Which actor plays Johnnie Aysgarth in Hitchcock's Suspicion?

Which actor plays Johnnie Aysgarth in Hitchcock’s Suspicion? The answer is Cary Grant.

Cary Grant plays Johnnie Aysgarth in Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion. Johnnie is a charming but financially irresponsible playboy who marries Lina McLaidlaw, played by Joan Fontaine. His gambling, dishonesty and dependence on borrowed money make Lina suspect that he may be capable of murder.

The 1941 film was adapted from Before the Fact, a 1932 novel by Francis Iles. Hitchcock builds the story almost entirely through Lina’s uncertainty: ordinary actions, unexplained absences and ominous details can look like evidence of a deadly plan. Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

The film is often discussed because its ending differs from the darker implications of the novel. Hitchcock had wanted a more sinister resolution, but RKO was concerned about presenting Cary Grant, then a major romantic star, as an outright killer. That casting history makes Grant’s performance deliberately ambiguous: Johnnie is disreputable, but the film never settles every suspicion with complete certainty.