It’s 25 years today since Grace Kelly, one of the two actresses most closely associated with Hitchcock (the other being Ingrid Bergman), died as a result of a car accident in Monaco. Curiously, Bergman herself had died just 2 weeks before from cancer.
Kelly appeared in 3 Hitchcock films (the same number as Bergman):
Speaking about Kelly in “To Catch a Thief” and comparing her to Bergman, Hitchcock said:
Francie [Grace Kelly] has a “don’t-muss-my-hair” quality, Ingrid had a “muss-my-hair” quality. Francie doesn’t have Ingrid’s kind of vulnerability nor her warmth. She’s accustomed to getting what she wants. She acts differently at the end when she is getting what she wants. She and her mother are ready to take over our hero’s house and life.”
According to Charlotte Chandler’s biography of Hitchcock, when Hitchcock offered Kelly the role of Lisa Fremont in “Rear Window“, she had already planned to accept the female lead in “On the Waterfront” (opposite Marlon Brando). She heard through her agent that Hitchcock wanted her to go to Los Angeles for wardrobe fittings…
It was a big surprise, because I was just ready to accept another role in a major film. I read the script, and I knew that Rear Window was for me.
The role Kelly was to have played went instead to Eva Marie Saint, who herself would star in “North by Northwest” a few years later.
Costume designer Edith Head once said of Kelly that she had the perfect figure…
Grace had nothing to hide. She was perfect in her clothes because what was underneath was perfect. Even the beautiful stars who had to look perfect onscreen, they all had something to cover, all but Grace.
After “To Catch a Thief”, Kelly starred in just two more films. By then, she had met and married Prince Rainier of Monaco. Hitchcock tried to tempt Kelly back to take the lead role in “Marnie“, but it eventually came to nothing.
random selection of Grace Kelly film frames, click to enlarge…
random selection of images from the Hitchcock Gallery, click to enlarge…
articles about Grace Kelly…
- Princess Grace to set up fund (The Times, 23/Mar/1962)
- Princess Grace film delayed (The Times, 24/Apr/1962)
- Princess Grace’s film plans off (The Times, 08/Jun/1962)
- Obituary: Princess Grace of Monaco (The Times, 15/Sep/1982)
- The world mourns with Monaco (The Times, 16/Sep/1982)
- State of Grace: Grace Kelly (The Guardian, 27/Jul/2007)