[High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly] [By: Spoto, Donald] [October, 2010]

by Donald Spoto

In the seven years from 1950 through 1956' Grace Kelly made eleven feature films and established herself as one of Hollywood's most iconic beauties. Then' at twenty-six' she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Film, History, Audiobook, Royalty

Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

A prolific and respected biographer and theologian, Donald Spoto is the author of twenty published books, among them bestselling biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, and Ingrid Bergman. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Donald Spoto earned his Ph.D. in theology at Fordham University. After years as a theology professor, he turned to fulltime writing. The Hidden Jesus: A New Life, published in 1999, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "offering a mature faith fit for the new millennium." His successful biography of Saint Francis was published in 2002.

Reviews

[Ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this biography without having a particular reason, found among the many that belonged to my aunt, who had a kind of total adoration for the princess. I'm not fond of cinema or actors, but the adoration of my aunt was born in 1980 when she, together with me and my mother, saw the actress in the Hanbury gardens of Ventimiglia, there for some public engagement (the place is very close to the French border on the italian Riviera). I have a vague memory of it, being only 5 years old at that time, my mother and my aunt made us crazy for years on that encounter considered awsome and fantastic.
Anyway, to make it short, the biography is very accurate in the artistic aspect of the actress, going into every aspect, choice and events related to the movies she interpreted. Many are the quotations and interviews reported of the actress but also by other actors and directors who were part of her artistic life. The narrative is never pedantic but still keeps the reader, even the most foreign to Cinema, glued to the pages.
A bit thin instead in the private part of the actress' life, many things are deliberately skipped, . depriving the reader of a linear connection in understanding the choices made in her life as a princess,wife, mother and public figure. It seems that the author wanted to create a kind of protection to the figure of Grace, while citing past loves, moments of melancholy and depression, her difficulty in completing her pregnancies, her persistent feeling of loneliness and anguish in not being able to find true and deep friendships in Monte Carlo .... the author truncates any possibility of deepening these aspects. What a pity!





Ho letto questa biografia senza avere un motivo particolare, trovata tra le tante appartenute a mia zia, che aveva un specie di totale adorazione per la principessa. Non sono patita di cinema ne di attori, ma l'adorazione di mia zia è nata nel 1980 quando lei, insieme a me e mia mamma vedemmo l'attrice nei giardini Hanbury di Ventimiglia ( vicinissimo al confine francese in riviera)presente per qualche evento. Io ho un vaghissimo ricordo avendo allora solo 5 anni, mia mamma e mia zia ci fecero un pippone per anni su quell' incontr0 ritenuto fantastico.
Comunque per farla breve, la biografia è molto accurata nell' aspetto artistico dell attrice, entrando in ogni aspetto, scelta e avvenimenti legati ai film che ha interpretato. Moltissime sono le citazioni e interviste riportate dell' attrice ma anche di altri attori e registi che fecero parte della sua vita artistica. La narrazione non è mai pedante ma tiene comunque il lettore, anche il più estraneo al mondo della pellicola, incollato alle pagine.
Un pò scarna invece nella parte privata dell' attrice, tante cose vengono volutamente saltate... privando al lettore una connessione lineare nel capire le scelte prese nella sua vita da principessa, madre e personaggio pubblico. Sembra che l' autore abbia voluto creare una sorta di protezione alla figura di Grace, pur citando i momenti di melanconia e depressione dell' attrice, la sua difficoltà nel portare a termine le gravidanze, la sua persistente sensazione di solitudine e angoscia nel non riuscire a trovare amicizie vere e profonde a Montecarlo....l' autore tronca ogni possibilità di approfondimento di questi aspetti. Che peccato!

[NON · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grace is far more complex than what this book suggests. Spoto doesn't do her any justice with this terribly boring and repetitive book. I couldn't care less about anything he wrote.

[Ariannha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una excelente recopilación que nos da un recorrido por una de las estrellas más carismáticas de Hollywood.

[Mira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time choosing a star-rating for this book. On the one hand, I've learned to like Grace Kelly more than I did before; on the other hand, I haven't been so bored reading a book, or felt that the author left so much out, as I felt reading this book. My main question for Donald Spoto, after reading this, is: why write a biography of someone if you have no intention of telling the full story?

For example, on page 253 of 273, Spoto claims "The births of her children gave her the most joy and sense of purpose, just as her several miscarriages pitched her into black depressions from which she emerged only after many months of withdrawal from public appearances." WHAT?! Surely such profound episodes in her life deserve more mention than one tidy sentence, tucked away towards the end of the book. There is no mention of a miscarriage, let alone "several", until the book is practically finished. I also got the distinct impression that the only reason Spoto mentions any miscarriage at all is to give a reason for Grace rejecting the role of "Marnie" that doesn't involve her famously controlling husband. Spoto gives no credence to reports that the Grimaldi marriage was a difficult one, despite many wide-ranging reports. I find the author's attitude almost defensive, as he writes that "In spite of reports to the contrary, the marriage was successful." Um, okay. I guess he somehow has intimate knowledge on this point that we are not made privy to, as he supplies us with no evidence to support his claim.

It's all well and good to write a "positive" account of someone's life, avoiding the unseemly aspects, but even the pleasant things written about Grace here seem surprisingly hollow. I'm sure more happened to her than work, lunches, and flower arranging. I enjoyed the quotes from her friends, and from her (when supplied) but there should have been more of them. I assume the author was trying to write a book his acquaintance, Miss Kelly, would approve of, but I think he did her a disservice by skimming the surface. I also find it odd that he says she, personally, asked him to write this book, yet he includes few direct quotes from her. If I were given access to Princess Grace, I would certainly have asked about her childhood, her impressions of her costars, her feelings on feminism or other political matters.

I would love to have learned more of the human side of Grace Kelly -- her childhood, her disappointments, her mistakes -- but this book leaves me feeling both tired of slogging through endless pages written about her insignificant T.V. appearances -- and subsequently bored with her -- as well as simultaneously interested in finding another, less timid book about Grace.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously one must hold regard for Grace Kelly to read this book.
Since one of my life questions to myself when a social, character building decision needs to be made Is..."What would Grace Kelly do?"

Readers will enjoy this book because it does not dwell on her flawless delicate looks. You learn she wore glasses, paid for her own education even though she was a blue blood in real life. Grace always worked, followed social decorum with a flair of being a rebel, and was not able to win her own fathers approval on anything through her entire life. I admired Grace for not getting mental about the fact her father slighted her. He would not acknowledge his daughter did indeed pocess greatness loaded with talent.
Grace's love life is intresting. The fact she married a Prince and how she married a Prince is worth the read. I also read this book because I wanted to be clued into her death that was so tragic. I learned why the car accident happened and the degree of love she actually had for her husband. Grace Kelly is a private person so if you want to know her as a person you need to sit with this book. I enjoyed and felt a better connection to the Great Grace Kelly.

[Dean Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the acting profession is populated with a constellation of glittering talents, yet none, in my opinion ever shone brighter than Grace Patricia Kelly.

My reasons for holding to this are many. Here are a few:

First and foremost is her unbelievable career in film acting. Author Donald Spoto reveals this early in the book when he inform us:

“Grace’s achievements were singular in several ways – not least in the sheer volume of her movie work within a very short period. From September 1951 to March 1956 – she appeared in ten films in just four years and six months. But there was a one-year hiatus during this period, so it is more accurate to state that she made ten films in forty-two months.”

Spoto has rightly recognized Grace’s impressive achievements in such a brief span of time, but what’s even more incredible is the consistent quality of these movies. For me, there are four that stand out: “Dial M for Murder” (1954), “Rear Window” (1954), “The Country Girl” (1954) and “To Catch a Thief” (1955).

I have watched, and enjoyed each of these four movies many times, and over the years, it is “Rear Window” and “Dial M for Murder” that have emerged as personal favorites, firmly planted in my top five most loved movies ever. I could go into why I loved each of these so much, but I think Grace could do a better job than I could. Watch these movies if you haven’t yet, I highly recommend them.

My second reason for admiring Grace Kelly has to do with the respectful and collaborative way she worked with people, the great talents, and those who supported them in the background. You can learn a lot about a person by listening to what people, from all stations of life have to say about them. There are many testaments, by many people that spoke of the reasons why they thought this woman had the right first name, but I’ll choose the one by Jimmy Stewart, (another of my all-time beloved actors).

This is what Jimmy said about Grace:

“Grace brought to my life, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own.”

That captured how I always thought of this great woman. Those who worked with her realized that she came to work each day with an expectation that great things would happen if everyone worked as a team, and expanding out beyond the small production company was her millions of fans, those who shelled out a chunk of their hard earned wages to see her films. Grace never forgot that she was working for these people.

Third, I’ve always appreciated how much priority Grace placed on the importance of her family. One of the best ways to see how dearly she loved and desired to protect her family can be seen in her last interview with Pierre Salinger on June 22, 1982, less than three months before her untimely and tragic death on September 14, 1982. During this interview, it appears that Grace’s most poignant moments come when she’s talking about and pondering how the press have treated her children. You can feel the fierce protective instinct flow from her. She was widely known to be an involved, loving and heartfelt mother and if one spends any time researching, you will quickly learn that the happiness and health of her family were the driving forces of her life.

And lastly, I always appreciated her dedication to the acting trade and her humility in doing so. In that same interview with Salinger she said:

“I loved acting, I loved working in the theater, but I didn’t particularly like being a movie star.”

And, as far as her legacy was concerned, she said:

“I would like to be remembered as a person who did her job well. An understanding, kind and decent human being.”

There’s more I could say, but I’ll end it there.

So, then there comes the sensitive issue of reading the biography of someone you esteem.

One can, rather irrationally I suppose, feel a bit protective.

When it comes to Grace Kelly, in the context of biographies, I tend to agree that she hasn’t been well served by biographers. It seems that Mr. Spoto agrees with this and as a result, tried to show us the Grace that he came to know during their conversations, and further to that, the person that her friends and family knew and loved. At the same time, he held nothing back, and knew that Grace would not have wanted him to do that.

Luckily, any worry on that count was banished early on for me, and I very soon came to realize that Grace’s memory was in good hands with Mr. Donald Spoto. The realization came when Spoto spoke of the time he spent with Grace and the fact that she came to trust him. It was during one of their discussions that Spoto mentioned that he was writing a book on Alfred Hitchcock entitled, “The Art of Alfred Hitchcock.” Grace listened with rapt interest since Hitchcock was such a large influence on her career. To put it in context, this conversation came at a time when Grace was inundated with requests for endorsements, almost all of which she politely turned down. But she surprised Spoto when she asked,

“When your manuscript is finished, would you like me to write a foreword to your book?”

Needless to say, Spoto was moved by her unsolicited offer and took it as a stamp of approval for her trust in him. It’s also worth noting that Donald Spoto was a brand new author at the time this happened. Spoto himself is not shy in mentioning that Grace’s offer to write the forward was just one of the many ways she helped this young man launch his career. Hearing of this only increased my esteem for Grace Kelly, and I found myself appreciating her biographer all the more as well.
There are other reasons why I went into this book with confidence, but that was the biggest one.

What followed was an amazing biographical achievement on Donald Spoto’s part. I say this not just because of how well written, engaging or organized the book was, (although it was all of those things), but because of the extra special details that this book was filled with. Here were a few:

One was the glimpse into Grace’s childhood and the early clues that she was always intrigued by the whole idea of performing.

Grace, as we learned, grew up in a family of jocks. Her father Jack was and Olympic athlete, her mother a champion swimmer. Grace’s older siblings: Margaret (Peggy), John (Kell), and her younger sister Elizabeth (Lizanne) all pursued sports with a frenzied passion.

But Grace, we are told was a shy and retiring child, “born with a cold” they would say when describing her frail health. She was ill quite often, and as a result, found herself in confined convalescence.

But Grace found enjoyment in this solitary time. She read myths, fairy tales and books about ballerinas which I thought was charming, but it was this little piece of her early childhood that delighted me most:

“She made up stories and plays for her collection of dolls. She could change her voice for each doll, giving it a different character.”

As I read this, I could just imagine this young girl, alone in her bedroom, her collection of dolls arranged in order according to the way she’d “staged” her miniature theatrical performances.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said:

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”

And I believe it was important for Spoto to include this brief, but important glimpse into Grace’s life as a young girl. It’s a unique foretelling of the amazing performances that Grace would later showcase for the entire world. By including this scene of Grace’s childhood performances, Spoto has distinguished himself as a diligent, appreciative biographer. To me, the time he spent on her earliest experiences is indicative of his willingness to know the “whole person.” The childhood of a subject is an aspect too often overlooked by biographers, and because he chose to do so, in such a meaningful and telling way, Spoto proves he is worthy of the honor of writing about the life of this inspiring, important person.

Over the years I have learned much about certain unique aspects Grace’s life. These have mostly come to my attention by way of interviews she gave. Through those interviews, I discovered a number of “Grace Disctinctives” that I hoped Spoto would identify, and capture in the pages of his book.

He didn’t disappoint.

Here are but a few “Grace Distinctives” that Spoto highlighted, and in doing so helped us to better understand the woman herself.

Distinctive #1 – Grace’s penchant for holding onto keepsakes.

She herself had alluded to her habit of collecting mementos. One of my favorites was when she said:

“I’m one of those people who keep everything.”

That one was in reference to her memory of tucking away a copy of the menu to commemorate the occasion of a luncheon that President and Mrs. Kennedy held at the White House in her and her husband’s honor on May 24, 1961.

Spoto highlighted this aspect of Grace’s personality by telling us of the scrapbooks that Grace kept of her teenage years, and how her children placed these on display in a 2007 exhibition that allowed the public to gain a better understanding of her love of theater in her school years and how it impacted her later, much more celebrated film career.

Distinctive #2 – Grace’s deep passion for excellence in her acting career.

It was an Alfred Hitchcock that described Grace as a “Snow-Capped Volcano.” To me, this was the great director’s testament to the two sides of her, one was the cool, disciplined, well-mannered lady, and the other was her fervent desire to the very best she could be as an acting professional.

Spoto highlighted this early in the book when he parked on the story of her all-out effort to win the role of “Bertha” the captain’s daughter in the Raymond Massey directed live theater version of the 1887 August Strindberg classic, and how she accomplished this against great odds.

Spoto tells us:

“Grace hurried to New York to read for the role of Bertha. With no Broadway experience and only her summer roles to her credit, she knew it would be difficult to land a significant part in an important classic, with no less a director and costar than the respected Massey. But Grace read and reread the play, and she went to the audition with a calm intensity and intelligence that won over Massey and the producers, who chose her over twenty-three other candidates.

Massey later commented on what impressed him about Grace:

“She got the part because she showed the most promise. All through the rehearsal period, we were impressed with her earnestness, her professionalism and her good manners. She was organized and dedicated. Between rehearsals, she would ask Mady if she could sit in her dressing room and talk about the theater. She was a delight to have in the company – a rare kind of young person who had a hunger to learn and improve herself.”

Donald Spoto told us so much about Grace’s hunger to succeed and her incredible focus through stories like these than anything I’d ever read about Grace in other people’s writings.

I was thrilled to see example after example of the way Spoto unearthed so many of these wonderful Grace Kelly character traits, those of which other biographers skimmed over, or omitted altogether.
As the book progressed, Spoto shone light on Grace’s two years at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and how her acting teacher Sanford Meisner taught her the craft. He didn’t rush through her early experiences at Bucks County Playhouse, how her modelling career helped launch her acting pursuits and the important lessons she learned (mostly on her own) in her first major film, “High Noon.” Spoto rightly spend quite a bit of time on Grace’s work for the iconic director Alfred Hitchcock and the many ways that he helped her as a “teaching director.” Spoto showed us that Grace was one of the very few actors or actresses who ever made suggestions to the famed director. Soon Hitchcock came to trust her instinct which in my opinion spoke volumes about how reliable her instinct really was.

I was heavyhearted to learn that Grace’s family were rather dismissive of her, and how even when she reached he heights of fame and recognition, the way they continued to dismiss her, even worse, referring to her as “the girl.”

One critical area that was explored was the time in the spring of 1953, just after her film “Mogambo” was completed. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio who had secured Grace’s contractual services, wasn’t sure what to do with her. It seemed that none of the projects slated fit her style, so the studio quietly began putting out the word to other studios that she was available for loan. Later, when she found success with other studios, MGM decided it was time to “bring her back in the fold” but she found the projects they offered to be lacking. Spoto describes the whole affair in such an wonderfully readable way, by the time the resolution came I was completely memorized.

As I neared the end of the book, I was delighted that I’d learned so much more about the fascinating Grace Kelly.

I loved the humor of the pranks she was known to pull on people she work with. One in particular, involving of all things a tomahawk, went on for years!

I also learned of Grace’s intolerance for racism. This bit in particular moved me:

“Josephine Baker (the entertainer) had come to New York and took some friends to dine at the famous Stork Club where they were denied a table. Grace was at the club that same evening, and she was so outraged by this rank display of racism that she rushed over to Baker – whom she had never met – took her by the arm and stormed out with her entire group of friends, telling the press she would never return to the Stork Club; she never did. Grace Kelly and Josephine Baker became friends on the spot.”

This was an incredibly encouraging and insightful book about a woman who lived an inspiring and unforgettable life! A triumph in biographical writing for Mr. Spoto and, at last, a fitting, honest telling of the life and work of Grace Kelly.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, I learned that my son Andy pays attention. We watched three Grace Kelly movies, at my request, one night while he was home for Thanksgiving. He bought me this book for Christmas.
A notable quote by the author: "From such casual, spontaneous decisions does one's destiny take shape, and what seems but a confluence of distractions alters the course of life."
Grace Kelly led a very down-to-earth existence, even though her life appeared to be magically bestowed with good fortune. She worked hard at her profession, against the grain of her family and in a time when women were not admired for sticking up for themselves. Her beautiful appearance fostered unfair prejudices. She acted in eleven movies from 1950-1956, all the while wondering what was wrong with her that she wasn't settled into the expected life of marriage and children. She did eventually live that life, as a Princess no less. According to Spoto and her husband, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Grace missed acting, though not the Hollywood lifestyle. When asked how she would like to be remembered, she replied, " I would like to be remembered as a person who accomplished something, who was kind and loving. I would like to leave behind me the memory of a human being who behaved properly and tried to help others." I second that.

[Tom Emory Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom Emory, Jr. Review -- Grace Kelly, according to the author Donald Spoto, said she didn't consider herself a very interesting person. If she had read Mr. Spoto's book, it would have confirmed her opinion.

Grace Kelly -- Let's leave it at this: She was a working actress.

This palace-approved biography is sweet but short on the kind of meat and potatoes that make a celebrity book worth reading.

Her acting career was woefully short for someone who has gotten the attention she has received over the years for just 11 movies. If she had continued in film rather than marrying a mini-prince from a mini-principality, it's doubtful that she would been elevated to the acting Pantheon she occupies today.

I stopped this book at about halfway. It just wasn't very interesting. The author appears to be plying his trade as Grace Kelly's publicist rather than her biographer. He dismisses out of hand any romance or affairs with her co-stars that have been rumored for decades and much of the book feels like he had a contract for a 320-page book and he's padding it out to that number of pages. He chronicles each and every play, television show and movie in which Grace Kelly worked. He tells about the cast, the directors, and on and on. (Mr. Spoto has written three books on Alfred Hitchcock. I'm guessing he didn't have to do any additional research to add the Hitchcock material to this book.)

Here's what I got and liked from the part of the book I read:
Grace Kelly was a working actress. She didn't make many movies but when she wasn't in a movie, she was always studying acting and/or working in the theater or in television and modeling before her acting career took off. She was a decent person with manners, intelligence and loyalty to family and friends. It really doesn't matter that she was an actress. She was the kind of person I think I would like to have known.

[Josh Duggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may seem like a weird choice if you don't know me well and know why I was reading it. I can't really get into why I was reading it in this space, but whatever. I read it. It happened.

For those not familiar with Donald Spoto, he is one of the authoritative Golden Age of Hollywood writers. He wrote the seminal books on Alfred Hitchcock The Art of Alfred Hitchcock and The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. It was while writing The Art of Alfred Hitchcock that he became friends with Princess Grace, who he was lucky enough to have interviewed at length.

Not relying solely on his aged notes from 25 years earlier, Spoto interviews seemingly everyone that has ever known Grace Kelly in completing an exhaustively researched biography of the captivating actress. Her spirit seems to have made its way to these pages largely due to Spoto's concern for honoring her memory. He never crosses a line into a tawdry realm. Taste and discretion are always observed if something cannot be corroborated by multiple accounts of events.

Obviously, most of you would only read this if you were interested in Grace Kelly. If you are, this is a damn fine book with effortless prose and passion for his subject.

Originally reviewed at http://inconsiderateprick.blogspot.co...

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I live in the Philadelphia area, the name of Grace Kelly is revered, and I include myself among the legions who admire her beauty, style and talent.

This book was written by a respected biographer who actually had the privilege of conversing with Grace in person many times. This authenticity is very appealing.

The book focuses on her stage career as well as TV and movies. As a fan of the movies, I thoroughly enjoyed the back stories of each film.

The portrayal of Grace Kelly was one of a kind, intelligent, gracious woman who loved her role as a mother but longed to return to a career that she loved.

This book will appeal to those who have general knowledge of Grace Kelly and her films.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah, blah, commercial, blah, blah, TV show, blah, blah, Hitchcock, blah, blah, Prince Rainier, blah, blah, dead.

What was this disaster of a biography!? Wikipedia has more information than this sycophantic pile of nonsense. I learned like two new things about Grace Kelly and I didn't even care about them because the book was so boring.

2 stars because she seems like a nice lady.

[Carol Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great film criticism and analysis of the classic movies Grace Kelly made with Alfred Hitchcock. But Donald Spoto is determined not to ask any of the tough questions about Grace Kelly's life. There's a terrible sense of wishful thinking that pervades this book. And it's the same kind of wishful thinking divorced from reality that drove Grace to throw her life away and marry that awful nothing prince. When you watch the movie TITANIC there's a part where Jack tells Rose all the ways she's going to die inside if she marries Cal. Whoever wrote that dialogue was probably thinking about Princess Grace.

[Kerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an unsatisfactory and superficial retelling of Grace Kelly's life and seems not to treat her as a real person at all, overlooking much of what makes a biography rich and true to the person being written about. While the author tries to convince us he wants to dispense with the myth of the "pretty pretty princess," he succeeds in reinforcing it. The proper white-gloved hands, her early virginity, etc., are lauded. Where it lacks in-depth information about her character, emotions, and reactions, it pads with amateur-feeling analyses of her roles in movies.

Problematic, too, is the moralizing and judgmental tone, which grows wearying. Bias, including a sort of classism, is found throughout these pages. For example,

Such reticence [by Kelly] was typical of the time, especially in polite circles: young people's sexual urges did not tend to lurch into full throttle, nor did they race, as it was said, to go "all the way."

This is the equivalent of "kids these days!" It is difficult to swallow that the scions of "polite society," which seems to be shorthand "established, wealthy families," did not have the same sexual urges as other teenagers of that time (or now).

Actresses who did not behave as Kelly did were given a disapproving appraisal (Audrey Hepburn let herself be slathered in makeup, Marilyn Monroe played a "bad girl") while Kelly

had never been a starlet, had never worked in "B" pictures, had never posed in a bathing suit . . . she refused to go around Los Angeles dressed as if she were always on her way to a cocktail party.

The implication being that all of that simply makes you a sellout or morally bereft.

Meanwhile the writer is upset by the following:

The rumor that Grace very nearly destroyed the Milland marriage is based on the sexist notion that a beautiful young woman can easily reduce a man to nerveless idiocy, hypnotizing him, annihilating his will and poisoning a solid twenty-one-year marriage.

Sadly, the tone of this book did not match the topic, and it seems a poor attempt to commemorate Kelly. While it is understandable that a friend of Kelly's would want to honor her, showcasing what he feels are her best qualities, he could have done so in a way that did not vilify or disparage other actors and actresses of the day. Surely Kelly herself would not have viewed colleagues or competitors that way. Even curiouser, she did not hold herself to the bedroom standards that the writer implies he would have preferred, and yet she is beyond reproach. While Kelly surely projected many of the qualities ascribed to her, the book seemed to miss the nuance of a life that certainly was not without fault or fallback. Yes, it mentions her "melancholy" at not being able to act after her marriage, but the description is of sort of a beautiful sadness and does not do her apparent sense of loss (and feeling "trapped" as one acquaintance suggested) any justice, instead skimming over this hardship. In fact, while she stated that she did not want to be just a pretty face . . . despite some efforts, it seems that is what we are left with at the last page.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hollywood story of great actresses coming from humble beginnings is so ingrained that the first surprise this book offered was that Grace was born to a wealthy family. Her father was opposed to her career choice and was constantly critical of her achievements. She was allowed to move to NY to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts as long as she lived in a monitored building filled with other daughters of wealthy families.

The book spends a lot of time on her movies, the people she worked with, and her directors during her short career. Her subsequent life as a wife, mother, princesses and business woman takes up only a short part of the story. However, she helped Monaco build a better financial infrastructure. I wish we could have learned more about all the work she achieved during that time. Grace proved herself a smart and savvy businesswoman and diplomat during her short life.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even last month's Vanity Fair article on Grace Kelly was a better read than Donald Spoto's book. If you want to read a series of old movie reviews, and not much about Kelly's life, then this book is for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to love High Society because Grace Kelly and the author apparently had a lengthy friendship before he wrote this biography about her. I actually hadn't realized how short her career was until I read this. The result of her limited stint in Hollywood resulted in a rather brief biography, but I still gained a much greater understanding of Grace Kelly, and liked her immensely!

Grace appeared in her films as a poised woman, and the inherent way she carried herself was honed in her early years as a model. She was a woman who stood up to studio heads and vocalized her displeasure for being under contract and forced to accept roles that were beneath her. I was surprised to learn that she was a prankster, and that some pranks lasted decades. Those personal details are the reason I love these old Hollywood biographies.

Grace really catapulted to stardom once Hitchcock took an immense liking to her and cast her in three movies, Rear Window, Dial "M" for Murder, and To Catch A Thief. He allowed her to do things on his set he rarely ever allowed: give input into the movie. When Grace opined about wardrobe, he listened. When Grace moved to a different location because her character would, he rearranged the shot. For all her glamour and celebrity, I was surprised that Grace described the night she won the Oscar for Best Leading Actress in The Country Girl as one of the saddest nights of her life because she was so alone. It then makes sense why she would be so eager to leave Hollywood to become Princess of Monaco.

The best thing about the book were the quotes that came directly from Grace or her costars about her. However, on a whole, this was an inconsistent book. I felt the author spent too much time giving lengthy synopsis of Grace's movies, and I could have done without the inclusion of her movie dialogue. It didn't add anything for me. There were also too many tangents and unnecessary information about other people that never related back to her in a meaningful way. Something about the writing style made this feel less indepth than I assumed it would be given the author's knowledge of Grace. I also couldn't help but feel this was a watered down version of her life in an effort to appease her. For example, there was hardly anything negative written about Grace's life as Princess, even though there are so many rumors about what a terrible time that was for her. I mean a prince doesn't ban his wife's films from being shown in his country for nothing!

Overall, this was enjoyable and I am glad to have read it.


Please read more of my reviews on my blog: http://fastpageturner.wordpress.com
or follow me on twitter at @dana_heyde

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focused too much on GK’s movie career, delving into the 11 movies she starred in before taking on the title of Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco. Although I found Spoto’s writing style interesting, the move details seemed a little incongruent with the rest of the book. I just picked this book up while browsing library shelves, but I would have preferred something that elaborated more upon her life after her marriage to Prince Rainer, i.e., the challenges of taking on a new culture (and language), her family life, and the effect she had upon the culture, economy, etc., of Monaco. There are scant details about her life after leaving the film industry.

A few interesting tidbits:

In her early to mid 20s, Grace was disillusioned with acting and was anxious to marry and start a family. She had a fling with designer Oleg Cassini and wanted to marry him.

“In 1954, 95% of Monaco’s budget came from gambling; by 1965 that contribution was less than 4%, for the Grimaldis together had shifted the income from the casino to tourism, banking, real estate and cultures.”

“Grace’s common sense told her that many centuries-old traditions were absurd—like the requirement that every woman coming to see her had to wear a hat. ‘I thought it was ridiculous, that a woman would have to go out and buy a hat just to come to lunch. So I abolished that custom—and what a stir that caused. People were just appalled!”

She led a rare life. In what turned out to be her last interview, she was asked, “How would you like to be remembered?” She responded, “I would like to be remembered as a person who accomplished something, who was kind and loving. I would like to leave behind me the memory of a human being who behaved properly and tried to help others.”

[Carolinenotes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite tempted to give this book two stars instead of three. I gave it an average rating because I think it might be a good reference for someone who is writing a term paper about Grace's movie career. My biggest disappointment with this book is that there's barely any details about Grace's post-cinema life, which is the main reason I read this. I wanted to read about how she adapted to a new life as a head of state in a foreign land, and maybe some details about how she raised her children. These details are not to be found here.


There was also a lot of content that I felt was mere filler, such as the summaries of her movies and plays. If I wanted to read such material, I can do an internet search for them or watch the movies myself. These summaries made the book drag along and towards the end, I began to skim through.

Because of the primary emphasis on her film career, I feel that the title of this book is a bit misleading. 'The Films of Grace Kelly' would've been more apt.

[Lance Lumley · Rating 4 out of 5]

After watching "Rear Window," "Mogambo," and "High Society" from my local library, I wanted to know more about Kelly, who I thought was the best of the actors in the films. After searching which book was the best about her life, this one topped the lists each time. I was excited when i saw the book at a library, so I had to read it.
The book is not just a biography, but contains interviews the author did before her death, along with other friends and those that worked with her, including Alfred Hitchcock. One of the things that I was amazed at was how her movie company didn't really know what to do with her film wise and then after she started vetoing the bad films they wanted her to be in, she grew tired of Hollywood , and then a few years later, started her life as a princess.
This was an easy read, with pretty short chapters, and flowed nicely. This is a great book to read about Kelly's life. I was thoroughly enjoyed by this book.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author draws on interviews he conducted with Grace, as well as previously unrevealed interviews and correspondence with many of her friends and colleagues, to present an affectionate biography of Grace Kelly. He traces her life from her childhood in the wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia, as a model and theatre actress, her life as a Hollywood film star, her marriage to a Prince, and her untimely death in Monaco. The reader is given an especially interesting look at Hollywood during the 1950's. When Grace abandoned her film career to marry Prince Ranier of Monaco, the press wrote about her "fairy tale" life. Spoto dispels those myths, and reveals a normal woman who experienced ups and downs just like everyone else, a devoted wife and mother who never wished to be placed on a pedestal.

[Knotty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read about Her Serene Highness Princess Grace Kelly Grimaldi. Unfortunately, this book was more serious than I anticipated. For some reason, the author vowed to not publish the book until 25 years after her death. I wasn't quite sure why he vowed this since there was no "Eureka!!" moment, but alas. The book chronicles Grace's rise and short career as a Hollywood Best Actress. There were a few funny tidbits about Grace that I never knew such as she had very poor vision and couldn't see much unless she wore her glasses. (This is funny to me since most people thought she was an icy-cold woman, but in fact, she was just blind!) I was disheartened that the book mostly focused on her acting career than her life as HSH in Monaco.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was certainly an interesting and very easy to read glimpse into Grace Kelly's life. Since the author was her friend the book contains Grace's own thoughts about her acting career, marriage and subsequently becoming a princess. But writing this book with official permission from her family has also made his look on Grace a bit one dimensional. I'd rather read more about who she was as a person, her charity work and life in Monaco than 2-page overviews of every single movie or play she made.

But other than that this book has once again showed me what an exception, intelligent, graceful and loving person she was!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 3-1/2

I loved the subject matter and learned a lot about Grace Kelly that I didn't know, having never read anything about her before. But the bulk of the book focuses in great detail on her acting career and life as a single woman, with just a chapter at the end to touch on her life as a married woman, mother, and princess. Since these married years spanned more than half her brief life, the narrative is oddly out of balance. So I'm torn--do I knock off a star for all that is missing, or bump it up one because I loved what IS here?

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pesar que el libro es largo (más de 300 páginas) se me hizo corto por el final dado que el autor no desarrolla adecuadamente, es decir, pasa del matrimonio de la Actriz con el Príncipe de Mónaco, hace una leve referencia sobre los hijos y abruptamente llegamos al final trágico en un pequeño párrafo. Por lo cual a perdido totalmente el encanto que tenía el libro, ya al final recoge fotografías de casí toda su vida.

Citas: https://hechaensilencio.blogspot.com/...

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is indeed a very readable biography. It focuses mainly on the film career of Grace Kelly rather than the private life of the Princess of Monaco, which is nice because it presents the opportunity for fun bits of Hollywood trivia. My only qualm with this work is the author's personal relationship with the subject; the nature of that situation removes the possibility for an objective telling of her life. All in all, it's an informative and enjoyable read.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been on a Hitchcock kick and recently finished Spoto's biography of the director, and rewatched many of his films, including the ones with Grace Kelly. I was intrigued by the actress and wanted to learn more, and this biography, also by Spoto, seemed a logical choice. I think it was fairly well-balanced despite the author's friendship and obvious affection for Kelly.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting facts...horribly written. i actually cringed while reading it.
but grace kelly is interesting so i had to give it 2 stars.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was nothing especially insightful or interesting in this book. The Wikipedia page would be just as enlightening and take a fraction of the time to read.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. Seemed very rushed and skipped over parts. Ended abruptly. She was an amazing woman and deserved a better biography.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is where Grace Kelly learned to dance," my date said as we walked into Ivy Hall, a storied Philadelphia mansion, on New Year's Eve a number of years ago. That's all I needed to hear to sashay around the ballroom for the rest of the night. She is, after all, Philadelphia royalty.

Much of Donald Spoto's "High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly" features interesting on-set and romantic drama. However, it's her persona that I admire more than the glitz. Horrified by prejudice, Kelly advocated for equal rights at a time when it was risky to do so. She loved acting and was grateful for the financial independence it afforded her. But the most meaningful part for me was when she found her prince - literally Prince Rainier of Monaco. Spoto wrote about the couple: "...they made no public displays, but faith was at the core of their lives...Their friends knew that religious practices were not burdensome obligations for these two; they were free and purposeful expressions of a deep, if mysterious, commitment."