High Society
The Life of Grace Kelly
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4.1 • 41 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood’s legendary actresses.
In just seven years–from 1950 through 1956–Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother.
Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues–from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock–as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal.
As the princess requested, Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly’s personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn’t, and what lay behind the façade of her fairy-tale life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Noted film biographer Spoto (Spellbound by Beauty) gives readers a previously unseen glimpse into the life of Grace Kelly (1929 1982), who went from Academy Award winning actress to princess of Monaco. Drawing on hours of personal interviews with Kelly as well as with her numerous co-stars including Cary Grant and James Stewart, Spoto traces the star's life from her childhood in a wealthy Philadelphia neighborhood through her brief but noteworthy career in Hollywood to her years as the wife of Monaco's Prince Rainer. Kelly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, where she developed a love of theater, nurtured by her uncle, the actor and playwright George Kelly. Though she spent less than seven years in Hollywood, Kelly became an icon of the era. Spoto, as an expert in the films of Alfred Hitchcock and one of the late director's few confidantes, spends considerable time revisiting the trio of films Kelly made with the master of suspense: Dial M for Murder (1953), Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955). Though she admitted to missing acting, Kelly settled into her life as a royal, raising three children until her death in a car crash. Cinephiles will love Spoto's insider look at Hollywood in the 1950s, and even those unfamiliar with Kelly's films will be drawn to the author's warm and generous portrayal of a woman who was more than a pretty face.
Customer Reviews
Interesting and Factual
I enjoyed learning more about Grace Kelly and found this to be a well-written account. However, I was very disappointed to see just two photos of her.