Kelly only made 11films, of which a half-dozen are memorable, during her short-lived career from1950-1955. This time would prove to be her greatest period of personal freedom.She went from a restrictive childhood to the psychologically and sociallylimiting role as Princess Grace.
She was to the manorborn, but a ring away from the top tier. Born in Philadelphia to an affluent Irish family,Kelly and her kin would have been included in the social register had they notbeen Catholic in a Protestant Republican town. Yet she was sent to the best schoolsand her patrician gentility seemed a natural outcome of a finely wrought,untroubled upbringingexcept that her father never thought much of hisdaughter’s ambitions.
Jack Kelly was asports-minded gold-medal winner for rowing and Grace was shy, nonathletic andapathetic, interested only in pursuing acting. Only her Uncle George,himself a playwright, encouraged her ambitions. Her success never diminishedher father’s question: “What was all the fuss about Grace?” But herdetermination prevailed. She was allowed to enroll at the pricey American Academyof Dramatic Arts in New Yorkwhile staying at the very discreet Barbizon Hotel for Women.
Kelly’s earlyromantic life is shrouded in mystery. She had that rare quality of inspiringliking that only resembled lovingeveryone was kind to her. She wasprobably intimate with Oleg Cassini, who wanted to marry heras did many of herco-starsbut rumors of affairs with Clark Gable and Bing Crosby seem more liketabloid relish.
Her first majorroles were underrated performances as the Quaker wife in High Noon and the reserved Englishwoman in Mogambo. Alfred Hitchcock adored Kelly, hiring her based only on aborrowed screen test. Her now world-famous allure and indescribably refreshinginnocence ignited Rear Window, To Catch a Thief and even Dial M for Murder. She won an AcademyAward for portraying an embittered, long-suffering wife in The Country Girl, but the plainness of her part barelyconcealed her subtle beauty.
Her final film, High Society, is rarely compared to itsacknowledged predecessor, ThePhiladelphia Story, for fear of Katharine Hepburn’s formidable élan, butKelly carries her own with a softer, effortless sense of class. The Newport,R.I.-bred Tracy Lord of High Societyis closer to the real Kelly, and Kelly’s characterization seems more natural,her sophistication less programmed and theatrical and ultimately morecontemporary than Hepburn’s razor-sharp finesse.
Kelly was alreadyengaged to Prince Rainier during the filming of High Society and she left Hollywoodin 1956. After a five-year careerher only period of real freedomshe likelydid not realize that Princess Grace would be her final and most limiting role.Spoto can only hint at what induced Kelly to abandon Hollywoodfor the 400-acre principality of Monaco after a brief correspondencecourtship. She had long yearned for a stable marriage and found Hollywood artificial.
Like the enigma ofher early romances, we may never know the overall effects of dealing with aresentful palace staff whose restrictive protocol she rarely opposed. She diedof a brain hemorrhage in 1982. Her screen presence remains “ethereal withoutbeing unrealisticher line readings poignant without seeming arch.” GraceKelly’s appeal remains elusive, but never out of reach.
