grant: It’s all I can do to walk.

Nervous fan: You’ve always been a fan of mine.

Grant: It’s true. I have.

Fan: This is a dream come true.

Grant: Do you want to pinch me?

Grant’s memories and others’ tales about his movies are hilarious at times, and the stories will make you remember a particular scene in a new light. This is especially true in one scene from “Charade” where Grant “tries to take an orange from beneath a stout matronly woman’s neck using only his head and neck — no hands.” The results are unbelievably funny as that sophisticated man tries to get the orange. But, as one friend recalls, that concentrated performance came on the day President Kennedy blockaded Russian warships from Cuba. Yes, quite a performance.

Then there are the things that are surprising.

Did you know that Grant was missing one of his front teeth? It’s true. (I counted.)

Did you know he was terrified of public speaking? It’s a recurring theme throughout the book. All his friends knew he was. Grant said part of it stemmed from when he had to introduce fellow actor Walter Pidgeon and said:

“Mr. Privilege, this is indeed a pigeon.”

Did you know he was considered a tightwad? The truth is he wasn’t. Grant didn’t believe in wasting what he earned and gave generously to charities, or if he heard about a tragedy on the news, he’d send money. This he almost always did anonymously.

So many events defined the man Grant came to be: his childhood, his work as a teen with a traveling comedy troupe, the revelation that his mother hadn’t died but had been in a mental hospital, and his daughter and the joy and peace she brought to his life.

What “Evenings with Cary Grant” gives us is a surprisingly vulnerable man who made mistakes, learned from them and then shared his knowledge. His movies show how he matures and this book shows why. With humor and warmth, Cary Grant’s story is told, probably as he would have told it himself. He didn’t tell us himself because he said no one wanted to listen to an “old geezer” like him.

No one, indeed.

Janine Pineo is an editor on the NEWS display desk.