 They Don't Make them like Her Anymore
Everyone remembers his first screen love.
Grace Kelly was mine, and I can still remember her clear Teutonic skin, lugubrious soft hair, her casual sophistication, all completely new fascinations to my mundane childhood. Years later, the only thing that's changed is I've grown older and she's still impossibly perfect.
What Robert Lacey has done in Grace is bring us all a little bit closer to that Snow Princess whom we all would have made our Princess were we a Prince. Behind the camera, behind bedroom doors, behind the veneer of an idyllic fairy tale that proves that fairy tales are exactly that, each anecdote is like a stitch in a grand painting that is sometimes bleak (Grace ages and somewhat pathetically begins to fool around with younger men), sometimes inspiring (her persistence at overcoming her natural dramatic flaws), and always sensual (her intimate fashion shows for her boyfriend Don Richardson).
Unlike many biographies of screen legends, Lacey largely eschews extended back lot stories that might involve but not support the basic image of Grace that he believes must be told. So while we learn High Noon's screenwriter Carl Foreman meant his film as an allegory about Communist witch hunts, we are spared a complete A-Z on the Hollywood Blacklist and its artistic implications. A great biography of a great person must not necessarily take on the great issues of his day. Of which Lacey understands.
Grace is a woman of terrific sexual energies and ambitions but just as importantly, sports a marvelous capacity to mask those penchants. So instead of becoming Jenna Jameson, she turns into Princess Grace, a woman who sleeps her way to the top but seems so inevitably suited for the position that no one can possibly begrudge her it.
As Lacey says "She managed to be naughty while appearing very nice."
It's become axiomatic that the greatest personalities are deeply contradictory. Nearly every biographer, when faced with the compelling weight of his research, is forced to concede that mankind is a very complex being (thank you, Mr. Stevenson). And Grace was no different. Lacey talks of Grace's growing conservatism, her disputes with her daughters over their flagrant ways, all while engaging in her own illicit love affairs as Princess Grace. And what of her devoted Catholicism? How to resolve her piety with her philandering?
Questions which can only be answered by Hitchcock's own. This is a snow covered volcano we're dealing with here.
And sometimes, you can't guess; you can only watch.
 A real woman, but not "promiscous"
The media reviewers quoted here harp on Grace Kelly's supposed "promiscous" behavior, the main point of the book, as far as they are concerned. Anyone who actually reads the book will find someone who had a few discreet affairs before she was married, who took her marriage vows and commitment to her family and role as princess seriously, who worked very hard throughout her life to meet her commitments, and who had a comforting relationship with a kind younger man when her marriage turned lonely as she got older. If she wasn't quite the cold, virginal image presented by Hollywood, good for her.
It's a very good book about a real woman of extraordinary beauty who could have settled for a society matron's life in Philadelphia but who made an extraordinary life for herself through her own efforts. Read it for that and not the sensationalism.
Amazing Grace
I picked up "Grace" about a year ago when I found it in my mom's old book closet. Although I am relatively young, something about the stars of yesteryear attracts me more than the glitz surrounding contemporary celebrities. Grace Kelly is no exception. I knew nothing about this icon, except that she was an American princess and a Hitchcockian heroine. Mr. Lacey certainly did his share in informing me about this classic movie star. I enjoyed how he provides us with immense background on the Kelly's, a prominent family in their own right. Mr. Lacey also does a fine job in giving us the "low-down" on Monaco and its interesting history.
Also of note would be the fact that Lacey attempts (and succeeds) at presenting the seemingly ethereal Grace as a person, not the sex symbol or ice queen she is usually remembered as. He does give a lot of insight into her love life and various affairs, but you never lose sight that Grace had this innocence about her. It seemed as if she could do no wrong.
Aside from being a talented actress, Grace was a true beauty and a dedicated mother and wife. She will always be remembered as our very own princess.
great book
This book has a great deal of detail. I feel as if there was too much emphasis on her sex life versus her screen image, and frankly that was her business, not important in the book. Otherwise a good book.
It Told Me Just What I Wanted to Know About Her
I wanted to know all about the men in Grace Kelley's life, both before and after her marriage. This book told me everything, but in a classy, well-researched way. I learned a lot about Monaco, and just the things I would have wanted to know about her family members, too. After reading this excellent book, I plan to read more of Robert Lacey's works.
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