FAMOUS ACTORS ON
«THE STAR OF STARS»
G
race astonished so many people around
her including her colleagues and fa-
mous actors who worked with her or
crossed her path so often in the cinema world.
Cary Grant said: «Grace acted the way Johnny
Weissmuller swam, or Fred Astaire danced. She
made it look so easy. Some people said Grace was
just being herself. Well, that’s the toughest thing
to do if you’re an actor».
Hitchcock’s films were confirming Kelly’s rep-
utation as one of the world’s most desirable
women. When she was cast as Georgie Elgin
in «The Country Girl», Bing Crosby, playing her
alcoholic crooner husband, and sounding inse-
cure, was less than amused. Biographer Don-
ald Spoto quotes Kelly: «He almost withdrew
from the picture when he heard that I was going
to play the part. «She’s too pretty», he told pro-
ducers about me. «She has no experience... She’s
too glamorous for the part of Georgie».
HITCHCOCK’S MUSE
T
he retirement of his muse crushed Hitch-
cock. «He would have used Grace in the next
ten pictures», John Michael Hayes stated.
«I would say that all the actresses he cast subse-
quently were attempts to retrieve the image and
feeling that Hitch carried around so reverentially
about Grace».
Princess Grace: «When at last I took the time to
look into the heart of a flower, it opened up a
whole new world»
Costume designer Edith Head pinpointed the
difference between Kelly and the other stars
of the day, her regal posture: «Her peers show
up for work in jeans, but she always wears white
gloves and carries a hankie. She glides, she poses,
she slinks, she lies back like a cat».
Studio executive Dore Schary remembered:
«John Ford enabled me to even the score with Dar-
ryl Zanuck. He got Monroe, we got Grace Kelly».
Assistant director Herbert Coleman of «Rear
Window» describes Grace Kelly’s impact: «[it
is] the most beautiful shot of a woman I have ever
seen in my life». It is the moment when, as author
Neil Sinyard puts it, «in a reversal of convention,
a sleeping hero is awakened by a kiss from a
Fairy Princess».
It is in «Rear Window» (1954) where Grace Kelly
achieves peak iconic stature. Famous column-
ists saw her as a «white-gloved dreamy muse
to make men’s hearts faint and women swoon».
And Hitchcock, mesmerized, creates these lines
for her protagonist: «She’s too perfect», Jimmy
Stewart complains. «She’s too talented. She’s too
beautiful. She’s too sophisticated. She’s too eve-
rything».
CELEBRITY QUOTES АBOUT GRACE
ing over water Grace’s natural kindness blend-
ed beautifully with her role in the Red Cross.
Grace Kelly and Gary Grant,
Port Hercule, Monaco, 1955
Elaine Lennon writing about Hitchcock and
Grace Kelly points out: «...with Grace, Hitchcock
found his muse, and he told everyone that she was
the best leading lady he had since Ingrid Bergman».
A FAIRY
TALE TAKES FORM
T
he year 1955 was a big one for Grace.
She had four films in the theatres and
was the year’s highest-earning female
star at the Academy Awards, not only did she
win an Oscar but Bob Hope, an icon himself
and undisputed king of film award ceremonies,
declared: «I just want to say, they should give a
special award for bravery to the producer who
produced a movie without Grace Kelly».
That same year she rose to the top of the Best-
Dressed List, sharing the No.1 spot. «The stylish
image of Grace Kelly was everywhere», writes H.
Kristina Haugland in «Grace Kelly: Icon of Style
to Royal Bride».
At this point Grace rises to the pinnacle join-
ing Hollywood legends. In the words of Robert
Lacey: «Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Grace,
they’re the end of the star system and, to my
mind, more beautiful than any stars of the earlier
years, and more beautiful than anything since».
JOIE DE VIVRE
G
race glowed with joie de vivre. James
Stewart, in his eulogy, said: «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».
«She wandered around the mountains in and near
Monaco collecting flowers. Here was one of the
most vital women in the world, making pressed
flower collages», said her old friend Rupert Allan.
And then there were her personal qualities.
There was also Princess Grace the person as
well as Grace Kelly the actress. Like a Swan glid-
Prince Albert II: «Pretty soon after their wedding, in
’58, Mom took it [Presidency of the Red Cross. — Ed.]
on and then, it became something else».
Grace transformed the Red Cross Ball, taking it
to the stratosphere of high society, her dedica-
tion touching so many hearts in the process.
Just as she had done with the Red Cross, Prin-
cess Grace took her duties representing the
Royal family on the global scene very seri-
ously. The International image of the Princi-
pality soared creating significantly enhanced
new waves of diplomatic interest, tourism and
business. As Prince Rainier III himself once ob-
served, «The best ambassador I have is Grace».
The acclaimed writer Anthony Burgess and one
of the founding trustees of the Princess Grace
Irish Library wrote: «Princess Grace was the last
of the great hostesses. She could charm the French
and control Frank Sinatra». He adds: «The beauty
could be observed at close hand, the dignity was
genuine, the kindness was no act <…> in Mona-
co-Ville cloaked bare-headed Grace would greet
and kiss the older inhabitants».
Louisette Azzoaglio Levy-Soussan was Princess
Grace’s Personal Assistant for 19 years and gives
her own intimate portrait of the Princess: «Prin-
cess Grace was someone who was curious, she had
some thing stately in her personality and she was
taking her role as a princess seriously. She wanted
to adopt Monaco as her new city and she wanted
to know everything about Monaco and everything
about the people, because she wanted to be close
to them. And so, she had a great intelligence and a
great sense of humour, which sometimes you don’t
always see. But when you are with her every day,
she could turn something very simple into some-
thing very funny. And that was wonderful. For me,
she has been the person who has most impressed
me in all my life and really changed my life».
These beautiful personal qualities were also, of
course, waiting to be played out to the full in her
real-life role as a mother — the most important
role she ever played and worth more than a mul-
titude of Oscars.
Hello Monaco Winter 2019–2020 / 71
www.hellomonaco.com