Bristol's most noted son - born Archibald Alexander Leach in the city's Horfield suburb in 1904 - went on to become one of Hollywood's most successful actors.

The product of a poverty-stricken environment, he ran away from home at 13 to join a travelling acrobat troupe as song and dance man and juggler. Arriving in New York at 20 for the start of the troupe's US tour, Leach later found work as a lifeguard and even carried advertising signs on stilts to pay his way as an aspiring singer and actor.

He moved back home three years later but was recognised as a possible talent by theatre producer Arther Hammerstein and taken back to the Big Apple.

His career then bloomed year by year, through Broadway and five marriages, until his death of a stroke in 1986, aged 82.

A long campaign, masterminded by Bristol-based writer David Long, raised around £60,000 towards the setting up of the statue. The bronze figure was sculpted by Graham Ibbeson from Barnsley. Ibbeson was also responsible for a sculpture of comic Eric Morecambe.

Grant, never awarded an Oscar despite twice being nominated and magnificent performance in Hitch's North by Northwest, was recently voted the second greatest actor of all time by the American Film Institute. Grant died in 1986.