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anothergracekellyblog · 7 years ago

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GRACE KELLY - HER BIGGEST GAMBLE (PART 2) by Maurice Zolotow

THE AMERICAN WEEKLY - April 21, 1956

Can a shy girl who became a movie star carve out a new career - as a princess?

Photo by Howell Conant

SOURCE: Newspapers.com

PART 3 here

Click Keep reading for the full article.

PART II

The position in which Grace Kelly finds herself today must be intensely painful to her. For a long time, she has desperately avoided being the center of attention. She has been elusive. She has been secretive. She has kept to herself. Being a shy and sensitive person, she likes silence and solitude.

Even though she has been compulsively driven to seek success in a profession which swarms with lovely lunatics who are fond of doing and saying bizarre and unconventional things, this lean and intense blonde has persisted in her withdrawn pattern of living.

Her reserve, which is actually a disguise to mask the insecurity she feels with other people, has been interpreted as aristocratic hauteur. Her timidity has been called serenity. Her long silences when interviewers probe her inhibitions about divulging the dimensions of her bosom or the length of her long, lean legs, are described as manifestations of a snobbish disdain for the manners and morals of Hollywood.

So now, this girl who has always tried to shun the glare of publicity has become a focus of international excitement from the principality of Monaco to the principality of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. If the future wife of Prince Rainier III, His Serene Highness, the Prince of Monaco, Baron du Buis, Duc de Valentinois and Marquis des Baux, carries out her threat to retire from motion pictures, it would cost her studio at least $10,000,000 a year for the remaining four years of her contract.

The triumph of Grace is one of the most astonishing reversals in the whole saga of Hollywood. Four years ago she was in several unsuccessful Broadway shows. Then, almost within a year, she catapulted to the heights. She won the Academy Award for her portrayal of the tortured wife of an alcoholic in The Country Girl. In her two upcoming films, The Swan and High Society, her qualities of subtlety, wit, emotion and human understanding will be displayed in even more sharpness because she is constantly polishing her technique as an actress.

One morning between scenes during the shooting of High Society I sat in Bing Crosby's dressing room. He plays the ex-husband of a girl named Tracy. Crosby remarked, "This Tracy character that Grace is doing, well, it's the most. It will be a whole new Kelly. She starts out being a little held down and then she breaks it up. She gets real high. She even gets drunk in one scene. Man, this girl achieves a real coup d’état.

"You see, first she's untouchable and then she breaks down and becomes a real woman. She kind of broke down a little in The Country Girl but in High Society she breaks down all the way. I think what happened is her being in love and that this romance with the Prince, old Rainier, helped to bring out this gal's warmness. And isn't that something about Monaco putting her picture on a postage stamp? I also hear they're putting her on a coin. It sure will be the best looking piece of change in the world."

To come to know Grace Kelly even casually, as I came to know her for a few brief days, is to realize that physically and spiritually she is quite unlike most of the characters she has portrayed so elegantly in the movies. It is proof of what an extremely gifted actress she is that when you are about to come into contact with her you expect to meet the chic and elegantly voluptuous creature who flirted so outrageously with Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, who resolutely went on the make for Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, who passionately kissed Clark Gable in the rain in Mogambo, and who broke William Holden's heart in The Country Girl.

That afternoon, as I plodded through the crowds in the Metro commissary, I was filled with misgivings because I could not see the enchanting blonde goddess anywhere. I thought for a moment she might have forgotten our appointment. But she was sitting at one of the tables against a wall.

The reason I did not see her was simple: she doesn't look like an enchanting blonde goddess. She was wearing her glasses, but that was not the reason. She was wearing an azure-colored blouse tied with a string around her slender neck. She was wearing black bolero pants and ballet slippers.

She is unusually tall for a woman almost five feet eight inches tall but she does not carry the weight that ordinarily goes with this height. She is about 110 pounds in heft give or take a few pounds. Her eyes, which are large and deep and extremely penetrating, are a lovely sky-blue color. Her hair, which is soft and straight, is worn long, almost to the shoulders. She has strong eyebrows, a delicately shaped nose, a small but firm chin, an alabaster skin that is translucently clear, beautifully formed ears and thin but very expressive lips.

Through some fortunate chemical interaction, Miss Kelly and I happened to hit it off almost immediately. I felt comfortable and happy with her, and I believe she also felt at ease with me. For this reason, I was able to catch a glimpse of her that few outsiders have known.

This aspect of her personality only comes out during one of her upswinging moods that usually follow the finishing of a movie or any satisfying experience that makes her feel good about herself. She then becomes playful, whimsical, gay, high-spirited. In this mood, she loves to tease people, giving play to an almost childlike mischievousness.

During her New York years, for instance, she once lived in an apartment with very little furniture. She used to startle young men who called for her by dressing up in a long black dress, letting her hair hang wildly over her face, and sitting crosslegged in an empty room, lit only by one candle in a bottle.

When I visited her house and started to light a cigarette, she said, handing me a pack, "Use these matches from Monaco."

I looked impressed. I saw the big word "Monaco" on the folding matchbox. I lit my cigarette and remarked, "Isn't that nice the Prince sending you matches from Monaco. How thoughtful!"

Seeing I had been neatly fooled, Miss Kelly broke into spasms of girlish delight.

"Read it again," Miss Kelly said.

I did. The matchbox cover read: "The Monaco Grocery and Delicatessen. Imported and Domestic Food Products. Finest Wines. 8513 Santa Monica Boulevard at La Cienga."

But her prevailing mood is one of introverted detachment from her surroundings. She can get lost in her own thoughts and emotions and she will sit by herself for hours, silently knitting or looking out a window.

For at least three hours a day, she must be by herself. During these interludes she retraces the events of the day, analyzing the motives of the people she has encountered, wondering which of her actions she might have altered.

One of her friends told me, "She has a secret life in which she finds peace."

Her circle of really close friends is very small and they are all New Yorkers. They include Rita Gam, Broadway producer Gant Gaither, her Music Corporation of America agent, Jay Kanter, and his wife Judy. The members of this group have a secret signal three bird whistles in rapid succession so they can identify themselves over the telephone. But even with her closest friends, Grace will be bashful. Few of them have heard her play the piano, although she is a tolerably good pianist.

It seems peculiar that somebody with such a character should plunge into the profession of acting, acting, and the answer to this riddle is a complicated one that takes us deep into her psychology and into her inner conflicts. But first, we must clear up two misconceptions Grace Kelly is not a debutante and she does not hail from the "Main Line" of Philadelphia society.

She was born Grace Patricia Kelly on November 12, 1929. The family then lived and still does in the East Falls of Schuylkill neighborhood of Philadelphia, a solid, no-nonsense, bourgeois neighborhood. The Kelly family is not in the Social Register. Nor is her father, John B. Kelly, worth $20,000,000.

Some years the John B. Kelly construction company, one of the nation's biggest contractors in the brick-masonry line, has done that much gross business. But Mr. Kelly probably is not worth more than a small handful of millions and he is certainly not one of the richest men in America, as he has been inaccurately described.

None of the Kelly children was reared in the lap of luxury. They ate sturdy, simple meals and they were not tended by retinues of nurses and governesses.

Another misconception about Grace Kelly's life, it seems to me, is that she had a blissfully happy childhood. The sadness and loneliness that Grace Kelly projected as Mrs. Elgin in The Country Girl could have come out of her experience as a human being. She understands loneliness and misery.

Both of her parents are strong, unusual personalities. Mrs. Kelly, who was Margaret Majer, comes of German stock. As a girl, she was tall, blonde and beautiful. She was a fervent suffragette and physical culturist. In 1914, when she was about 13 years old, Miss Majer went to the Philadelphia Turngemeinde, a gymnasium and social club for gymnasts, to practice high diving. She was introduced to a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man, 10 years older than herself, who had come to play handball.

That man was John B. Kelly, a lusty young Irishman, with a keen mind and tremendous ambition. When he met the future Mrs. Kelly, he was a bricklayer's apprentice six days a week and an athlete in his spare time.

Jack Kelly was a great basketball player and a good boxer. He fought in army bouts during World War I in the heavyweight division and knocked out a man who later gave Gene Tunney a lot of trouble. He probably was the best all-around oarsman this country has ever known.

Politics, business and athletics are the three goals of his life and of these the most important is athletics. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, athletics is almost a religion. Of their four children, three fitted into the pattern beautifully.

The oldest child, Peggy, born in 1925, was a swimming and diving champion. She is married to George Davis, the owner of the Philadelphia Ramblers, a hockey team. Their nine-year-old daughter, Meg Davis, finished second in the Junior National Figure Skating meet in 1955. She was younger than most of the other competitors.

John B. Kelly, Jr., was born in 1927. From the time he was five, his father had him out in a boat and was drilling him in the technique of rowing, John Jr. has won the U. S. sculling championship six times, the Canadian championship five times, England's Diamond Sculls twice. He won the European championship in 1949.

During World War II he did some boxing in the Navy as a lightweight. He met his wife, Mary, at the 1952 Olympic Games. She was a member of the American swimming team.

The youngest Kelly child, Lizanne, was born in 1932. She was captain of the girls’ basketball team at the University of Pennsylvania and is married to Don LeVine, who is a broker with a stock exchange firm in Philadelphia.

By a strange fluke of biology, into this family of boisterous gladiators and Amazons, there came a quiet, sensitive, artistic, gentle creature - a girl named Grace.

Next week Mr. Zolotow tells why this shy girl became a great actress and why he thinks she fell deeply in love with Prince Rainier.

#grace kelly #maurice zolotow #prince rainier #1956 #howell conant #engagement portraits #sheila edit

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thetudorforum · 4 years ago

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Available Characters in France

Jeanne d'Angoulême, Countess of Bar-sur-Seine-Dame de Givry, Baroness of Pagny and of Mirebeau, was the illegitimate half-sister of King Francis I of France.

Souveraine of Angoulême -was the illegitimate half-sister of King Francis I of France. In 1534 Married French Ambassador Louis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon.

Guillaume Gouffier-Soldier

Lucy of Anjou- Duchess of Anjou

Madeleine of Angoulême-was the illegitimate half-sister of King Francis I of France

Arabella Pisseleu Valois- illegitimate daughter of King Francis I of France, with his mistress Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly.

Jacqueline Jacobs- Lady in waiting at French court. A fictional character, hers story is all yours to make.

Jacques Guillemeau- physician at french court, a fictional character, his story is all yours to make.

Jane Rushmont[/b]- Cousin to Philippe Chabot, Ambassador of France. A fictional character, hers story is all yours to make.

Charles de Lorraine - 2nd cardinal de Lorraine, one of the foremost members of the powerful Roman Catholic house of Guise and perhaps the most influential Frenchman during the middle years of the 16th century. He was intelligent, avaricious, and cautious.

Claude of Lorraine, was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528. He was the second son of René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Philippa of Guelders. He was educated at the French court of Francis I. At seventeen, Claude made an alliance to the royal house of France by a marriage with Antoinette de Bourbon (1493–1583), daughter of François, Count of Vendôme.

René of Guise,Marquis d'Elbeuf-was the youngest son of Claude, Duke of Guise and Antoinette de Bourbon.He served as French ambassador to Scotland, and accompanied his sister Mary of Guise on her entrance to that country in 1561. He was also a patron of the arts, particularly of composer Pierre Clereau of Lorraine.

Constance Kelly- lady in waiting to Ava Lafontaine, Duchess of Brittany and younger sister to Claude Valois Queen of France. A fictional character, hers story is all yours to make.

Francis de Lorraine II- was a French soldier and politician. By religion, he practised catholicism, at a time when France was being polarized between the Catholics and Huguenots.

Henry D'artagnan-[/b]Duke of Artagnan, and council member of Francis I court, a fictional character, his story is all yours to make.

[b]Brigitte Rousselot - lady in waiting to Queen Claude, later becomes a mistress of Charles Brandon.

Louis Castillon-Sieur de Castillon was the French ambassador to England during the reign of Henry VIII. He served at the English court from November 1537.

Antoine Duprat was a French Cardinal and politician, Lord of Nantouillet, Count of Valtellina, Britain, and of the Duchy of Milan, was chancellor of France.

Francis III, Duke of Brittany - eldest son of Francis I and Queen Claude and dauphin as well. (Dies in 1536)

Charles II de Valois - Duke of Orleans

Margaret of France - Duchess of Berry

Emmanuel Philibert - Duke of Savoy and husband of Margaret of France

Anne duc de Montmorency-was born at Chantilly to the ancient Montmorency family. His father, Guillaume, had a senior status in the household of the king Francis I. As a young boy he was brought up with the future King Francis I and they became close. In 1512, aged 19, Montmorency fought at the Battle of Ravenna.

Richard Snyder-Knight

Antoine Escalin de Almars-he was a French Ambassador to the Otttoman Empire from 1541 to 1547 and ("General of the galleys") from 1544., he was born in 1498 he is also known as Captain Polin

[b]Louis II of Orleans - Duke of Longueville; husband of Mary of Guise

Louis d'Amboise - Lord of Bussy. Fictional[/b][/b]

Charles Valois - son of Francis III and Marina d'Astor

Louise de Brézé- the elder of two daughters of Louis de Brézé and Diane de Poitiers, and wife to Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Aumale.

Filippa Duci-Mistresses

Gabrielle de Palstron-Duchess of Anjou

Chloe Beaulieu - Mistress; biological mother of Elsa Schroeder and Lorelei Hildebrand

Kathryn Beauchamp - governess; fictional character; her story is all yours to make

Philip I of Hesse - Duke of Vendome

Gustavo Chabot - Duke of Bourbon

Tristan Hilliard - Duke of Chambord

Diane de Poitiers - Duchess of Valentinois; mistress of Henry II

Lillian Hilliard - Lady of Chambord; sister of Tristan Hilliard

Mary of Bourbon - Princess of Frankia

Lisette Hilliard - daughter of Tristan Hilliard

#Period RP #Historical RP #History RP #medieval rp

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