Grace Kelly - Hollywood Hoodlums

Grace Kelly

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 17 May 2008

Biography

Grace Patricia Kelly (later Grace, Princess of Monaco; November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress who, upon marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956, became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, but was generally known as Princess Grace of Monaco. Princess Grace maintained dual American and Monegasque citizenship after her marriage. The principality's current Sovereign Prince, Albert II is the son of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. The American Film Institute ranked Kelly #13 amongst the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.

Career

In September 1952, Grace was flown to Los Angeles by MGM to audition for the role of Linda Nordley in the studio's production of Mogambo. Gene Tierney was initially cast in the role, but dropped out at the last minute due to her emotional problems. Kelly won the role, along with a 7-year contract, although she was hired at a relatively low salary of $850 a week. Kelly signed the deal under two conditions: First, one out of every two years, she have time off to work in the theater and second, that she be able to live in New York City. Just two months later, in November, the cast arrived in Nairobi to begin production. She later told famed Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, "Mogambo had three things that interested me. John Ford, Clark Gable, and a trip to AfricaMogambo had been made in Arizona, I wouldn't have done it."[2]Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and her first Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress. with expenses paid. If Critics praised Grace's patrician beauty, despite receiving third billing. The role garnered her a nomination for

After the heightened success of Mogambo, Grace starred in a TV play The Way of an Eagle, with Jean-Pierre Aumont before being cast in the film adaptation of Frederick Knott's Broadway hit Dial M for Murder. Alfred Hitchcock was slated to direct the film and would become one of Kelly's last mentors. Hitchcock also took full advantage of Kelly's virginal beauty on-camera. In a scene in which her character Margot Wendice is nearly murdered, a struggle that breaks out between her and her would-be-killer Tony Dawson clearly accentuates her curves and statuesque figure, which is closely hugged by a flimsy nightgown as she kicks her legs and flails her arms attempting to fight off her killer. Dial M for Murder opened in theaters in May 1954 to both positive reviews and box-office triumph. The role of Margot Wendice was a beginning for Grace as a poised and confident role-playing actress.

Grace began filming scenes for her next film, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, in January 1954 with William Holden. The role of Nancy, the cordially wretched wife of naval officer Harry (played by Holden), proved to be a minor but pivotal part of the story. Released in January 1955, The New Yorker wrote of Kelly and Holden's unbridled onscreen chemistry, taking note of Grace's performance on part "with quiet confidence."

In October 1954 Grace received a telegram that Alfred Hitchcock had scheduled her a wardrobe fitting with Edith Head, arguably Hollywood's most premier and elite costume designer, for the director's next film, Rear Window. In going forth with the role of Lisa Fremont, Grace unhesitatingly turned down the opportunity to star alongside Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, which won her replacement, Eva Marie Saint, an Academy Award. "All through the making of Dial M for Murder, he [Hitchcock] sat and talked to me about Rear Window all the time, even before we had discussed my being in it."[3]Dial M for Murder, Grace and Hitchcock shared a close bond of humor and admiration. Sometimes, however, minor strifes would emerge on set concerning the wardrobe. Much like the shooting of

"At the rehearsal for the scene in Rear Window when I wore a sheer nightgown, Hitchcock called for Edith Head. He came over here and said, 'Look, the bosom is not right, we're going to have to put something in there.' He was very sweet about it; he didn't want to upset me, so he spoke quietly to Edith. When we went into my dressing room and Edith said, 'Mr. Hitchcock is worried because there's a false pleat here. He wants me to put in falsies.' Well, I said, 'You can't put falsies in this, it's going to show and I'm not going to wear them.' And she said, 'What are we going to do?' So we quickly took it up here, made some adjustments there, and I just did what I could and stood as straight as possible - without falsies. When I walked out onto the set Hitchcock looked at me and at Edith and said, 'See what a difference they make?'"

Grace's new co-star, James Stewart, was highly enthusiastic about working with Grace.[4]Variety's film critic remarked on the casting, commenting about the "earthy quality to the relationship between Stewart and Miss Kelly. Both do a fine job of the picture's acting demands." The role of Lisa Fremont, a wealthy Manhattan socialite and model, was unlike any of the previous women which she had played. For the very first time, she was an independent career woman. Stewart played a speculative photographer with a broken leg, bound to a wheelchair, who is curiously reduced to observing the happenings of tenants outside his window. Kelly is not seen until twenty-two minutes into the movie. Just as he had done earlier, Hitchcock provided the camera with a slow-sequenced silhouette of Kelly, along with a close-up of the two stars kissing and finally lingering closely on her profile. With the film's opening in October 1954, Kelly was yet again praised.

She was awarded the role of Bing Crosby's long-suffering wife in The Country Girl, after a pregnant Jennifer Jones bowed out. Already familiar with the play, Kelly was desperate for the part. This meant that, to MGM's dismay, she would have to be loaned out to Paramount. Kelly threatened the studio that she would pack her bags and leave for New York for good. The vanquished studio caved in, and the part was hers. The Country Girl was shot in black and white, surprising an audience that had become accustomed to seeing the blonde in Technicolor.

The film also paired Kelly again with William Holden. The wife of a washed-up alcoholicAcademy Award for Best Actress. Her character's modest appearance and the film's demanding scenes were a departure from her on-screen persona of the graceful heiress, which she embodied through her last role in High Society, the musical remake of The Philadelphia Story. singer, played by Crosby, Kelly's character is emotionally torn between two lovers. Holden willfully begs Kelly to leave her husband and be with him. A piece of frail tenderness manages to cloak itself inside of her, even after having been demonized by Crosby, describing "a pathetic hint of frailty in a wonderful glowing man. That appeals a lot to us. It did to me. I was so young. His weaknesses seemed touching and sweet, they made me love him more." The following March, Kelly would be honored with the

In April 1954, Kelly flew to Colombia for a brief 10-day shoot to film her next project, Green Fire, with Stewart Granger. Kelly plays Kathy Noland, an extremely small role as a coffee plantation owner. In Granger's autobiography he writes of his distaste for the film's script, while Kelly later confided to Hedda Hopper, "It wasn't pleasant. We worked at a pathetic village - miserable huts and dirty. Part of the crew got shipwrecked ... It was awful." Green Fire was a critical and box-office failure.

After the back-to-back shooting of Rear Window, Toko-Ri, Country Girl, and Green Fire, Kelly was exhausted, and flew to France along with department store heir Bernard "Barney" Strauss, to begin work on her third and final film for Alfred Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief. Kelly and her new co-star, Cary Grant, developed a mutual admiration. The two cherished their time together for the rest of their lives. Years later, when asked to name his all-time favorite actress, Cary replied without hesitation: "Well, with all due respect to dear Ingrid Bergman, I much preferred Grace. She had serenity." The fireworks scene has been the subject of much commentary, as Hitchcock subliminally peppers an undertone of sexual innuendo during the sequence. In the now famous speedy picnic drive, dressed in a peach and white dress, with her trademark white gloves, Kelly's real life fear of driving and her inability to properly operate an automobile, are captured on film.

Though her film career lasted just five years and eleven films, Kelly is remembered as a premier actress in American film.

--Biography by Wikipedia

Family

Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she grew up in the East Falls section, the third of four children to John Brendan Kelly, Sr., also known as Jack Kelly, and Margaret Katherine Majer Kelly. Grace's siblings, in order of age, were Peggy, John Jr., and Lizanne. Her father was one of ten children of John Henry Kelly (1847-1897) and Mary Costello in an Irish Catholic family (originally from Kidney Lake, Newport, County Mayo, Ireland). Already a local hero as a triple Olympic-gold-medal-winning sculler when the sport of rowing was most popular, John Kelly's brick business grew to become the largest on the East Coast. The self-made millionaire and his family were introduced to Philadelphia society. Mr. Kelly's large family included two uncles prominent in the arts: Walter Kelly, a vaudevillian, and George Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who, outside of Grace, was looked down upon by the family because of his homosexuality.

In 1935, John Kelly ran for mayor of Philadelphia, losing by the closest margin for any Democrat in Philadelphia. He later served on the Fairmount Park Commission. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him National Director of Physical Fitness, a post that allowed Kelly to use his fame to promote physical fitness.

Grace's mother, born to Lutheran German parents (Carl Maier and Margaretha Berg), converted to Catholicism upon marrying Mr. Kelly. Like her husband, Margaret Kelly was a proponent of health and fitness, studying Physical Education at Temple University, and later becoming the first woman to head the Physical Education Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

John B. Kelly, Jr., Grace’s brother, followed in the family's athletic tradition: his rowing exploits were well chronicled. He won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1947 as the top amateur athlete in the country. As a wedding gift, John, Jr., gave his sister his bronze medal from the 1956 Summer Olympics. Kelly Drive in Philadelphia is named for John, Jr., who was a city councilman there.

Marriage

In April 1955, Grace Kelly was asked to head the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainier III, the ruling sovereign of the principality. After a series of delays and complications, Kelly was finally able to make it to Monaco, where she met the prince.

Upon returning to America, Grace began work on her next feature film, The Swan, in which she coincidentally portrayed a princess. Meanwhile, she was privately beginning a correspondence with Rainier. In December, Rainier came to America on a trip officially designated as a tour, although it was speculated that Rainier was actively seeking a wife. A 1918 treaty with France stated that if Rainier did not produce an heir, Monaco would revert to France. At a press conference in the United States, Rainier was asked if he was pursuing a wife, to which he answered "No." A second question was posed, asking, "If you were pursuing a wife, what kind would you like?" Rainier smiled and answered, "I don't know—the best." Rainier met with Grace and her family, and after three days, the prince proposed. Grace accepted and the families began preparing for what the press called "The Wedding of the Century." The wedding was set for April 19, 1956.

News of the engagement was a sensation even though it meant the possible end to Grace's film career. Industry professionals realized that it would have been impractical for her to continue acting and wished her well. Alfred Hitchcock had quipped that he was, "very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part."

Preparations for the wedding were elaborate. The Palace of Monaco was painted and redecorated throughout. The voyage of the American contingent to Monaco was an ordeal. On April 4, 1956, leaving from Pier 84 in New York Harbor, Grace, with her family, bridesmaids, poodle, and over eighty pieces of luggage boarded the ocean liner SS Constitution for the French Riviera. Some 400 reporters applied to sail, though most were turned away. Thousands of fans sent the party off for the 8 day voyage. In Monaco, more than twenty-thousand people lined the streets to greet the future princess consort.

Nine months and four days after the wedding, Princess Grace gave birth to the royal couple's first child, Princess Caroline. 21 guns announced the event, a national holiday was called, gambling ceased, and free champagne flowed throughout the principality. A little over a year later, 101 guns announced the birth of their second child, Prince Albert. Prince Rainier and Princess Grace had three children:

Hereditary Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite, born January 23, 1957, and now heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco
Albert II, Prince of Monaco, born March 14, 1958, current ruler of the Principality of Monaco
Princess Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth, born February 1, 1965.

Death

On September 13, 1982, while driving with her daughter Stéphanie to Monaco from their country home, Princess Grace, then 52, suffered a stroke, which caused her to drive her Rover P6 off the serpentine down a mountainside. Princess Grace was pulled alive from the wreckage, but had suffered serious injuries and was unconscious. She died the following day at The Princess Grace Hospital Centre, having never regained consciousness. It was initially reported that Princess Stéphanie suffered only minor bruising, although it later emerged that she had suffered a serious cervical fracture. It was rumored that Princess Grace had been driving on the same stretch of highway that had been featured in her 1955 movie To Catch a Thief; her son has always denied it.

Princess Grace was buried in the Grimaldi family vault on September 18, 1982, after a requiem mass in Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco. Prince Rainier, who never remarried after Kelly's death, was buried alongside her following his death in 2005. The 400 guests at the service included representatives of foreign governments and of present and past European royal houses (Diana, Princess of Wales was the only member of the British royal family to attend), as well as several veteran US film stars. Nearly 100 million people worldwide watched her funeral.

In his eulogy, James Stewart said: "You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace."