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SFGATE
Quincy Jones' new memoir
David Rubien
Friday, December 12, 2008
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There doesn't seem to be a big enough pie for Quincy Jones to get all his fingers in. Even the Earth itself falls short of his grasp.
IMAGES
View Larger Images
"You know that tune I arranged for Count Basie and Sinatra, 'Fly Me to the Moon'?" Jones asks. "It went up to the moon with the astronauts in 1969, and Buzz Aldrin played it when they landed on the moon." Jones, 75, is speaking over the phone from his mansion in Bel Air.
Correct that: not just in Bel Air. "All the way at the top of Bel Air."
Yes, it can be revealed that Quincy Delightt Jones Jr. has an ego. That comes with the territory when you reach his level of accomplishment. The dude has so many citations - 27 Grammys (the most ever), scores of Oscar nominations and Golden Globes, dozens of awards for worldwide humanitarian efforts and a few handfuls of honorary university degrees - that he makes a joke about the one he's picking up Monday for his induction into the California Hall of Fame, an honor he's sharing with Jane Fonda, Jack LaLanne, Jack Nicholson, Dave Brubeck and several others.
"I'm going up to Sacramento to pick it up from Ahhhhnold," he says.
On Tuesday, Jones talks at Herbst Theatre for City Arts & Lectures, part of a tour he's on to promote his new book, "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey & Passions." Unsurprising for a Jones project, the book is unique. It has to be one of the most lavishly produced volumes of photos and memorabilia ever published, containing high-quality reproductions of items like Jones' report card from Schillinger House of Music (which became the Berklee School of Music); pages from Jones' appointment calendar from 1955, when he was leading a big band (with handwritten notes like "call Hamp" and "call Bags" and "Dentist"); ledger pages indicating what he, as a producer, was paying musicians ($240 to Ray Charles in 1959 for recording "Deed I Do" and "Let the Good Times Roll"); and the original scribbled-on sheet music for the Jones-produced "We Are the World." You can actually remove these items from their special pockets in the book.
At Herbst, interviewer Ben Fong-Torres - who is reportedly writing a biography of Jones - will have his work cut out for him, because Jones' talking style is strictly stream of consciousness, and mile-a-minute at that. An anecdote about his boyhood in Chicago can lead to a story about Miles Davis, which can segue into Jones' ideas about artificial intelligence, leading him to talk about the French Huguenots and the ghettos of Brazil. And so on.
In that spirit, we will provide a few chronological signposts, then just let Jones rip.
-- Born in Chicago: "My daddy (Quincy Jones Sr.) was a carpenter who worked for gangsters. You can't believe what it was like in Chicago then. It was the biggest ghetto in America, and this was the Depression. All I ever saw was tommy guns, stogies, dead bodies in the streets. When I was 10 years old, I got my hand impaled on a fence. ... I'd probably be dead if we had stayed in Chicago."
-- The family moves to Bremerton, Wash., when Jones is 10. He starts playing piano, then trombone and finally trumpet. Two years later, the family moves to Seattle, and Jones starts doing professional gigs, including with Ray Charles.
"He was two years older than me, and I wanted to be him. He was so independent; he had his own apartment. He came from Florida. He hated Florida. ... He said, 'When I get $600, I want to get as far away from Florida as I can get.' That was Seattle."
-- At 17, Jones joins vibist Lionel Hampton's band, where he starts doing arrangements. This leads to arranging for many others, including Dizzy Gillespie, Big Maybelle and Dinah Washington. Jones releases his first album, "This Is How I Feel About Jazz," in 1957. He moves to France and produces and arranges many albums for Barclay Disques while studying composition with Nadia Boulanger.
"One day I get a call from Grace Kelly in Monaco. She says, Mr. Sinatra wants me to bring 55 musicians to Monaco for a fundraiser. So I put together a band. I get onstage, and he was like a magician. Only about six words passed between us. I didn't even know if I was on his radar screen.
"Four years later, he calls me from Kauai. Says 'Q' - nobody ever called me 'Q' - 'I just heard the record you did with Basie, "Fly Me to the Moon." I like it in 4/4 the way you did it. Would you consider doing that with me and Basie?'
"I said, 'You gotta be kidding. ...' Two days later I was in Kauai. I got to know him. He had a little bungalow with a big picture of Jack Daniel's on the wall. ... People think Frank is this tough guy, but if you know him, he's really sweet and giving. You know, Frank and Buddy Rich got their personalities from Tommy Dorsey. Dorsey was a salty Irish alcoholic, and Frank and Buddy imitated him. ...
"Frank used to say, 'Q, live every day like your last, and one day you'll be right.' "
Quincy Jones' new memoir
David Rubien
Friday, December 12, 2008
PRINT E-MAIL SHARE COMMENTS (0) FONT | SIZE:
There doesn't seem to be a big enough pie for Quincy Jones to get all his fingers in. Even the Earth itself falls short of his grasp.
IMAGES
View Larger Images
"You know that tune I arranged for Count Basie and Sinatra, 'Fly Me to the Moon'?" Jones asks. "It went up to the moon with the astronauts in 1969, and Buzz Aldrin played it when they landed on the moon." Jones, 75, is speaking over the phone from his mansion in Bel Air.
Correct that: not just in Bel Air. "All the way at the top of Bel Air."
Yes, it can be revealed that Quincy Delightt Jones Jr. has an ego. That comes with the territory when you reach his level of accomplishment. The dude has so many citations - 27 Grammys (the most ever), scores of Oscar nominations and Golden Globes, dozens of awards for worldwide humanitarian efforts and a few handfuls of honorary university degrees - that he makes a joke about the one he's picking up Monday for his induction into the California Hall of Fame, an honor he's sharing with Jane Fonda, Jack LaLanne, Jack Nicholson, Dave Brubeck and several others.
"I'm going up to Sacramento to pick it up from Ahhhhnold," he says.
On Tuesday, Jones talks at Herbst Theatre for City Arts & Lectures, part of a tour he's on to promote his new book, "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey & Passions." Unsurprising for a Jones project, the book is unique. It has to be one of the most lavishly produced volumes of photos and memorabilia ever published, containing high-quality reproductions of items like Jones' report card from Schillinger House of Music (which became the Berklee School of Music); pages from Jones' appointment calendar from 1955, when he was leading a big band (with handwritten notes like "call Hamp" and "call Bags" and "Dentist"); ledger pages indicating what he, as a producer, was paying musicians ($240 to Ray Charles in 1959 for recording "Deed I Do" and "Let the Good Times Roll"); and the original scribbled-on sheet music for the Jones-produced "We Are the World." You can actually remove these items from their special pockets in the book.
At Herbst, interviewer Ben Fong-Torres - who is reportedly writing a biography of Jones - will have his work cut out for him, because Jones' talking style is strictly stream of consciousness, and mile-a-minute at that. An anecdote about his boyhood in Chicago can lead to a story about Miles Davis, which can segue into Jones' ideas about artificial intelligence, leading him to talk about the French Huguenots and the ghettos of Brazil. And so on.
In that spirit, we will provide a few chronological signposts, then just let Jones rip.
-- Born in Chicago: "My daddy (Quincy Jones Sr.) was a carpenter who worked for gangsters. You can't believe what it was like in Chicago then. It was the biggest ghetto in America, and this was the Depression. All I ever saw was tommy guns, stogies, dead bodies in the streets. When I was 10 years old, I got my hand impaled on a fence. ... I'd probably be dead if we had stayed in Chicago."
-- The family moves to Bremerton, Wash., when Jones is 10. He starts playing piano, then trombone and finally trumpet. Two years later, the family moves to Seattle, and Jones starts doing professional gigs, including with Ray Charles.
"He was two years older than me, and I wanted to be him. He was so independent; he had his own apartment. He came from Florida. He hated Florida. ... He said, 'When I get $600, I want to get as far away from Florida as I can get.' That was Seattle."
-- At 17, Jones joins vibist Lionel Hampton's band, where he starts doing arrangements. This leads to arranging for many others, including Dizzy Gillespie, Big Maybelle and Dinah Washington. Jones releases his first album, "This Is How I Feel About Jazz," in 1957. He moves to France and produces and arranges many albums for Barclay Disques while studying composition with Nadia Boulanger.
"One day I get a call from Grace Kelly in Monaco. She says, Mr. Sinatra wants me to bring 55 musicians to Monaco for a fundraiser. So I put together a band. I get onstage, and he was like a magician. Only about six words passed between us. I didn't even know if I was on his radar screen.
"Four years later, he calls me from Kauai. Says 'Q' - nobody ever called me 'Q' - 'I just heard the record you did with Basie, "Fly Me to the Moon." I like it in 4/4 the way you did it. Would you consider doing that with me and Basie?'
"I said, 'You gotta be kidding. ...' Two days later I was in Kauai. I got to know him. He had a little bungalow with a big picture of Jack Daniel's on the wall. ... People think Frank is this tough guy, but if you know him, he's really sweet and giving. You know, Frank and Buddy Rich got their personalities from Tommy Dorsey. Dorsey was a salty Irish alcoholic, and Frank and Buddy imitated him. ...
"Frank used to say, 'Q, live every day like your last, and one day you'll be right.' "
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ohn Michael Hayes, the screenwriter who has died aged 89, collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on four of his early films, beginning with Rear Window (1954) which earned him the first of two Academy Award nominations.
Acclaimed by François Truffaut as Hitchcock's "very best screenplay in all respects", Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, was followed by To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry (both 1955), and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). But when Hayes successfully challenged Hitchcock over a credit dispute, the relationship came to an abrupt end.
Darkly good-looking, the pipe-smoking Hayes struck one journalist as looking "like a Hollywood scriptwriter as played by a Hollywood film star in a Hollywood film about Hollywood". During the writing of the Rear Window script, the British-born Hitchcock urged Hayes to consult classic English murder cases – particularly that of Dr H H Crippen – for ideas about the disposal of a dead body, and a piece of evidence (a wedding ring) that incriminates the killer.
Dialogue as sharp as a tack – a skill honed during his early days writing for radio – was Hayes's trademark. In one Rear Window scene he has Stella, a nurse, ask: "You heard of that market crash in '29? I predicted that. I was nursing a director of General Motors. Kidney ailment, they said. Nerves, I said. And I asked myself, 'What's General Motors got to be nervous about?'… When General Motors has to go to the bathroom 10 times a day, the whole country's ready to let go." The Hollywood censor threatened to order a rewrite of this last line "to take it away from the present impression of being toilet humour", but it survived verbatim.
For his Rear Window script, Hayes was awarded an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America. But when he showed Hitchcock the statuette, the master of suspense waved it aside, saying: "You know, they make toilet bowls of the same material."
Hayes was by no means the only writer to have his contribution disparaged by Hitchcock, who dismissed him as nothing more than a "radio writer who wrote the dialogue". But although Hayes stood up to the great director, and took him to arbitration over the writing credits for The Man Who Knew Too Much, the two were never reconciled and their partnership ended bitterly.
John Michael Hayes was born on May 11 1919 at Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of a toolmaker who had once been a song-and-dance man. During a sickly boyhood, he became a voracious reader and realised that he wanted to be a writer. By the age of 16, he had become editor of a Boy Scout weekly, and soon after was hired as a cub reporter for his local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram.
By writing material for small radio stations, he earned enough to enrol at Massachusetts State College where he read English. After a traineeship with a radio station in Ohio, Hayes joined Procter and Gamble as editor of daytime serials, popularly known as soap operas. Drafted into the United States Army during the Second World War, Hayes wrote and performed in stage shows to entertain the troops.
Following the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, Hayes was ordered to act as film projectionist for his unit and, while waiting for replacement features, screened Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) three times a night for a month; after 90 screenings he had seen the film more often, he was sure, than Hitchcock himself ever did.
After the war Hayes launched himself as a radio writer in Hollywood, but spent nearly 18 months in hospital in Massachusetts with a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. On his discharge he hitchhiked back to California, returning to CBS to write a new show for Lucille Ball called My Favorite Husband. He never looked back.
Earning a reputation for solidly constructed screenplays, and specialising in comedy and suspense, Hayes turned out scripts for many popular series, including Amos and Andy and Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Among the most successful of his radio shows was The Adventures of Sam Spade, which exemplified Hayes's gift for sophisticated, wisecracking banter.
Moving into films in 1951, Hayes's first assignment was a Second World War action film, Red Ball Express (1952), starring Jeff Chandler and Sidney Poitier. He next wrote Thunder Bay (1953), the first of three scripts for James Stewart, followed by Torch Song (1953) for Joan Crawford.
Early in 1953 Hayes was hand-picked by Alfred Hitchcock to adapt a Cornell Woolrich short story called Rear Window. The collaboration proved an important turning point for both. For Hitchcock, who had suffered a string of flops, it marked an upswing, critically and commercially. For Hayes, it lifted him into the world of A-list directors, stars and budgets. Despite Hitchcock's reputation as a martinet, Hayes was given complete creative freedom, and together they created one of cinema's most enduring works.
Following his break with Hitchcock, in 1957 Hayes was offered the job of adapting what was to become a scandalous best-seller, Grace Metalious's steamy novel of repressed small-town sex, Peyton Place. Despite his stellar reputation, Hayes managed to offend Metalious during their introductory lunch at Romanoff's restaurant. He asked her if Peyton Place was her autobiography. "I beg your pardon?" the author asked. When Hayes repeated the question, Grace Metalious threw her Bloody Mary in his face
While writing the script Hayes had to contend with the moral guardians in the Hays office, and compared to the sex-soaked novel the film was bland. Most of the main characters were significantly changed to meet 1950s morality standards, rendering the powerful story sentimental and meaningless. Grace Metalious wept angrily when she saw the film, and again when most critics preferred it to the book. One said Hayes's script had "transformed a worthless and dirty book into a good film"; indeed, it broke box-office records, becoming the top-grossing film of the year, and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Hayes's screenplay.
Later in the 1950s Hayes grew disenchanted with Hollywood and moved to Maine. But the offers of work continued. Hayes script-doctored the Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Butterfield 8 (1960) for MGM and followed with adaptations of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour (1961), and Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden (1964).
In 1962 Hayes began a long association with Joseph E Levine, adapting Harold Robbins's best-seller The Carpetbaggers, then a second Robbins blockbuster, Where Love Has Gone (both 1964). But when Levine turned his attention to a biopic of Jean Harlow, Hayes was called on to rewrite the script completely as it was being shot. After Harlow (1965), Hayes undertook another rewriting assignment, the Sophia Loren vehicle Judith (1966) which he completed in 18 days, a feat described by Loren's husband, the director Carlo Ponti, as "a creative miracle".
Hayes's script Nevada Smith (also 1966), based on the character from The Carpetbaggers, remained his last feature credit for nearly 30 years. In the 1970s, Hayes turned to writing and producing for television, and continued into the 1980s.
More recently Hayes had been a professor of film studies and screenwriting at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He also lectured on his career at film festivals and universities, officially retiring in 2000.
In 2004, the Writers' Guild of America presented Hayes with its highest honour, the Screen Laurel Award.
John Michael Hayes, who died on November 19, married, in 1950, Mildred Louise Hicks (Mel). Their two sons and two daughters survive him.
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ohn Michael Hayes, the screenwriter who has died aged 89, collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on four of his early films, beginning with Rear Window (1954) which earned him the first of two Academy Award nominations.
Acclaimed by François Truffaut as Hitchcock's "very best screenplay in all respects", Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, was followed by To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry (both 1955), and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). But when Hayes successfully challenged Hitchcock over a credit dispute, the relationship came to an abrupt end.
Darkly good-looking, the pipe-smoking Hayes struck one journalist as looking "like a Hollywood scriptwriter as played by a Hollywood film star in a Hollywood film about Hollywood". During the writing of the Rear Window script, the British-born Hitchcock urged Hayes to consult classic English murder cases – particularly that of Dr H H Crippen – for ideas about the disposal of a dead body, and a piece of evidence (a wedding ring) that incriminates the killer.
Dialogue as sharp as a tack – a skill honed during his early days writing for radio – was Hayes's trademark. In one Rear Window scene he has Stella, a nurse, ask: "You heard of that market crash in '29? I predicted that. I was nursing a director of General Motors. Kidney ailment, they said. Nerves, I said. And I asked myself, 'What's General Motors got to be nervous about?'… When General Motors has to go to the bathroom 10 times a day, the whole country's ready to let go." The Hollywood censor threatened to order a rewrite of this last line "to take it away from the present impression of being toilet humour", but it survived verbatim.
For his Rear Window script, Hayes was awarded an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America. But when he showed Hitchcock the statuette, the master of suspense waved it aside, saying: "You know, they make toilet bowls of the same material."
Hayes was by no means the only writer to have his contribution disparaged by Hitchcock, who dismissed him as nothing more than a "radio writer who wrote the dialogue". But although Hayes stood up to the great director, and took him to arbitration over the writing credits for The Man Who Knew Too Much, the two were never reconciled and their partnership ended bitterly.
John Michael Hayes was born on May 11 1919 at Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of a toolmaker who had once been a song-and-dance man. During a sickly boyhood, he became a voracious reader and realised that he wanted to be a writer. By the age of 16, he had become editor of a Boy Scout weekly, and soon after was hired as a cub reporter for his local newspaper, the Worcester Telegram.
By writing material for small radio stations, he earned enough to enrol at Massachusetts State College where he read English. After a traineeship with a radio station in Ohio, Hayes joined Procter and Gamble as editor of daytime serials, popularly known as soap operas. Drafted into the United States Army during the Second World War, Hayes wrote and performed in stage shows to entertain the troops.
Following the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, Hayes was ordered to act as film projectionist for his unit and, while waiting for replacement features, screened Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) three times a night for a month; after 90 screenings he had seen the film more often, he was sure, than Hitchcock himself ever did.
After the war Hayes launched himself as a radio writer in Hollywood, but spent nearly 18 months in hospital in Massachusetts with a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. On his discharge he hitchhiked back to California, returning to CBS to write a new show for Lucille Ball called My Favorite Husband. He never looked back.
Earning a reputation for solidly constructed screenplays, and specialising in comedy and suspense, Hayes turned out scripts for many popular series, including Amos and Andy and Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Among the most successful of his radio shows was The Adventures of Sam Spade, which exemplified Hayes's gift for sophisticated, wisecracking banter.
Moving into films in 1951, Hayes's first assignment was a Second World War action film, Red Ball Express (1952), starring Jeff Chandler and Sidney Poitier. He next wrote Thunder Bay (1953), the first of three scripts for James Stewart, followed by Torch Song (1953) for Joan Crawford.
Early in 1953 Hayes was hand-picked by Alfred Hitchcock to adapt a Cornell Woolrich short story called Rear Window. The collaboration proved an important turning point for both. For Hitchcock, who had suffered a string of flops, it marked an upswing, critically and commercially. For Hayes, it lifted him into the world of A-list directors, stars and budgets. Despite Hitchcock's reputation as a martinet, Hayes was given complete creative freedom, and together they created one of cinema's most enduring works.
Following his break with Hitchcock, in 1957 Hayes was offered the job of adapting what was to become a scandalous best-seller, Grace Metalious's steamy novel of repressed small-town sex, Peyton Place. Despite his stellar reputation, Hayes managed to offend Metalious during their introductory lunch at Romanoff's restaurant. He asked her if Peyton Place was her autobiography. "I beg your pardon?" the author asked. When Hayes repeated the question, Grace Metalious threw her Bloody Mary in his face
While writing the script Hayes had to contend with the moral guardians in the Hays office, and compared to the sex-soaked novel the film was bland. Most of the main characters were significantly changed to meet 1950s morality standards, rendering the powerful story sentimental and meaningless. Grace Metalious wept angrily when she saw the film, and again when most critics preferred it to the book. One said Hayes's script had "transformed a worthless and dirty book into a good film"; indeed, it broke box-office records, becoming the top-grossing film of the year, and earned seven Academy Award nominations, including one for Hayes's screenplay.
Later in the 1950s Hayes grew disenchanted with Hollywood and moved to Maine. But the offers of work continued. Hayes script-doctored the Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Butterfield 8 (1960) for MGM and followed with adaptations of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour (1961), and Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden (1964).
In 1962 Hayes began a long association with Joseph E Levine, adapting Harold Robbins's best-seller The Carpetbaggers, then a second Robbins blockbuster, Where Love Has Gone (both 1964). But when Levine turned his attention to a biopic of Jean Harlow, Hayes was called on to rewrite the script completely as it was being shot. After Harlow (1965), Hayes undertook another rewriting assignment, the Sophia Loren vehicle Judith (1966) which he completed in 18 days, a feat described by Loren's husband, the director Carlo Ponti, as "a creative miracle".
Hayes's script Nevada Smith (also 1966), based on the character from The Carpetbaggers, remained his last feature credit for nearly 30 years. In the 1970s, Hayes turned to writing and producing for television, and continued into the 1980s.
More recently Hayes had been a professor of film studies and screenwriting at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He also lectured on his career at film festivals and universities, officially retiring in 2000.
In 2004, the Writers' Guild of America presented Hayes with its highest honour, the Screen Laurel Award.
John Michael Hayes, who died on November 19, married, in 1950, Mildred Louise Hicks (Mel). Their two sons and two daughters survive him.
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ABC NEWS
Excerpt: 'Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures'
Tommy Hilfiger Pays Tribute to the Princess He Calls "Fairest of Them All"
June 26, 2007
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As an actress and as princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly was famous for her beauty, style and poise. Kelly was just 52 when she died in a 1982 car accident.
(Magnum Photo )
The fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger celebrates Kelly's life in new book, "Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures," a series of 200 never-before-seen public and private images of the princess shot by Magnum photographers.
"Grace Kelly's look was clean, classic, and simple. ... She was refreshingly wholesome, confident, passionate and full of poise," says Tommy Hilfiger. "Since my start in the fashion industry, I've dreamt of the chance to honor a woman who has had such great influence on my design sensibility."
Portions of the book sales will be donated to the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports emerging talent by granting opportunity in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships in the areas of dance, theater and film. For more information visit www.pgfusa.org
The following is the foreword of the book written by Tommy Hilfiger.
Foreword
Grace Kelly was the fairest of them all. As a fashion designer, I constantly consider the power of pop culture and the style icons of our time. Why are we fascinated by some stars, while we are indifferent to others? Why do we pay to see them, or wish to be like them? With Grace Kelly, answers to these questions are more complicated than they at first might appear.
People often talk about Grace Kelly as "porcelain perfection." As far as I am concerned, this label completely misses the point. I never met Grace Kelly, but somehow I feel as if I knew her. She strikes me as having been very well grounded -- a real person who found herself in some highly unusual situations. She was a world-famous movie star, but for most of her life she chose to be a loyal wife, a dedicated mother, and a faithful friend. Involved with countless charities, she was truly a humanitarian. What might be a cliché under different circumstances in her case was literally true. She had an inner beauty that shined.
Her looks were clean, simple, and classic. She was a natural beauty, not at all pretentious or overdone. Grace Kelly didn't have to worry about hair and make-up, or being weighted down with jewelry. She was refreshingly wholesome, confident, compassionate and full of poise. Purity, I believe, was her greatest asset.
She made a great impact in a small amount of time. It's surprising to remember how few movies she actually made. The one that really gives me the chills is To Catch a Thief. The movie was set in the French Riviera, which is one of my favorite places in the world. Add Grace Kelly to that spectacular setting, and the Côte d'Azur's ambience really blossoms.
By this point in her career, she'd been included on numerous best-dressed lists and was heralded internationally as a paragon of style. She made it look impossibly easy. Grace Kelly didn't follow fashion trends, but made her own. For example, unlike any other actresses then or since, she always wore white gloves around Los Angeles -- she exuded glamour by simply being herself. She became an icon without trying.
She was vital. She glowed. Back in the 1950s, the word 'marvelous' was popular and quite overused. But, for Grace Kelly, it was absolutely accurate. You didn't look at her up there on screen. You marveled.
At the age of 26, she quit acting. She was a top box office draw, an Academy Award winner, and yet she walked away from it all. She went out with a bang in her last film, High Society. In it, she sings her first song onscreen, Cole Porter's "True Love," a duet with co-star Bing Crosby. I suspect she sang extremely well because she'd found her own true love: Prince Rainier III of Monaco. She went from reel royalty to real royalty.
Being Her Serene Highness was a much more demanding role than any she'd ever had before. She went from living under the spotlight, to dwelling under a microscope. But, it didn't seem to bother her one bit. Not only did she quickly adjust, she triumphed.
It's an incredible, inspirational life, and now we are fortunate to have these glimpses of her, as never seen before until this book.
As I turn these pages, I'm mindful there will never be another Grace Kelly. Other natural beauties may emerge in the spotlight, but she was one of a kind.
Tommy Hilfige
Excerpt: 'Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures'
Tommy Hilfiger Pays Tribute to the Princess He Calls "Fairest of Them All"
June 26, 2007
6 comments
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As an actress and as princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly was famous for her beauty, style and poise. Kelly was just 52 when she died in a 1982 car accident.
(Magnum Photo )
The fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger celebrates Kelly's life in new book, "Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures," a series of 200 never-before-seen public and private images of the princess shot by Magnum photographers.
"Grace Kelly's look was clean, classic, and simple. ... She was refreshingly wholesome, confident, passionate and full of poise," says Tommy Hilfiger. "Since my start in the fashion industry, I've dreamt of the chance to honor a woman who has had such great influence on my design sensibility."
Portions of the book sales will be donated to the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports emerging talent by granting opportunity in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships in the areas of dance, theater and film. For more information visit www.pgfusa.org
The following is the foreword of the book written by Tommy Hilfiger.
Foreword
Grace Kelly was the fairest of them all. As a fashion designer, I constantly consider the power of pop culture and the style icons of our time. Why are we fascinated by some stars, while we are indifferent to others? Why do we pay to see them, or wish to be like them? With Grace Kelly, answers to these questions are more complicated than they at first might appear.
People often talk about Grace Kelly as "porcelain perfection." As far as I am concerned, this label completely misses the point. I never met Grace Kelly, but somehow I feel as if I knew her. She strikes me as having been very well grounded -- a real person who found herself in some highly unusual situations. She was a world-famous movie star, but for most of her life she chose to be a loyal wife, a dedicated mother, and a faithful friend. Involved with countless charities, she was truly a humanitarian. What might be a cliché under different circumstances in her case was literally true. She had an inner beauty that shined.
Her looks were clean, simple, and classic. She was a natural beauty, not at all pretentious or overdone. Grace Kelly didn't have to worry about hair and make-up, or being weighted down with jewelry. She was refreshingly wholesome, confident, compassionate and full of poise. Purity, I believe, was her greatest asset.
She made a great impact in a small amount of time. It's surprising to remember how few movies she actually made. The one that really gives me the chills is To Catch a Thief. The movie was set in the French Riviera, which is one of my favorite places in the world. Add Grace Kelly to that spectacular setting, and the Côte d'Azur's ambience really blossoms.
By this point in her career, she'd been included on numerous best-dressed lists and was heralded internationally as a paragon of style. She made it look impossibly easy. Grace Kelly didn't follow fashion trends, but made her own. For example, unlike any other actresses then or since, she always wore white gloves around Los Angeles -- she exuded glamour by simply being herself. She became an icon without trying.
She was vital. She glowed. Back in the 1950s, the word 'marvelous' was popular and quite overused. But, for Grace Kelly, it was absolutely accurate. You didn't look at her up there on screen. You marveled.
At the age of 26, she quit acting. She was a top box office draw, an Academy Award winner, and yet she walked away from it all. She went out with a bang in her last film, High Society. In it, she sings her first song onscreen, Cole Porter's "True Love," a duet with co-star Bing Crosby. I suspect she sang extremely well because she'd found her own true love: Prince Rainier III of Monaco. She went from reel royalty to real royalty.
Being Her Serene Highness was a much more demanding role than any she'd ever had before. She went from living under the spotlight, to dwelling under a microscope. But, it didn't seem to bother her one bit. Not only did she quickly adjust, she triumphed.
It's an incredible, inspirational life, and now we are fortunate to have these glimpses of her, as never seen before until this book.
As I turn these pages, I'm mindful there will never be another Grace Kelly. Other natural beauties may emerge in the spotlight, but she was one of a kind.
Tommy Hilfige
scriptgirl
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CS Monitor
f you tend to think of Grace Kelly as a princess – gracious, serene, and just a bit cool – True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess by Wendy Leigh may hold some surprises. Leigh (who also wrote a biography of John F. Kennedy Jr.) is a diligent researcher who compiles a sympathetic but troubled portrait of Kelly as a woman hungry for male attention throughout the course of an often lonely life. (Among the unhappy surprises: Kelly hated life in Monaco.)
f you tend to think of Grace Kelly as a princess – gracious, serene, and just a bit cool – True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess by Wendy Leigh may hold some surprises. Leigh (who also wrote a biography of John F. Kennedy Jr.) is a diligent researcher who compiles a sympathetic but troubled portrait of Kelly as a woman hungry for male attention throughout the course of an often lonely life. (Among the unhappy surprises: Kelly hated life in Monaco.)
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Forbes
ecently in Paris, a women's handbag sold for $82,000, a record auction price for an Hermès Kelly bag. The blue leather bag, named for famed beauty Grace Kelly and featuring a silk-screened image of the former actress and Princess of Monaco, is a design unlikely to be seen again.
Sold by Artcurial, a leading French auction house, the one-of-a kind handbag belonged to Her Royal Highness Princess Stephanie of Monaco and was created especially for the ''Grace Kelly Years,'' an exhibition held in Monaco in 2007. The proceeds of the auction went to the Fight Aids Monaco charity.
The Kelly bag has been around since the 1930s, but became popular when the princess was photographed carrying one in 1956, allegedly to hide the fact that she was pregnant with her first child, Princess Caroline. The photograph was used on the cover of Life magazine, and soon the bag was dedicated to the famous former actress. Since then, the bag has become a global status symbol.
The record auction price for any handbag stands at $115,000, for an Hermès Birkin bag sold at Artcurial in May 2007.
Artfact Analysis:
The fascination with designer bags is a worldwide phenomenon generating an estimated $1 billion per year.
Often referred to as ''entrance products'' to a luxury brand, designers use bags to entice buyers to their brands--the theory being that if a woman buys a $500 bag, next time, she will buy a $2,500 dress. Bags are an easy sell, since they don't require sizing. Every woman can pull off carrying a fancy bag.
One of today's most popular ''it'' bags is the Louis Vuitton Murakami, sporting the brand's iconic monogram stamped in rainbow tones all over the bag. Takashi Murakami, the artist who designed the bag, is also one of the darlings of the contemporary art scene and set auction records this May when one of his sculptures sold for over $15 million.
One of the most difficult steps in purchasing a vintage handbag is avoiding fakes, especially when buying online. There are a number of things to look for before committing to a six-figure bag.
Hermès uses a specific series of embossed markings on their bags. They will never use a metal nameplate inside the bag. Also, an authentic Hermès Birkin or Kelly will have an engraved lock-and-key set. The lock will say "Hermès" on the bottom and the keys will be numbered to match the lock. Some sets accompanying a vintage bag will also say ''Hermès'' on the reverse side. Always remember to look carefully at the stitching, the quality of the leather and the finishing details.
Always consult Artfact.com for up-to-the-minute market information in the world of fine collectibles, fine art and antiques.
ecently in Paris, a women's handbag sold for $82,000, a record auction price for an Hermès Kelly bag. The blue leather bag, named for famed beauty Grace Kelly and featuring a silk-screened image of the former actress and Princess of Monaco, is a design unlikely to be seen again.
Sold by Artcurial, a leading French auction house, the one-of-a kind handbag belonged to Her Royal Highness Princess Stephanie of Monaco and was created especially for the ''Grace Kelly Years,'' an exhibition held in Monaco in 2007. The proceeds of the auction went to the Fight Aids Monaco charity.
The Kelly bag has been around since the 1930s, but became popular when the princess was photographed carrying one in 1956, allegedly to hide the fact that she was pregnant with her first child, Princess Caroline. The photograph was used on the cover of Life magazine, and soon the bag was dedicated to the famous former actress. Since then, the bag has become a global status symbol.
The record auction price for any handbag stands at $115,000, for an Hermès Birkin bag sold at Artcurial in May 2007.
Artfact Analysis:
The fascination with designer bags is a worldwide phenomenon generating an estimated $1 billion per year.
Often referred to as ''entrance products'' to a luxury brand, designers use bags to entice buyers to their brands--the theory being that if a woman buys a $500 bag, next time, she will buy a $2,500 dress. Bags are an easy sell, since they don't require sizing. Every woman can pull off carrying a fancy bag.
One of today's most popular ''it'' bags is the Louis Vuitton Murakami, sporting the brand's iconic monogram stamped in rainbow tones all over the bag. Takashi Murakami, the artist who designed the bag, is also one of the darlings of the contemporary art scene and set auction records this May when one of his sculptures sold for over $15 million.
One of the most difficult steps in purchasing a vintage handbag is avoiding fakes, especially when buying online. There are a number of things to look for before committing to a six-figure bag.
Hermès uses a specific series of embossed markings on their bags. They will never use a metal nameplate inside the bag. Also, an authentic Hermès Birkin or Kelly will have an engraved lock-and-key set. The lock will say "Hermès" on the bottom and the keys will be numbered to match the lock. Some sets accompanying a vintage bag will also say ''Hermès'' on the reverse side. Always remember to look carefully at the stitching, the quality of the leather and the finishing details.
Always consult Artfact.com for up-to-the-minute market information in the world of fine collectibles, fine art and antiques.
scriptgirl
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PARIS: Alfred Hitchcock made things almost easy for Jimmy Stewart. In "Rear Window," he gave his journalist laid up with a broken leg a courtyard to stare across, a murder to break the boredom, and Grace Kelly for commiseration.
Through the telescopic lens of Stewart's own camera, a Hitchcockian but also Hollywoodized peep-show on life in the big city materializes: someone getting undressed, someone doing dance exercises and, eventually, a man taking parts of his wife out of their apartment in a suitcase.
Stewart, his left leg broken, had been holed up in his two-room apartment in New York for six weeks, we learn. He complains of boredom.
But, hey, Kelly comes in the evenings. During the day it's Thelma Ritter, visiting nurse and kind of Mother of Manhattan Wisdom, who tells him stop moanin' and behave like a man. And then, of course, he sees signs of a murder.
I insist Hitchcock made things fairly easy for the guy.
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PARIS: Alfred Hitchcock made things almost easy for Jimmy Stewart. In "Rear Window," he gave his journalist laid up with a broken leg a courtyard to stare across, a murder to break the boredom, and Grace Kelly for commiseration.
Through the telescopic lens of Stewart's own camera, a Hitchcockian but also Hollywoodized peep-show on life in the big city materializes: someone getting undressed, someone doing dance exercises and, eventually, a man taking parts of his wife out of their apartment in a suitcase.
Stewart, his left leg broken, had been holed up in his two-room apartment in New York for six weeks, we learn. He complains of boredom.
But, hey, Kelly comes in the evenings. During the day it's Thelma Ritter, visiting nurse and kind of Mother of Manhattan Wisdom, who tells him stop moanin' and behave like a man. And then, of course, he sees signs of a murder.
I insist Hitchcock made things fairly easy for the guy.
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Channel Asia
Grace Kelly dresses, memorabilia to go on show in New York
Posted: 19 July 2007 0411 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
A person visits the exhibition 'The Grace Kelly Years' at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
NEW YORK : Dresses, jewelry and memorabilia belonging to Grace Kelly are to go on display in New York later this year to mark 25 years since the death of the film star turned princess of Monaco.
Items from the exhibition will include evening gowns, photographs, letters, video and other items spanning her life, most of which have never been seen outside of the tiny principality of Monaco, an enclave in southern France.
"The pieces selected for this exhibition highlight her great beauty and style for which she is so well-known," said James Niven, vice chairman of Sotheby's and son of actor David Niven, a close friend of the late princess.
"Her personal letters and correspondence show that she was open, friendly, interesting and had a great sense of humour," he added.
The exhibition is being organised by Monacan authorities and Sotheby's in collaboration with the Monaco royal family and will open in mid October.
Among the items featuring in the exhibition are the blue satin column dress and cloak she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards ceremony when she accepted the best actress Oscar for her role in "The Country Girl."
The Oscar statuette will also be on view, as will the taffeta dress with floral motif she wore when she first met her future husband, Prince Rainier III, when attending the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
The stunning 10.47 carat engagement ring the prince gave her, and which she wore in the 1956 film "High Society," will also be on display alongside the iconic brown leather Hermes bag named after her.
Two dresses in the exhibition - one by Givenchy worn during a visit to the White House with president John Kennedy in 1961, the other a Helen Rose ball gown worn in "High Society" - are later to be auctioned off for charity. - AFP/de
Grace Kelly dresses, memorabilia to go on show in New York
Posted: 19 July 2007 0411 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
A person visits the exhibition 'The Grace Kelly Years' at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
NEW YORK : Dresses, jewelry and memorabilia belonging to Grace Kelly are to go on display in New York later this year to mark 25 years since the death of the film star turned princess of Monaco.
Items from the exhibition will include evening gowns, photographs, letters, video and other items spanning her life, most of which have never been seen outside of the tiny principality of Monaco, an enclave in southern France.
"The pieces selected for this exhibition highlight her great beauty and style for which she is so well-known," said James Niven, vice chairman of Sotheby's and son of actor David Niven, a close friend of the late princess.
"Her personal letters and correspondence show that she was open, friendly, interesting and had a great sense of humour," he added.
The exhibition is being organised by Monacan authorities and Sotheby's in collaboration with the Monaco royal family and will open in mid October.
Among the items featuring in the exhibition are the blue satin column dress and cloak she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards ceremony when she accepted the best actress Oscar for her role in "The Country Girl."
The Oscar statuette will also be on view, as will the taffeta dress with floral motif she wore when she first met her future husband, Prince Rainier III, when attending the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
The stunning 10.47 carat engagement ring the prince gave her, and which she wore in the 1956 film "High Society," will also be on display alongside the iconic brown leather Hermes bag named after her.
Two dresses in the exhibition - one by Givenchy worn during a visit to the White House with president John Kennedy in 1961, the other a Helen Rose ball gown worn in "High Society" - are later to be auctioned off for charity. - AFP/de
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Telegraph
Eva Peron and Carla Bruni, one feels, would have enjoyed shopping together. In the musical Evita, which dramatises the short life of the glamorous First Lady of Argentina, Eva sings:
In pictures: First ladies
"They need to adore me, So Christian Dior me, From my head to my toes."
Words that could just as easily have belonged to Carla Bruni, singing to John Galliano as she prepared the five costume changes for her 36-hour trip to London.
Carla and Eva have more than a taste for Dior in common. As with Carla, Eva worked as a model (and actress) before she met the soon-to-be President of Argentina, Juan Peron. Peron's description of meeting her, and being captured by those "fevered eyes", has been a charge variously dumped on Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Gordon Brown this week.
The difference, of course, is that Eva cast herself as a powerful political figure in her own right, speaking for the descamisados (those without shirts), and highlighting her own humble beginnings to show solidarity with the masses. But that wasn't always the case. Her biographers tell how, in the early days, she sat in meetings between Peron and his advisers, absorbing what she heard. A not-so-distant echo of Carla Bruni, speaking on her State visit to Africa, who said: "For the moment, I am listening to what everyone tells me. That is how I see my role."
For the moment.
"They were both very stylish ladies," agrees Sir Tim Rice, who wrote Evita, "but Eva, like most politicians, learnt to say nothing, very verbosely. Carla Bruni seems to be saying nothing - literally. I think she knows that the best thing at this stage is to keep shtum."
When Carla does speak, it can be controversial. Her claims that monogamy bores her, and that she "prefers polygamy and polyandry" have fuelled suspicion. When she stood up to speak at the lunch in Lancaster House last Thursday, at which I was present, the room of 120 women was rapt. Sarah Brown, who was hosting the lunch to raise awareness of maternal mortality in the Third World, rather gamely reminded us that we were gathered to consider the one in eight women who die in childbirth in the poorest countries and "not just because of our interest in Carla, and her new role".
After the sea bass and before the apple cheesecake, the French First Lady took to the floor. She stood on a small podium, looking out over a dozen tables. Demure in grey, she whispered huskily into the microphone, with sidelong kittenish glances at her hostess. "A man would get arrested for doing that down the phone," muttered my neighbour. "It was like Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the President," added a wry Lady Antonia Fraser. When I later asked Lady Antonia how Carla might compare to Marie Antoinette, the glamorous queen to Louis XVI of whom she has written a critically acclaimed biography, she pointed out that the difference between them was what was most interesting.
"Marie Antoinette was a private person who wasn't really in control of her image," she said. "What I liked about Carla Bruni was that she knew exactly what she was doing. No one could put something over her. If she were dressed as a call girl, I wouldn't mind because I would know it was planned. Poor Marie Antoinette, who was married at 14, never had that chance."
Carla has morphed from shabby-chic Left-wing chanteuse to immaculate First Lady in a matter of weeks. As a former model, she knows how to work the camera. And, as Sir Tim Rice says, "Why should a training in entertainment be so much worse than say, having been a lawyer? Take Ronald Reagan. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger." Indeed - although Carla would probably prefer the comparison to Grace Kelly.
Grace Kelly was one of Hollywood's biggest stars before she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess Grace. Like Carla she had a racy past, and stories of her affairs had been thrilling the press long before she married Rainier. When, during Dial M for Murder, she seduced her co-star, Ray Milland, who was married with two children, she was branded a home-wrecker. She was engaged to the Russian fashion designer Oleg Cassini a month after having met him, but broke it off shortly after having an abortion.
Despite the minor economic miracle that Kelly's presence achieved in Monaco as stars and tourists flocked to associate themselves with her glamour, as with Eva Peron it was never forgotten that she was an actress. When Alfred Hitchcock heard of her engagement to Rainier, he smiled dryly and said he was "very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part".
Eva Peron and Carla Bruni, one feels, would have enjoyed shopping together. In the musical Evita, which dramatises the short life of the glamorous First Lady of Argentina, Eva sings:
In pictures: First ladies
"They need to adore me, So Christian Dior me, From my head to my toes."
Words that could just as easily have belonged to Carla Bruni, singing to John Galliano as she prepared the five costume changes for her 36-hour trip to London.
Carla and Eva have more than a taste for Dior in common. As with Carla, Eva worked as a model (and actress) before she met the soon-to-be President of Argentina, Juan Peron. Peron's description of meeting her, and being captured by those "fevered eyes", has been a charge variously dumped on Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Gordon Brown this week.
The difference, of course, is that Eva cast herself as a powerful political figure in her own right, speaking for the descamisados (those without shirts), and highlighting her own humble beginnings to show solidarity with the masses. But that wasn't always the case. Her biographers tell how, in the early days, she sat in meetings between Peron and his advisers, absorbing what she heard. A not-so-distant echo of Carla Bruni, speaking on her State visit to Africa, who said: "For the moment, I am listening to what everyone tells me. That is how I see my role."
For the moment.
"They were both very stylish ladies," agrees Sir Tim Rice, who wrote Evita, "but Eva, like most politicians, learnt to say nothing, very verbosely. Carla Bruni seems to be saying nothing - literally. I think she knows that the best thing at this stage is to keep shtum."
When Carla does speak, it can be controversial. Her claims that monogamy bores her, and that she "prefers polygamy and polyandry" have fuelled suspicion. When she stood up to speak at the lunch in Lancaster House last Thursday, at which I was present, the room of 120 women was rapt. Sarah Brown, who was hosting the lunch to raise awareness of maternal mortality in the Third World, rather gamely reminded us that we were gathered to consider the one in eight women who die in childbirth in the poorest countries and "not just because of our interest in Carla, and her new role".
After the sea bass and before the apple cheesecake, the French First Lady took to the floor. She stood on a small podium, looking out over a dozen tables. Demure in grey, she whispered huskily into the microphone, with sidelong kittenish glances at her hostess. "A man would get arrested for doing that down the phone," muttered my neighbour. "It was like Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the President," added a wry Lady Antonia Fraser. When I later asked Lady Antonia how Carla might compare to Marie Antoinette, the glamorous queen to Louis XVI of whom she has written a critically acclaimed biography, she pointed out that the difference between them was what was most interesting.
"Marie Antoinette was a private person who wasn't really in control of her image," she said. "What I liked about Carla Bruni was that she knew exactly what she was doing. No one could put something over her. If she were dressed as a call girl, I wouldn't mind because I would know it was planned. Poor Marie Antoinette, who was married at 14, never had that chance."
Carla has morphed from shabby-chic Left-wing chanteuse to immaculate First Lady in a matter of weeks. As a former model, she knows how to work the camera. And, as Sir Tim Rice says, "Why should a training in entertainment be so much worse than say, having been a lawyer? Take Ronald Reagan. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger." Indeed - although Carla would probably prefer the comparison to Grace Kelly.
Grace Kelly was one of Hollywood's biggest stars before she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess Grace. Like Carla she had a racy past, and stories of her affairs had been thrilling the press long before she married Rainier. When, during Dial M for Murder, she seduced her co-star, Ray Milland, who was married with two children, she was branded a home-wrecker. She was engaged to the Russian fashion designer Oleg Cassini a month after having met him, but broke it off shortly after having an abortion.
Despite the minor economic miracle that Kelly's presence achieved in Monaco as stars and tourists flocked to associate themselves with her glamour, as with Eva Peron it was never forgotten that she was an actress. When Alfred Hitchcock heard of her engagement to Rainier, he smiled dryly and said he was "very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part".
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Globe and Mail
A celebration of amazing Grace
Sotheby's is honouring the actress and princess on the 25th anniversary of her death
PAUL FRENCH
Special to The Globe and Mail
September 22, 2007
NEW YORK -- In Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful 1955 film To Catch a Thief, Grace Kelly takes a fast and furious spin in a convertible sports car with Cary Grant at her side and the French cops in hot pursuit. The corniche road where the actors careened above Cannes became an instant tourist destination along the Mediterranean and, in a gruesome twist of fate, a pilgrimage site a generation later for Kelly's many fans, who came to remember where she lost control of her own car and plunged off a cliff.
The accident that killed the 52-year-old occurred 25 years ago this month. To commemorate the Hollywood star who gave up her career to become a real-life princess, the glamorous world she came to personify will be celebrated in New York next month.
Grace, Princess of Monaco: A Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Grace Kelly will run from Oct. 15 to 26 at the auction house Sotheby's. On display at this free exhibit are many of the gowns, jewellery and accessories - some of which have never been seen by the public - that defined her as an icon of sophisticated style. Two of her dresses, one worn on an official visit with her husband, Prince Rainier of Monaco, to lunch at the White House with president John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and another featured in the film High Society, will be auctioned at a fundraising gala in her honour.
Fashionistas can sample more of the star's chic sensibility from Oct. 22 to 26 in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, where top designers including Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera have created Grace Kelly-inspired outfits, which will also go on the auction block. Mediterranean flavours of the opulent but tiny principality of Monaco (it's smaller than Central Park), which Kelly called home after her marriage in 1956, will be featured in the restaurants of the department store.
More Arts Stories
FILM: NOW PLAYING
This knight's dark all right
A toy story with legs
Culture creator
For players who've always wanted to direct
Go to the Arts section
And to really understand how this Philadelphia-born woman captivated filmgoers with a screen presence that had even Hitchcock under a spell, excerpts, newsreels, private photos and her Oscar acceptance speech for The Country Girl (1954) will be part of the Sotheby's exhibition. Radio station WQXR (96.3 FM) will broadcast interviews, music recordings by her favourite composers and a selection of her poetry readings on a program called Making Music in Monaco from Oct. 15 to 25.
The exhibit at Sotheby's was on display this summer in Monaco, where Kelly's fans can visit her tomb in the cathedral at Monaco-Ville. And to drive the corniche today above the Côte d'Azur is an exhilarating experience. There are breathtaking views of the sea and villages perched on white cliffs surrounded by olive groves and cypress trees. The point in the road at La Turbie, where Kelly lost control of her car, is said to be the same location where she and Grant picnic in To Catch a Thief. The winding road, substantially improved since with guardrails, is no longer the hazard it once was.
Kelly's death in 1982, just 15 years before Princess Diana's, seems from another era, before media saturation turned celebrity watching into a mega-industry. The tragedy of Kelly's fairy-tale story is all the more poignant because the film hints at her own destiny.
Her celebrated film career ended shortly after the spring of 1955, when she attended the Cannes Film Festival and met her future husband. Prince Rainier needed a wife and heir to prevent his country from reverting to French rule. Like Frances Stephens, the character Kelly plays in To Catch a Thief, she, too, was looking for a husband. In the film, she steals Grant from bachelorhood. In real life, she found a prince.
If you can't make it to the Mediterranean or even to New York next month to remember Grace Kelly, you can always rent the movie.
A celebration of amazing Grace
Sotheby's is honouring the actress and princess on the 25th anniversary of her death
PAUL FRENCH
Special to The Globe and Mail
September 22, 2007
NEW YORK -- In Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful 1955 film To Catch a Thief, Grace Kelly takes a fast and furious spin in a convertible sports car with Cary Grant at her side and the French cops in hot pursuit. The corniche road where the actors careened above Cannes became an instant tourist destination along the Mediterranean and, in a gruesome twist of fate, a pilgrimage site a generation later for Kelly's many fans, who came to remember where she lost control of her own car and plunged off a cliff.
The accident that killed the 52-year-old occurred 25 years ago this month. To commemorate the Hollywood star who gave up her career to become a real-life princess, the glamorous world she came to personify will be celebrated in New York next month.
Grace, Princess of Monaco: A Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Grace Kelly will run from Oct. 15 to 26 at the auction house Sotheby's. On display at this free exhibit are many of the gowns, jewellery and accessories - some of which have never been seen by the public - that defined her as an icon of sophisticated style. Two of her dresses, one worn on an official visit with her husband, Prince Rainier of Monaco, to lunch at the White House with president John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, and another featured in the film High Society, will be auctioned at a fundraising gala in her honour.
Fashionistas can sample more of the star's chic sensibility from Oct. 22 to 26 in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, where top designers including Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera have created Grace Kelly-inspired outfits, which will also go on the auction block. Mediterranean flavours of the opulent but tiny principality of Monaco (it's smaller than Central Park), which Kelly called home after her marriage in 1956, will be featured in the restaurants of the department store.
More Arts Stories
FILM: NOW PLAYING
This knight's dark all right
A toy story with legs
Culture creator
For players who've always wanted to direct
Go to the Arts section
And to really understand how this Philadelphia-born woman captivated filmgoers with a screen presence that had even Hitchcock under a spell, excerpts, newsreels, private photos and her Oscar acceptance speech for The Country Girl (1954) will be part of the Sotheby's exhibition. Radio station WQXR (96.3 FM) will broadcast interviews, music recordings by her favourite composers and a selection of her poetry readings on a program called Making Music in Monaco from Oct. 15 to 25.
The exhibit at Sotheby's was on display this summer in Monaco, where Kelly's fans can visit her tomb in the cathedral at Monaco-Ville. And to drive the corniche today above the Côte d'Azur is an exhilarating experience. There are breathtaking views of the sea and villages perched on white cliffs surrounded by olive groves and cypress trees. The point in the road at La Turbie, where Kelly lost control of her car, is said to be the same location where she and Grant picnic in To Catch a Thief. The winding road, substantially improved since with guardrails, is no longer the hazard it once was.
Kelly's death in 1982, just 15 years before Princess Diana's, seems from another era, before media saturation turned celebrity watching into a mega-industry. The tragedy of Kelly's fairy-tale story is all the more poignant because the film hints at her own destiny.
Her celebrated film career ended shortly after the spring of 1955, when she attended the Cannes Film Festival and met her future husband. Prince Rainier needed a wife and heir to prevent his country from reverting to French rule. Like Frances Stephens, the character Kelly plays in To Catch a Thief, she, too, was looking for a husband. In the film, she steals Grant from bachelorhood. In real life, she found a prince.
If you can't make it to the Mediterranean or even to New York next month to remember Grace Kelly, you can always rent the movie.
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