Princess Grace Is Almost Persuaded By Alfred Hitchcock
Grimaldi Palace,
Monaco
Winter 1961
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The last film Grace Kelly made with Alfred Hitchcock was To
Catch a Thief, back in 1955. That December, Prince Rainier of Monaco proposed
to her over a pudding of pears poached in wine. 'If you are to be at my side
then you may need this,' he said, passing her a pictorial history of the
Grimaldi family. Some say he lacks the romantic touch.
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But Grace Kelly was not to be put off. In April 1956, the
Oscar-winning Hollywood actress became the Princess of a country roughly the
size of Hyde Park with a population of 38,000, roughly the same as Crystal
Lake, Illinois.? At the same time, she
picked up so many titles - twice a Duchess, once a Viscountess, eight times a
Countess, four times a Marchioness and nine times a Baroness - that she
instantly became the most titled woman in the world.
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(The wedding itself goes
smoothly. Three miles of red carpet are laid throughout Monaco, and Aristotle
Onassis hires a seaplane to drop thousands of red and white carnations over
everyone. In return for documentary rights, MGM agree to pay for basic essentials
such as the wedding dress, and on top of all this Rainier makes $450,000 from
the sale of commemorative stamps. The only blot on the horizon is that Queen
Elizabeth II sends a telegram refusing her invitation. 'The fact that we have
never met is irrelevant; harrumphs Rainier. 'This is still a slap in the
face.')
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But Monaco has its limitations. After five years there,
Princess Grace pines for her Hollywood days. Around the same time, Alfred
Hitchcock convinces himself that his new movie, Marnie, is tailor-made for her.
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He visits her at the Grimaldi Palace to discuss the matter.
He has always got on well with Grace; some believe she represents his idea of
the perfect woman. 'People have quite the wrong idea about Grace,' he says.
'They think she is a cold fish. Remote, like Alcatraz. But she has sex appeal,
believe me. It is ice that will burn your hands, and that is always surprising,
and exciting too.' When working together, their relationship was always chummy
rather than romantic, and revolved around a shared sense of humor. Shooting
Dial M for Murder, for instance, they had a running joke in which they would
drop the first letter from the names of various stars: hence, Rank Sinatra,
Lark Gable, Ickey Rooney and Reer Garson.
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Is he in love with her? John Michael Hayes, the screenwriter
of Rear Window, certainly thinks so. 'He would have used Grace in the next ten
pictures he made. I would say that all the actresses he cast subsequently were
attempts to retrieve the image and feeling that Hitch carried around so
reverentially about Grace:
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Their lunch goes well. Hitchcock does not mention a script.
'I am too much of a gentleman to mention work to a Princess. That would be most
uncouth. But I waited and finally she came to me.' Instead, he posts the new
novel Marnie, by Winston Graham, to her agents in New York (She always kept her
agents, you know'), and they pass it on to her. She is instantly tempted, even
though the book's subject-matter is hardly fit for a Princess, even of Monaco.'
it is the tale of a woman who has been left a frigid kleptomaniac by a
childhood trauma involving the rape of her prostitute mother.
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Prince Rainier considers the movies vulgar, and has good
reason to distrust actors: William Holden, Ray Milland, Clark Gable, David
Niven and Gary Cooper are just a few of Grace's many former lovers. But he is
moved by a letter from his mother-in-law, who says Grace hasn't been really
happy since she stopped making films. Later that day, Rainier says to one of
his aides, 'Well, she's doing a movie. God help us all, that's all I can say,
when the news gets out. Run for cover, my boy, run for cover!'
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('Grace had more lovers in a month than I did in a
lifetime.' Zsa Zsa Gabor puts it modestly. Playing golf with David Niven,
Prince Rainier asks him who, out of all his former lovers, was the best at
fellatio. Without thinking, Niven replies 'Grace' before quickly correcting
himself, 'Gracie Fields: But Noel Coward maintains that Niven did indeed mean
Gracie Fields. 'It's absolutely true. It was a speciality of Rochdale girls,'
he says. 'They called it the Gradely Gobble.')
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A week later, Hitchcock is told by the Princess's agents
that she will do it, though by now Prince Rainier has added the proviso that
filming must take place during the family's customary holiday period, and
should not interfere with Grace's official duties. An official announcement is
made on March 18th 1962: 'Princess Grace has accepted an offer to appear during
her summer vacation in a motion picture for Mister Alfred Hitchcock, to be made
in the United States ... It is understood that Prince Rainier will most likely
be present during part of the filmmaking depending on his schedule and that
Princess Grace will return to Monaco with her family in November:
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A reporter from the Daily Express manages to waylay
Hitchcock. He asks if there will be any love scenes. 'Passionate and most
unusual love scenes, but I am afraid I cannot tell you anything beyond that.
It's a state secret,' replies Hitchcock, injudiciously adding that the
Princess's sex appeal is 'the finest in the world:
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Their Serene Highnesses have underestimated the priggishness
of the Monegasques. They are in uproar, not least at the mention of sex. 'She
would be slighting our country,' says one. They do not like the idea of their
monarch kissing her leading man; little do they know that Hitchcock has plans
for him to rape her as well. The Prince's mother is livid, and keeps hissing,
'Ces't une americaine!'
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Grace is so upset by the reaction that she stops eating, and
finds it hard to sleep. To butter up the people, the Palace issues a second
statement, announcing that the $800,000 she will receive for the film will be
donated to a charity for Monegasque children and athletes. But neither her
subjects nor her mother-in-law are appeased.
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Eventually, Grace gives an interview to a reporter from Nice
Matin announcing her decision to abandon the film. 'I have been very influenced
by the reaction which the announcement provoked in Monaco: she says.
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How upset is Hitchcock by her decision? He tells friends
that when they had their lunch together in the Palace, he thought that a spark
had gone out of her, and she seemed bored. Her new role as Princess has, he
thinks, drained her of warmth.
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A few months after her decision, in June 1962, Princess
Grace writes to Hitchcock. 'It was heartbreaking for me to have to leave the
picture,' she confesses. Hitchcock writes back: 'Yes, it was sad, wasn't it?
... Without a doubt, I think you made not only the best decision, but the only
decision to put the project aside at this time. After all, it was only a
movie.'
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Craig Brown "Hello
Goodbye Hello" (2011)
