Jay Jorgensen - Grace Kelly: Hollywood Dream Girl

For Merica

Contents

G race Kellys beauty is legendary. But any assumption that she was handed fame and success because of her looks would be a false one. In fact, Grace refused to use her beauty or sex appeal to get roles. She not only dressed plainly, even dowdily, at auditions, she hid her face behind horn-rimmed glasses and pinned her blond hair into a bun when not on camera. Especially in her early days, the off-screen Grace was far from the iconic princess Danny Peary defined as criminally beautiful.

In the pages of this book, an alternative story of Grace Kellys life emerges in photographs, quotes, and memorabilia from what was arguably the most exciting and empowered period of her life: her Hollywood years. Indeed, this may be the first book ever to present the story of Graces life as viewed through the lens of her film career. Here, her creative life takes center stage. Her passion for acting, her creative process, and the evolution of her screen persona are examined in detail. Grace Kellythough she was born into privilege and blessed with enviable physical assetsdid not appear fully formed on Hollywoods doorstep and ascend to stardom overnight. She was made into the star that we know today.

A quiet, nearsighted child in a family of beautiful, robust overachievers, Grace was never considered exceptionally good-looking by her relatives. From her earliest days, she was forced to look inward and seek other ways to distinguish herself. She could never be the dazzling beauty of the Kelly familythat honor went to her older sister, Peggy. But Grace could be the most thoughtful, or the most creative, or the funniest, or the most dramatic, or the most tenacious. She aspired to attain inner qualities that would sustain her throughout

her life. Flashy, fleeting glamour was never something to cling to.

When she began auditioning for theater roles in New York, Grace could have wowed producers with her ice-blue eyes, chiseled bone structure, and lithe figure. Instead, she wrapped herself in cardigans, woolen skirts or slacks, and flat, sensible shoes. Her characteristic bun or ponytail gave the impression of a young schoolteacher or serious college student. Why did she deliberately dress herself down? Because she had grown up emphasizing her internal qualities over the external. It was as simple as that. For Grace, displaying talent, sensitivity, and dedication to her craft was more important than displaying her legs.

OPPOSITE Grace Kelly on the set of The Country Girl. ABOVE Grace appeared on the cover of Life after winning her Oscar.

She lost countless roles because she was considered too quiet, too reserved, or too plain-looking. Her black-and-white headshots were stark and unremarkable. A cameraman who observed Graces first screen test was quoted as saying, On film, she just didnt come across. She generated absolutely nothingno sex, no vitality, just a kind of subdued prettiness.

But she persevered, and began to get small parts on TV and in films. In her early movie appearances and Hollywood photo sessions, the industry was still not sure what to do with her. She had a high forehead and a square jaw, and had to be photographed from the proper angles or she looked too severe. It wasnt until Alfred Hitchcock and Paramount Studios got a hold of her in Rear Window that Grace the glamour girl was created.

The Paramount team, including costume designer Edith Head, makeup artist Wally Westmore, and still photographer Bud Fraker, were largely responsible for transforming the natural beauty behind the glasses into a stunning woman on camera. The most flattering hairstyles, cosmetics, and clothing were established for Grace. A perfect balance between glamour and simplicity had to be struck; she must be made up, but not too heavily or

she looked artificial. You cant use trick lighting or hokey poses with the girl, Fraker said in 1955. The secret of her personality is naturalness.

That same naturalness was also the secret to her Oscar-winning performance as Georgie Elgin in The Country Girl. By the time she got the role of the downtrodden Georgie in 1954, Grace had established herself as a symbol of glamour and sex, albeit reluctantly. Off camera, she still wore her glasses and casual slacks. On the screen, she radiated sheer splendor. That sparkling exterior is just what Hollywood mistook for the real Grace Kelly, and so the town was baffled when she discarded the makeup and evening gowns to play a plain -Jane hausfrau in an old dress and flats in The Country Girl. The irony was that Georgie Elgins look was closer to the real Grace than the public knew. To earn her Best Actress Academy Award, Grace had to strip away her newly acquired high-gloss faade and return to where she had started in the first place: a clean-scrubbed girl in a cardigan sweater that everyone accused of looking dowdy. It wasnt so much a case of de-glamorizing herself as it was of being herself.

Once she had taken Hollywood by storm, suddenly Graces simple elegance became all the rage. A 1955 article

ABOVE Grace Kellys theatrical headshot from the late 1940s (left) and as Georgie Elgin in the film The Country Girl.

in Modern Screen credited Grace for revolutionizing style. Alone, singlehanded, and quite unintentionally, a bright new screen star is changing the tastes of Hollywood, wrote reporter Marva Peterson. Fashion experts find themselves promoting styles that de-emphasize the bosom and the tight skirt.... The swing toward genteel charm really started with Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn. It was Graces phenomenal success, however, combined with her genuine refinement, that really wrought the mild revolution. Grace had always dressed tastefully and conservatively, and had no intention of setting trends. Im merely being myself was her only explanation for the phenomenon.