WEBVTT

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Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening

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a file that I think a lot of people, you know,

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they assume is already closed. We all have this

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sort of cultural shorthand for the subject, Grace

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Kelly. Right. And that shorthand usually consists

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of just a few static images. You know, a Hermes

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bag, a black and white close -up from a Hitchcock

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movie, and a tiara. The fairy tale. The ultimate

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fairy tale, right? The American actress who becomes

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a real life princess. That is the narrative we

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have been sold for, what, about 70 years now.

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And it is a powerful narrative. I mean, it works.

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Oh, absolutely. But it's also incredibly reductive.

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If you actually dig into the source material,

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you know, the biographies, the studio archives,

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the letters, you realize that fairy tale is the

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wrong genre entirely. Wrong genre. I like that.

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Yeah, we're looking at a story about discipline,

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about strategic image curation. and really about

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two very distinct, very high -pressure careers.

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Exactly. I was reading through the stack for

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this. And what really struck me is that we are

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essentially talking about two different women

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who happen to inhabit the same body. That's a

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great way to put it. You have the Hollywood entity,

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Grace Kelly, and then you have the European state

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figure, Princess Grace. And the transition between

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them wasn't magic. It wasn't a wish on a star.

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No. It was a negotiation. a hard negotiation

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it's a study in what i like to call executive

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poise and i think that's a key phrase here executive

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poise explain that well we tend to think of poise

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as just you know standing up street or knowing

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which fork to use at a fancy dinner right just

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etiquette exactly but for grace poise was a rigorous

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almost athletic pursuit it was about controlling

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the narrative in an era where the studio system

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literally owned you and then later where royal

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protocol tried to you know know stifle you that

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is the mission for today we want to move past

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the whole cinderella cliche which by the way

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we're going to dismantle in about two minutes

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oh and we want to really understand the woman

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who was savvy enough to negotiate her own contracts

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when most starlets were just doing exactly what

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they were told we need to talk about the woman

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who walked away from hollywood At the absolute

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peak of her powers. And we definitely need to

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talk about the fact that she was a breastfeeding

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advocate in the 1970s. Which is a detail that

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always, always floors people. Amazing. But it

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fits the pattern. She was constantly redefining

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what her role was supposed to be. So let's do

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a persona check in with you, the listener. You

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know the face. You might even own a knockoff

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of the bag. But do you know that she threatened

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to quit MGM entirely? Just to get the role that

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won her an Oscar? Probably not. Or that her father,

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despite all her success, basically thought acting

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was trash. A slim cut above streetwalker, I believe

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was the exact phrase he used. Yeah, we are going

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to get into that. Because that Ice Queen image,

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that whole born perfect idea, it just doesn't

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hold up when you look at the hustle, the sheer

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work required to build it. That's right, the

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construction of it all. So let's start at the

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very beginning, section one. The Philadelphia

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Origins. Because if you think this is a rags

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-to -riches story, you're reading the wrong biography.

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Right. We need to bury the Cinderella myth immediately.

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Cinderella swept cinders. Cinderella was, you

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know, abused and poor. Totally different world.

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Grace Kelly was born into the closest thing America

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had to an aristocracy in the 1920s. She was born

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in East Falls, Philadelphia. And the Kelly household

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wasn't just comfortable, it was a fortress of

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achievement. So let's talk about the father,

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John B. Kelly Sr., because he seems like a character

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who could sustain his own deep dive. He wasn't

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just a rich guy. He was a self -made titan. John

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B. Kelly Sr. is the key to understanding Grace's

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psychology. He absolutely is. He was the son

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of Irish immigrants. He started as a bricklayer

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and built a massive, massive brickwork empire.

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Right. If you look at the skyline of Philadelphia

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from that era, a lot of it was built with Kelly

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Brax. Wow. But the money was almost secondary

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to his physical dominance. He was a scholar,

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a rower. And not just a hobby rower on the weekends.

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No, no. We're talking about a legitimate world

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-class athlete. He won three Olympic gold medals.

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Three. Three. He was the first rower to win three

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golds. In the 1920s, that made him a celebrity

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in his own right. He was obsessed with victory,

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with physical perfection. And that drive didn't

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stop with sports. Not at all. He eventually ran

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for mayor of Philadelphia in 1935 and lost by

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the tightest margin in the city's history. So

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imagine growing up in a house where the patriarch

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is literally an Olympic champion and a tycoon.

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It's a pretty high bar for dinner conversation,

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I'd imagine. A very high bar. And then you have

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the mother, Margaret Major. She wasn't exactly

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a drinking violet either, was she? Not at all.

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Margaret was of German ancestry, and she was

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a plein air in her own right. She was the first

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woman to coach women's athletics at the University

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of Pennsylvania. Really? I didn't know that.

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Yeah. She had been a model in her youth, too.

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But in the Kelly household, she was the enforcer.

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She was the one who instilled what they called

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the German discipline. So you have this high

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achieving, athletic, intensely competitive environment.

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And then you have Grace. And from the accounts

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in the biography, she doesn't seem to fit the

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mold at all. She's the mill child. She's quiet.

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A bit sickly with asthma. She was the runt of

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the litter, certainly in her father's eyes. She

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had two older siblings, Peggy and John Jr., who

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were these boisterous athletic types who fit

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the Kelly brand perfectly. Right. And she had

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a younger sister, Lizanne. Grace was the dreamer.

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She was the one playing make -believe with her

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dolls while everyone else was, you know, doing

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calisthenics. And this is where the conflict

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starts. Her father didn't just ignore her interest

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in acting. He actively disdained it. That quote

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you mentioned earlier, comparing acting to being

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a streetwalker. That is deeply cutting coming

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from your own father. It tells you everything

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you need to know about the values of that house.

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To John Kelly, value was tangible. Bricks are

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tangible. Gold medals are tangible. Right. Things

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you can hold. Exactly. Acting, putting on makeup

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and pretending to be someone else. He saw it

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as frivolous at best and, you know, immoral at

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worst. viewed her artistic ambitions as a character

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flaw. But she did have an ally. And this is crucial

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because without this connection, I don't think

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she ever looks out of Philadelphia. Her uncle

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George. George Kelly. He was the black sheep

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of the family in a way, but a wildly successful

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one. He was a dramatist, a screenwriter, and

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he won a Pulitzer Prize. A Pulitzer. So he had

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serious credentials. Oh, serious legitimacy.

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Yeah. He was the proof that you could be a Kelly

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and be an artist. He became her mentor. He was

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the one who encouraged her, who told her that

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the theater was a noble pursuit. It's interesting,

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though, because despite all this wealth and this

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successful uncle, she hit a wall academically.

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And I love this detail because it makes her so

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much more human. The icon of perfection failed

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math. She did. And it had huge consequences for

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her life path. She had her heart set on Bennington

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College. It's a very prestigious, avant -garde,

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liberal arts school. Right. Very respectable.

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It would have been the proper path for a girl

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of her station who wanted to dabble in the arts.

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But in July 1947, she got the rejection letter.

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Her math scores were just too low. It's a classic

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sliding doors moment, isn't it? If she passes

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that math test, she goes to Bennington, she probably

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marries a banker from Philadelphia, and we never,

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ever hear of her. Precisely. That rejection forced

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her hand. Since she couldn't go to the respectable

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college, she decided to go strictly vocational.

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She applied to the American Academy of Dramatic

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Arts 8 -0 in New York. And even there, the Kelly

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influence played a role. It wasn't just raw talent

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that got her in the door, was it? No, and we

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have to be honest about that. The academy was

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full. The semester quota was met. But she had

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Uncle George, and she had the Kelly name. The

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connection. She managed to get an interview with

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the admissions officer, a guy named Emile Distel,

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and used her uncle's name to leverage a spot.

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So she definitely had a leg up. But as we'll

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see, once she got in, she worked harder than

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anyone else. So let's go to New York. It's 1949.

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She moves into the Barbizon Hotel for Women.

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And we have to pause on the Barbizon because

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the vibe of this place is just so specific to

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that mid -century era. Oh, it's a time capsule.

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It was like a sorority house meets a nunnery.

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It was a fortress of virtue. Men were strictly

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forbidden above the lobby floor. It was where

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the good girls from wealthy families stayed when

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they came to the city to be models or secretaries.

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But inside those walls? It was a different story.

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Completely. The notes mention her dancing to

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Hawaiian music in the hallways. This image of

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Grace Kelly, who we think of as this frozen,

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perfect statue shimmying down the hallway, potentially

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topless. That is the anecdote. And it highlights

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that she wasn't born the Ice Queen. She was young,

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she was away from her very strict parents for

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the first time, and she was, you know, exploring

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who she was. Reading your hair down. Exactly.

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She was known among the other girls as being

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fun, a bit goofy even. The Ice Queen was a persona

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she constructed much later, mostly for protection.

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And speaking of construction, let's talk about

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the voice. Because when you hear Grace Kelly

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speak in a movie, it's this very specific transatlantic,

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patrician accent. Dolling! Really? But that wasn't

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her natural accent, was it? No, she had a Philadelphia

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accent. A Philly accent can be quite nasal, a

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little harsh. When she got to the academy, her

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instructors told her flat out, you need to fix

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your speech if you want to be a serious, dramatic

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actress. So she bought a tape recorder. Which

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was high -tech stuff in 1949. Very cutting edge.

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It was. And she treated it like her father treated

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rowing. She drilled. She practiced her vowel

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sounds over and over. She learned to lower her

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register to get that throaty quality. She literally

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engineered her voice. It's another example of

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that work ethic. She didn't just rely on her

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looks. She built the tool set from the ground

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up. That's right. So she's grinding in New York.

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She starts getting work. Not movies yet, but

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modeling. This is what I call the bug spray and

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cigarettes phase of her career. Hey, work is

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work. You got to pay the bills. And she did.

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She was on the cover of magazines. She was doing

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commercials for all sorts of things. She was

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making good money, actually. She didn't need

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her parents' money, which gave her a certain

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amount of independence. And from there, she got

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her first stage role. Right. She made her Broadway

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debut in a Strindberg play, The Father, and that

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led to a screen test. And her first movie is

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14 Hours in 1951. I've seen clips of this. If

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you blink, you miss her. She has a very, very

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small part. It's a drama about a man threatening

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to jump off a ledge. She plays a woman in a divorce

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lawyer's office just watching the scene from

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a window. So it didn't set the world on fire?

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No. Nobody walked out of that movie saying, a

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star is born. Not even close. But then comes

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1952. High noon. Gary Cooper. This is one of

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the greatest westerns ever made. Grace plays

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the Quaker bride, Amy Cain. Now looking back,

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we see this as a classic role. But at the time,

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the reception was... Chilly. That is putting

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it mildly. Alfred Hitchcock, and we need to remember

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he hadn't met her yet, saw a screening of High

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Noon, his assessment. He called her performance

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mousy. Mousy. That is rough. From Hitchcock,

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of all people. It's brutal. He thought she lacked

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animation. And honestly, if you watch High Noon

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without the rose -tinted glasses of history,

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you can kind of see what he meant. Yeah, she

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is playing a Quaker, so she's supposed to be

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restrained, but she comes off as stiff. A lot

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of critics said she was cold, that she didn't

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have much range. She was beautiful, yes, but

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she wasn't electric. So she's at a crossroads.

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She's done a big movie, but she hasn't popped.

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She's seen as maybe just another pretty face.

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What is the catalyst that changes her from mousy

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to a heavyweight? The catalyst is Africa and

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a movie called Mogambo. This is 1953. This is

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the one with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. A powerhouse

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cast. MGM offers her a seven -year contract.

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Now, this is important. It's for $850 a week.

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Which sounds like a lot. It was decent money,

00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.740
but it wasn't star money by any stretch. But

00:12:09.740 --> 00:12:12.059
she takes it. And she takes the role in Mogambo

00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:14.960
for extremely pragmatic reasons. She told Hedda

00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.240
Hopper, the gossip columnist, exactly why, right?

00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.620
She did. She said there are three reasons. John

00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:23.019
Ford, who was directing Clark Gable, who was

00:12:23.019 --> 00:12:25.100
obviously the king of Hollywood. And a paid trip

00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:27.519
to Africa. Exactly. I love that quote so much.

00:12:27.539 --> 00:12:29.940
She said, if Mogambo had been made in Arizona,

00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.519
I wouldn't have done it. It shows her adventurous

00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:35.909
spirit. But it also shows she needed to shake

00:12:35.909 --> 00:12:38.350
things up. And filming in Nairobi was grueling.

00:12:38.350 --> 00:12:40.210
I mean, it was hot. There were bugs. There was

00:12:40.210 --> 00:12:43.570
political unrest. The Mao Mao uprising was happening

00:12:43.570 --> 00:12:46.269
at the time. But she thrived. And she played

00:12:46.269 --> 00:12:49.309
Linda Nordley, a contemplative, kind of repressed

00:12:49.309 --> 00:12:51.590
English wife who has an affair with Gable's character.

00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:53.830
And the chemistry worked. It worked brilliantly.

00:12:54.049 --> 00:12:56.929
Ava Gardner was the fire, you know, the overt

00:12:56.929 --> 00:12:59.970
sexuality. But Grace was the ice that burned.

00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:02.980
Ooh, I like that. And it paid off. She got a

00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:04.879
Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and

00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:07.659
her first Academy Award nomination. And suddenly

00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:09.659
the critics who called her mousy were calling

00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:12.460
her subtle and intelligent. And this leads us

00:13:12.460 --> 00:13:14.679
directly into what the outline calls the golden

00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:18.669
year. 1954 to 1956. I don't think people realize

00:13:18.669 --> 00:13:21.870
just how condensed her peak was. It's insane.

00:13:22.190 --> 00:13:23.830
She basically conquered the world in roughly

00:13:23.830 --> 00:13:26.610
24 months. It is unprecedented. In that short

00:13:26.610 --> 00:13:28.929
window, she makes rear window to catch a thief,

00:13:29.090 --> 00:13:31.649
dial M for murder, the country girl, green fire,

00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:34.450
the bridges at Tokuri. I mean, she was working

00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:38.210
nonstop. And the central figure here is Hitchcock.

00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:41.909
He completely changes his mind about the... Mousy

00:13:41.909 --> 00:13:45.009
girl. Completely. He found his muse. He famously

00:13:45.009 --> 00:13:48.029
described her appeal as a volcano covered with

00:13:48.029 --> 00:13:50.990
snow. A volcano covered with snow. He realized

00:13:50.990 --> 00:13:53.669
that her coolness wasn't a lack of emotion. It

00:13:53.669 --> 00:13:57.190
was a containment of emotion. And that is infinitely

00:13:57.190 --> 00:13:59.649
more interesting to watch on screen. Let's talk

00:13:59.649 --> 00:14:03.159
about Rear Window, 1954. She plays Lisa Fremont.

00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:06.419
This, to me, is the definitive Grace Kelly role.

00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:09.879
I agree 100%, because before this, she was always

00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:11.919
the wife, the Quaker, the supporting character.

00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:14.899
In Rear Window, she is the aggressor. She is

00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:17.220
a wealthy Manhattan socialite working in fashion,

00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.679
and Hitchcock films her like a goddess. That

00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.370
entrance scene. Where she turns on the lights

00:14:22.370 --> 00:14:25.429
one by one and then leans in to kiss James Stewart.

00:14:25.549 --> 00:14:28.070
It's iconic. But noted what the character does.

00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:29.889
She isn't just modeling the dresses, which, by

00:14:29.889 --> 00:14:32.250
the way, Edith had designed. And Grace insisted

00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:34.009
she never wear the same dress twice to reflect

00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.429
the character's job. Lisa Fremont is the one

00:14:36.429 --> 00:14:39.029
who believes James Stewart's theory about the

00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:41.519
murder when the cop doesn't. She is the one who

00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:43.759
climbs up the fire escape and breaks into the

00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.379
killer's apartment. She is an action hero in

00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:48.639
a couture gown. Hitchcock really understood that

00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.519
duality. She could be elegant and gritty at the

00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:55.059
same time. And then you have To Catch a Thief

00:14:55.059 --> 00:14:57.899
with Cary Grant. The chemistry there is just

00:14:57.899 --> 00:14:59.840
effortless. I mean, Cary Grant was much older

00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.580
than her, but it didn't matter one bit. No. He

00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:04.700
later said she was his all -time favorite actress

00:15:04.700 --> 00:15:07.340
because she had serenity. And in that movie,

00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.059
she is the one driving the car fast around the

00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:12.279
winding roads of the French Riviera. Which is

00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.879
so eerie, given what happens later. It is incredibly

00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.590
haunting to watch now. But in the moment, it

00:15:18.590 --> 00:15:21.330
showed her as dangerous. She wasn't a fragile

00:15:21.330 --> 00:15:23.789
flower. She was a thrill seeker. But while she's

00:15:23.789 --> 00:15:25.750
having this incredible artistic romance with

00:15:25.750 --> 00:15:29.090
Hitchcock, she is fighting a literal war with

00:15:29.090 --> 00:15:32.169
her studio, MGM. And this story about the country

00:15:32.169 --> 00:15:34.629
girl is the best example of her business savvy.

00:15:34.809 --> 00:15:36.850
This is where the daughter of John B. Kelly Sr.

00:15:37.090 --> 00:15:40.149
really shows up, the competitor. MGM owned her

00:15:40.149 --> 00:15:42.370
contract. They wanted to put her in a movie called

00:15:42.370 --> 00:15:45.399
Greenfire. Which, for the record, is a terrible

00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:47.720
movie. It's a bomb. It's a generic adventure

00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:51.139
flop set in Colombia. Grace read the script and

00:15:51.139 --> 00:15:54.620
knew it was garbage. At the same time, she read

00:15:54.620 --> 00:15:56.899
the script for The Country Girl at Paramount.

00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.039
A completely different kind of film. Night and

00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.899
day. This was a gritty black and white drama

00:16:01.899 --> 00:16:04.639
based on a Clifford Odette's play. She would

00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.779
play the dowdy, bitter wife of an alcoholic actor

00:16:08.779 --> 00:16:12.399
played by Bing Crosby. It was the ultimate deglammed

00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.299
role. No makeup, glasses, cardigans. Exactly.

00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:17.200
It was the role you take to prove you can really

00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.019
act. But MGM said, no, you work for us. You are

00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:24.039
doing Greenfire. Most actresses in 1954 would

00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.379
have just sighed and said, yes, sir. What did

00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:29.220
Grace do? She went nuclear. She walked into the

00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:31.559
executive's office and said, if you don't loan

00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:33.700
me out to Paramount for the country girl, I will

00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.460
pack my bags, move back to New York and retire

00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:38.720
from the movie business today. She bluffed the

00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:40.740
biggest studio in the world. And they knew she

00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:43.049
wasn't bluffing. That was the key. They knew

00:16:43.049 --> 00:16:45.649
she had family money. She didn't need this job.

00:16:45.909 --> 00:16:48.970
So they folded. They made a deal. She had to

00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:51.309
do Green Fire first, which she hated, but then

00:16:51.309 --> 00:16:53.029
she could do The Country Girl. And the gamble

00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:56.649
paid off. Big time. She delivered this raw, completely

00:16:56.649 --> 00:16:59.289
stripped down performance. And at the Oscars

00:16:59.289 --> 00:17:02.909
in 1955, she won Best Actress. And you have to

00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:05.869
listen to who she beat. Judy Garland for A Star

00:17:05.869 --> 00:17:08.710
is Born. Yes, that is a heavyweight upset. It

00:17:08.710 --> 00:17:10.730
was massive. Judy Garland was the sentimental

00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:12.509
favorite. Everyone thought she had it locked.

00:17:12.789 --> 00:17:15.930
But Grace proved she had the range. She wasn't

00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:18.390
just Hitchcock's blonde mannequin. She was a

00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:21.430
serious dramatic force. So picture this. It's

00:17:21.430 --> 00:17:25.400
1955. She has the Oscar on her mantelpiece. She's

00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:27.599
the highest paid, most sought after woman in

00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:29.859
Hollywood. She heads to the Cannes Film Festival

00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:32.460
to lead the U .S. delegation. She is literally

00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:34.480
on top of the world. You can't get any higher.

00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:38.200
And then the plot twists. The pivot. While she

00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:40.599
was at Cannes, the magazine Paris Match arranged

00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:43.019
a photo opportunity. They wanted to pair the

00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:45.000
Queen of Hollywood with the Prince of Monaco,

00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:47.880
Rainier III. The meet cute. But reading about

00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:50.099
it, it sounds like a disaster of a day. It was

00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:52.079
a logistical nightmare from start to finish.

00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.200
There was a strike in France, so the electricity

00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:57.200
was out at her hotel. She couldn't dry her hair.

00:17:57.319 --> 00:17:59.599
She couldn't iron her dress. She's already stressed.

00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.200
Very. She had to wear a dress she didn't really

00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:03.940
like because it was the only one that didn't

00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:06.599
need ironing. She gets to the palace, and the

00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:08.980
prince is late. Not a great start to a royal

00:18:08.980 --> 00:18:11.660
romance. No. But when he finally arrived, he

00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:14.319
offered her a tour of his private zoo, and something

00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.269
just... clicked. They spent the afternoon walking

00:18:17.269 --> 00:18:19.789
the gardens. It wasn't an explosion of passion

00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.589
though. It was intrigue. And after she left?

00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.339
They started writing letters. For a year. And

00:18:25.339 --> 00:18:27.539
the source material describes this correspondence

00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:31.700
as a rational appraisal on both sides. That sounds

00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:34.220
very un -Hollywood. Rational appraisal. It sounds

00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:36.299
like a business deal. But look at their situations.

00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:39.819
Rainier was 32. He ruled this tiny principality

00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:42.799
that was struggling financially. And, crucially,

00:18:42.980 --> 00:18:46.039
under a treaty with France, if the Grimaldi line

00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.980
died out without an heir, Monaco would revert

00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:51.799
to France. So he needed a wife. He needed a wife.

00:18:51.980 --> 00:18:54.480
He needed an heir. And he needed someone who

00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.400
brought glamour and attention back to Monaco.

00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:00.940
And Grace. What was her motivation? She was 26.

00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:04.059
She had won the Oscar. She had conquered Hollywood.

00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:06.880
And she was finding it unfulfilling. She hated

00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.119
the shallowness, the press intrusion. She was

00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:11.759
looking for a new role. A permanent role. She

00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:13.680
once said she wanted marriage to be her life's

00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:16.579
work. So it was a merger. A romantic merger maybe,

00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:20.240
but a merger nonetheless. Absolutely. When Rainier

00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.960
came to Philadelphia that Christmas to propose,

00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.519
the discussions weren't just about love. There

00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.579
were discussions about dowries. The Kelly family

00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.579
had to pay a dowry of $2 million. $2 million

00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:34.940
in 1956. That is a staggering amount of money.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.039
It shows you that this was a dynastic alliance,

00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:39.849
plain and simple. Let's get to the wedding. April

00:19:39.849 --> 00:19:43.490
1956, the wedding of the century. We throw that

00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:45.250
phrase around a lot, but this really was the

00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:47.250
template, wasn't it? It was the first modern

00:19:47.250 --> 00:19:50.190
media spectacle. The biographer Robert Lacey

00:19:50.190 --> 00:19:52.250
called it the first modern event to generate

00:19:52.250 --> 00:19:55.470
media overkill. And he's right. And MGM got involved.

00:19:55.829 --> 00:19:59.190
Oh, MGM treated it like a movie production. They

00:19:59.190 --> 00:20:02.190
sent a crew to film it. There were 30 million

00:20:02.190 --> 00:20:04.910
people watching on live television across Europe.

00:20:04.970 --> 00:20:08.380
This was a global event. And the dress. I feel

00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:09.920
like we have to acknowledge the engineering of

00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.259
that dress. It was designed by Helen Rose, the

00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:14.980
MGM costume designer. It wasn't just a dress.

00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:17.980
It was a gift from the studio. It took six weeks

00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:20.559
and 36 dressmakers working around the clock.

00:20:20.970 --> 00:20:24.910
36. 36. Thousands of pearls sewn by hand. It

00:20:24.910 --> 00:20:26.809
was designed to look like a princess from a fairy

00:20:26.809 --> 00:20:29.650
tale, but constructed with pure Hollywood precision.

00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:32.430
But the ceremony itself? I was reading about

00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:34.809
the protocol. It sounds absolutely exhausting.

00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:37.849
It was a marathon. Under the Napoleonic Code

00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:40.089
and church law, they had to be married twice.

00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:43.849
First... A civil ceremony in the palace throne

00:20:43.849 --> 00:20:46.930
room. Okay. It lasted significantly longer than

00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:48.750
necessary because they had to read out every

00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:50.970
single one of Grace's new titles. How many titles

00:20:50.970 --> 00:20:54.390
are we talking about? 142. 142 titles. Duchess

00:20:54.390 --> 00:20:56.750
of this, Baroness of that. It took 20 minutes

00:20:56.750 --> 00:20:58.829
just to read the list. Yeah. And Grace had to

00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:01.150
sit there and just listen to the weight of the

00:21:01.150 --> 00:21:03.789
institution being placed on her shoulders, title

00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:07.130
by title by title. And with that, the acting

00:21:07.130 --> 00:21:11.130
career is over. She retires at 26. 26. Just think

00:21:11.130 --> 00:21:13.670
about that for a second. Imagine reaching the

00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:16.049
absolute pinnacle of your field and then stopping

00:21:16.049 --> 00:21:19.069
cold. Was that explicitly part of the deal? Did

00:21:19.069 --> 00:21:21.829
Rainier say, no more movies? It was implied,

00:21:22.089 --> 00:21:24.769
and then it was enforced. Being a princess of

00:21:24.769 --> 00:21:27.029
Monaco is a full -time job. It's not just waving

00:21:27.029 --> 00:21:29.240
and smiling. It's head of state duties. But the

00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:31.579
door wasn't fully locked immediately, was it?

00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:34.759
No. And this is the most heartbreaking what if

00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:37.619
of her life. The Marnie incident. This is 1962.

00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.259
She's been married six years. She has two kids,

00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:43.640
Caroline and Albert. And Hitchcock comes calling.

00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:45.900
Hitchcock missed her. He had never really found

00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:48.000
a replacement, not one he felt the same about.

00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:50.539
He sent her the script for Marnie. He wanted

00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:52.759
her to play the lead. And this was not a princess

00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:55.500
role. Not at all. It's a kleptomaniac with severe

00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:58.480
psychological issues who is blackmailing. into

00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:01.579
marriage it's dark stuff very dark grace read

00:22:01.579 --> 00:22:03.779
it she wanted to do it she missed the work she

00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:06.400
missed the creativity she actually said yes the

00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:08.400
palace made an official announcement that she

00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.640
would return to hollywood for the summer to film

00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.539
it and the reaction in monaco was not it was

00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:17.059
catastrophic the people of monaco were horrified

00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:28.309
they said So she had to pull out. She had to

00:22:28.309 --> 00:22:30.690
publicly withdraw. And Hitchcock was devastated.

00:22:30.710 --> 00:22:32.369
She ended up casting Tippi Hedren, of course.

00:22:32.670 --> 00:22:34.950
But Grace was heartbroken. That was the moment

00:22:34.950 --> 00:22:38.250
she realized there was no going back. The door

00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:40.250
was sealed. She had to fully commit to her new

00:22:40.250 --> 00:22:42.650
job. So let's talk about that job. This is Section

00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:45.980
5. The job of being Princess Grace. Because I

00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:47.460
think people assume she just sat around eating

00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:49.960
bonbons and cutting ribbons. Right. But she approached

00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:52.299
this role with the same intensity she approached

00:22:52.299 --> 00:22:54.779
the country girl. She professionalized the role

00:22:54.779 --> 00:22:57.619
of the consort. Before Grace, Monaco was a bit

00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:00.160
of a fading gambling resort. She turned it into

00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.380
a cultural hub. She didn't just lend her name

00:23:02.380 --> 00:23:04.839
to charities. She ran them. Let's look at the

00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:07.079
organizations. She became president of the Red

00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:09.680
Cross of Monaco. That's standard royal stuff.

00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:13.759
But then there's Simon Day. Amadei Mondial. This

00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.400
is significant. She founded it in 1963. She had

00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:19.759
seen the suffering of Vietnamese children during

00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.220
the war, and she wanted to create an organization

00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:25.160
focused on children's rights globally. So this

00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:27.599
wasn't just a local thing? No, this wasn't just

00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.339
fundraising for a local hospital. Amadé gained

00:23:30.339 --> 00:23:33.960
consultative status with UNICEF and UNESCO. She

00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:36.619
was operating on a high -level diplomatic stage

00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:40.349
advocating for child welfare laws. And the breastfeeding

00:23:40.349 --> 00:23:42.109
thing, I keep coming back to this because it

00:23:42.109 --> 00:23:44.329
feels so counterintuitive for a conservative

00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:47.690
royal in the 1970s. It was radical. It really

00:23:47.690 --> 00:23:49.549
was. You have to understand the context. In the

00:23:49.549 --> 00:23:51.970
60s and 70s, among the upper classes and especially

00:23:51.970 --> 00:23:54.529
royalty, breastfeeding was often seen as something

00:23:54.529 --> 00:23:57.349
you just didn't do. Right. Formula was the modern

00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:00.529
scientific way. Exactly. Or wet nurses had been

00:24:00.529 --> 00:24:02.470
the historical tradition for the aristocracy.

00:24:02.789 --> 00:24:05.589
But Grace breastfed her own kids. All three of

00:24:05.589 --> 00:24:08.789
them. Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie. And she

00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:11.109
didn't hide it. She became an honorary member

00:24:11.109 --> 00:24:13.369
of the Lalesh League, which is a breastfeeding

00:24:13.369 --> 00:24:15.789
support organization. That's incredible. And

00:24:15.789 --> 00:24:19.390
in 1971, she flew to Chicago to speak at their

00:24:19.390 --> 00:24:21.789
conference. Imagine walking into a conference

00:24:21.789 --> 00:24:24.269
hall in Chicago and Princess Grace is on stage

00:24:24.269 --> 00:24:26.569
telling you why breast is best. She spoke to

00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:30.049
3 ,000 people. She used her platform to normalize

00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:31.970
something that was being pushed out of fashion

00:24:31.970 --> 00:24:34.950
by corporate interests. It showed she wasn't

00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:37.329
afraid to be maternal and physical in a way that

00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:39.680
defied the stiff upper lip. royal expectation.

00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:42.119
She also kept a hand in the business world, didn't

00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:44.359
she? She joined the board of 20th Century Fox

00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:47.839
in 1976. One of the first women to sit on a major

00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:50.259
studio board. That was her way of staying connected

00:24:50.259 --> 00:24:52.819
to her old industry. She couldn't act, but she

00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:54.640
could help steer the ship. She also became a

00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.440
cultural preservationist. Monaco was modernizing

00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.200
rapidly by lots of concrete high -rises going

00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:03.819
up. It was becoming a concrete jungle, yes. Rainier

00:25:03.819 --> 00:25:06.980
was very pro -development. Grace was the one

00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:08.960
who fought to save the Belle Epoque architecture.

00:25:09.579 --> 00:25:12.019
She ensured that the old charm of Monte Carli

00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:14.559
wasn't completely bulldozed. And she had her

00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.400
other creative outlets. She was desperate for

00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:18.339
them. She founded the Garden Club and wrote a

00:25:18.339 --> 00:25:20.849
book on flower pressing. My book of flowers.

00:25:21.089 --> 00:25:23.230
It sounds quaint, like a little hobby, but she

00:25:23.230 --> 00:25:25.609
took it seriously. She created these intricate

00:25:25.609 --> 00:25:28.549
collages that were exhibited in Paris. If she

00:25:28.549 --> 00:25:30.670
couldn't act, she would arrange flowers. If she

00:25:30.670 --> 00:25:32.730
couldn't star in a movie, she would narrate documentaries.

00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:35.529
She was always trying to find a way to let the

00:25:35.529 --> 00:25:38.369
artist out without breaking protocol. She built

00:25:38.369 --> 00:25:41.210
a life. Yeah. A full, productive life. She raised

00:25:41.210 --> 00:25:43.670
three kids. She put Monaco on the map in a new

00:25:43.670 --> 00:25:48.410
way. And then we get to 1982, section six. The

00:25:48.410 --> 00:25:51.650
tragedy. September 13th, 1982. A date that just

00:25:51.650 --> 00:25:54.309
changed everything for that family and for Monaco.

00:25:54.890 --> 00:25:56.569
Let's walk through the details because there

00:25:56.569 --> 00:25:58.769
was so much confusion and misinformation when

00:25:58.769 --> 00:26:00.950
it happened. She was at their country home, Rock

00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:04.329
Eagle. Yes, up in the hills above Monaco. She

00:26:04.329 --> 00:26:07.009
was driving back down to the palace. She had

00:26:07.009 --> 00:26:09.130
her youngest daughter, Stephanie, who was 17

00:26:09.130 --> 00:26:11.410
at the time, in the passenger seat. And she was

00:26:11.410 --> 00:26:13.250
driving herself. The chauffeur offered to drive,

00:26:13.309 --> 00:26:16.130
right? Yeah, he did. But the car... There was

00:26:16.130 --> 00:26:20.490
a Rover P6 3500, was full of dresses and boxes,

00:26:20.589 --> 00:26:23.349
and Grace said there wasn't room for this chauffeur.

00:26:23.529 --> 00:26:28.369
She said, I'll drive. It's such a mundane, everyday

00:26:28.369 --> 00:26:31.289
decision, a decision about luggage space that

00:26:31.289 --> 00:26:33.950
leads to a catastrophe. They're coming down this

00:26:33.950 --> 00:26:36.269
steep, winding road, the same kind of road she

00:26:36.269 --> 00:26:39.210
famously drove in to catch a thief. It wasn't

00:26:39.210 --> 00:26:41.210
the exact same road, despite the urban legend,

00:26:41.289 --> 00:26:43.289
but it was very similar geography, a hairpin

00:26:43.289 --> 00:26:46.799
turn. And the car didn't make the turn. It plunged

00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.460
over the edge, rolling about 100 feet down the

00:26:49.460 --> 00:26:51.380
mountainside. Now, immediately after the crash,

00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:54.259
the palace released a statement. And this is

00:26:54.259 --> 00:26:55.859
where the controversy started. They said it was

00:26:55.859 --> 00:26:58.140
brake failure. The palace press office went into

00:26:58.140 --> 00:27:00.500
protective mode. They downplayed it. They said

00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:03.160
she had a broken leg. They blamed the car. But

00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.880
the truth was much, much more serious. Because

00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:08.279
investigators looked at the car. Police and engineers

00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:11.140
from Rover flew in. They examined that wreck

00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:12.839
from top to bottom. There was no brake failure.

00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:15.579
The brakes were fine. So what happened? The medical

00:27:15.579 --> 00:27:18.279
evidence showed that Grace suffered a mild cerebral

00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:21.240
hemorrhage, a stroke while she was behind the

00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:24.269
wheel. She blacked out or lost motor control.

00:27:24.470 --> 00:27:27.609
And there is this heartbreaking detail about

00:27:27.609 --> 00:27:29.490
the gear stick. This is the detail that really

00:27:29.490 --> 00:27:33.029
sticks with me. The Rover P6 had a safety feature,

00:27:33.190 --> 00:27:35.769
a mountain gear for steep descents that uses

00:27:35.769 --> 00:27:38.450
the engine to brake the car. Okay. When they

00:27:38.450 --> 00:27:40.690
found the wreck, the gear stick was in standard

00:27:40.690 --> 00:27:44.329
drive mode. It suggests she wasn't mentally present

00:27:44.329 --> 00:27:47.829
enough to engage the safety gear. She was incapacitated

00:27:47.829 --> 00:27:50.269
before the car even left the road. And Stephanie

00:27:50.269 --> 00:27:52.809
survived. She did, with a concussion and a fracture

00:27:52.809 --> 00:27:56.509
of the vertebrae. But Grace never regained consciousness.

00:27:56.950 --> 00:28:00.069
She had a second, massive hemorrhage in the hospital.

00:28:00.289 --> 00:28:02.730
And the next day, Prince Rainier had to make

00:28:02.730 --> 00:28:04.789
the impossible decision to turn off the life

00:28:04.789 --> 00:28:07.630
support. She was only 52. 52. She had lived a

00:28:07.630 --> 00:28:09.730
thousand lives in those years, but was still

00:28:09.730 --> 00:28:11.650
shockingly young. The f***? The funeral was,

00:28:11.670 --> 00:28:13.750
well, it was the flip side of the wedding, wasn't

00:28:13.750 --> 00:28:17.589
it? It was. The same global scale, but completely

00:28:17.589 --> 00:28:20.509
tragic. Cary Grant was there, openly weeping.

00:28:20.750 --> 00:28:23.769
Nancy Reagan represented the U .S. Princess Diana

00:28:23.769 --> 00:28:26.410
was there, which is so poignant given her own

00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:28.950
fate later. It really felt like the end of an

00:28:28.950 --> 00:28:31.789
era. And Rainier? Rainier was broken by it. He

00:28:31.789 --> 00:28:34.470
never remarried. When he died in 2005, he was

00:28:34.470 --> 00:28:36.660
buried right next to her. Let's talk about the

00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:38.900
legacy, Section 7, because she has been gone

00:28:38.900 --> 00:28:42.000
for over 40 years, but she is still everywhere.

00:28:42.299 --> 00:28:44.940
She is the archetype. Every single time a celebrity

00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:47.440
marries into royalty, you know, Meghan Markle

00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:49.420
is the obvious example. The comparison is made

00:28:49.420 --> 00:28:51.880
to Grace. She wrote the playbook. And the fashion.

00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:54.319
We have to talk about the Kelly bag. It's the

00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:56.539
ultimate status symbol, and the story of its

00:28:56.539 --> 00:28:59.160
name is so grace. It was originally the Saca

00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.759
de Peche by Hermes. In 1956, she was pregnant

00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:05.039
with Caroline and trying to hide the baby bump

00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.420
from the paparazzi. Right. She held this big

00:29:07.420 --> 00:29:09.519
bag over her stomach. The photo went global,

00:29:09.579 --> 00:29:12.420
and everyone said, I want the Kelly bag. Hermes

00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:14.740
eventually officially renamed it a functional

00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:17.019
object that became a legend because of her need

00:29:17.019 --> 00:29:20.180
for privacy. And the fresh -faced look. She changed

00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:22.779
the beauty standard of the time. Before her,

00:29:22.900 --> 00:29:25.640
the 50s look could be quite heavy, very constructed.

00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:29.400
She favored minimal makeup, scrubbed skin, pearls,

00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:32.400
the girl in white gloves, as Time magazine called

00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.759
her. It was a look that said, I don't need to

00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:37.839
try too hard. Culturally, she inspired Andy Warhol.

00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:40.180
She inspired the character of Betty Draper in

00:29:40.180 --> 00:29:42.980
Mad Men. Even Billie Eilish at the Met Gala a

00:29:42.980 --> 00:29:46.200
few years ago. That gown was pure Grace Kelly.

00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:49.079
The silhouette endures. But I think her institutional

00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:52.000
legacy is even more important. The Princess Grace

00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:54.420
Foundation USA. That was founded by Rainier.

00:29:54.730 --> 00:29:57.210
Yes, immediately after she died, in her memory.

00:29:57.349 --> 00:29:59.950
It supports emerging artists in theater, dance,

00:30:00.210 --> 00:30:02.970
and film. They have given away over $15 million

00:30:02.970 --> 00:30:05.849
in grants. That's amazing. And it's perfect because

00:30:05.849 --> 00:30:08.170
it supports the struggling artists, the people.

00:30:08.710 --> 00:30:11.190
Grace was back at the Barbizon Hotel. It honors

00:30:11.190 --> 00:30:13.349
the hustle part of her life, not just the royal

00:30:13.349 --> 00:30:16.390
part. And Prince Albert, her son, actually bought

00:30:16.390 --> 00:30:19.140
her childhood home in Philadelphia. He did. The

00:30:19.140 --> 00:30:21.759
house in East Falls, he bought it, restored it,

00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:24.099
and now it serves as a base for the foundation.

00:30:24.259 --> 00:30:27.440
It brings the story full circle. From the brick

00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.799
house that John B. Kelly built back to supporting

00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:34.119
the arts. So as we wrap up, we've unpacked the

00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.119
Philly years, the Hollywood grind, the contract

00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:39.819
wars, the royal duties, and the tragedy. When

00:30:39.819 --> 00:30:42.460
you look at the whole file, what is the big takeaway

00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:44.740
for you? I think the takeaway is that we need

00:30:44.740 --> 00:30:46.900
to stop using the word effortless to describe

00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:49.819
Grace Kelly. Nothing about her life was effortless.

00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:51.980
It was made to look effortless. That was her

00:30:51.980 --> 00:30:55.119
genius. She proved that poise isn't a passive

00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:58.380
trait. It is an active, rigorous pursuit. She

00:30:58.380 --> 00:31:00.119
took the discipline of an Olympian's daughter

00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:02.279
and applied it to acting, and then she applied

00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:05.019
it to diplomacy. She didn't just become a princess.

00:31:05.059 --> 00:31:06.980
She worked as a princess. That's the key for

00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:09.720
me. The work ethic. The constant paddling under

00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.059
the water while the song glides on top. Exactly.

00:31:12.059 --> 00:31:14.240
She famously said, I would like to be remembered

00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.000
as someone who did her job well. Not as a beauty,

00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:19.619
not as a star, but as someone who did the job.

00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:22.140
And that brings us to our closing thought for

00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:24.920
this deep dive. We often look at that wedding

00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:29.220
in 1956 as the happily ever after. The credits

00:31:29.220 --> 00:31:31.640
roll. The fairy tale is complete. Right at the

00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:34.380
end of the story. But for Grace, that was just

00:31:34.380 --> 00:31:36.859
the opening scene of a sequel that was much longer,

00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:39.319
much harder, and had much, much higher stakes.

00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:41.740
She walked off a movie set where she could demand

00:31:41.740 --> 00:31:44.680
a retake and walked onto a world stage where

00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:47.210
every mistake was permanent. It really forces

00:31:47.210 --> 00:31:49.789
you to ask the question, which role required

00:31:49.789 --> 00:31:52.430
the greater performance? The woman who won the

00:31:52.430 --> 00:31:54.650
Oscar for playing a suffering wife for two hours

00:31:54.650 --> 00:31:57.849
on film? Or the woman who had to play the embodiment

00:31:57.849 --> 00:32:00.630
of perfection every single day for 26 years?

00:32:00.809 --> 00:32:02.829
That is something to chew on. Thanks for listening

00:32:02.829 --> 00:32:16.230
to The Deep Dive. We'll see you next time. The

00:32:16.230 --> 00:32:18.950
reality was just constantly fighting against

00:32:18.950 --> 00:32:22.369
the cinema. We're looking at Grace Kelly. To

00:32:22.369 --> 00:32:24.990
the world, she's the Hitchcock blonde who became

00:32:24.990 --> 00:32:27.269
a princess, the ultimate fairy tale, right? The

00:32:27.269 --> 00:32:29.730
American girl who got the crown. But when you

00:32:29.730 --> 00:32:32.710
strip away the Life magazine covers and the Hermes

00:32:32.710 --> 00:32:35.769
bags and the tiaras, you find a much more complex

00:32:35.769 --> 00:32:38.269
and, frankly, a much tougher story. Mm -hmm.

00:32:38.970 --> 00:32:41.930
And it's a story we so often get wrong, I think,

00:32:42.029 --> 00:32:44.509
mostly because we want the fairy tale to be true.

00:32:44.970 --> 00:32:47.369
We tend to view her timeline as this great victory

00:32:47.369 --> 00:32:50.369
lap, Hollywood stardom, then royal ascension.

00:32:50.589 --> 00:32:52.990
But the question we really need to wrestle with

00:32:52.990 --> 00:32:54.930
today is whether that ascension was actually

00:32:54.930 --> 00:32:57.670
an abdication. Was it a step up or was it a step

00:32:57.670 --> 00:33:00.869
out? Exactly. The core question on the table

00:33:00.869 --> 00:33:03.849
is this. Was Grace Kelly the architect of her

00:33:03.849 --> 00:33:06.549
own destiny, a fiercely intelligent woman who

00:33:06.549 --> 00:33:08.769
conquered Hollywood and then made a rational,

00:33:08.890 --> 00:33:11.829
strategic choice to pivot into, well, global

00:33:11.829 --> 00:33:15.359
leadership? Or was she a prisoner of her roles?

00:33:15.500 --> 00:33:18.579
Was she boxed in, first by her family, then by

00:33:18.579 --> 00:33:21.119
the studio system, and then finally trapped in

00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:23.460
a gilded cage that silenced one of the greatest

00:33:23.460 --> 00:33:27.779
artistic voices of her generation? I think you

00:33:27.779 --> 00:33:30.500
know where I land on this one. I look at her

00:33:30.500 --> 00:33:33.980
life and I don't see a grand strategy. I see

00:33:33.980 --> 00:33:37.240
a series of shrinking rooms. I see a brilliant

00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:40.180
artist who is progressively constrained by the

00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:43.779
expectations of men. Her father, Alfred Hitchcock,

00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:46.859
Prince Rainier, until her primary creative outlet

00:33:46.859 --> 00:33:51.079
was reduced from winning Oscars to pressing dried

00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:54.200
flowers in a book. And I see the exact opposite.

00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.759
I see why you think that. I really do. But let

00:33:57.759 --> 00:33:59.940
me give you a different perspective. I see a

00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:02.619
woman of immense drive who achieved the pinnacle

00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:05.119
of two completely distinct worlds before she

00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:08.099
was even 30. I argue that Kelly was a master

00:34:08.099 --> 00:34:10.639
negotiator who played the most restrictive systems

00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:13.179
of her time, the Hollywood studio system and

00:34:13.179 --> 00:34:17.059
European royalty, and won on her own terms. She

00:34:17.059 --> 00:34:20.340
wasn't shrinking. She was curating. Curating

00:34:20.340 --> 00:34:23.440
is a very generous word for what I see as systematic

00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.880
restriction. But OK, let's get into the evidence,

00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:29.119
because I think if we look at the trajectory,

00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:32.539
the walls start closing in very, very early on.

00:34:32.750 --> 00:34:35.150
I'm happy to start. My position is that Grace

00:34:35.150 --> 00:34:38.230
Kelly was the active architect of her life. You

00:34:38.230 --> 00:34:40.550
have to understand the context here. She wasn't

00:34:40.550 --> 00:34:42.829
just, you know, discovered at a soda fountain.

00:34:42.989 --> 00:34:46.309
She fought for every single inch. She was born

00:34:46.309 --> 00:34:49.010
into an affluent Philadelphia family, true, but

00:34:49.010 --> 00:34:52.289
her father, John B. Kelly Sr., was vehemently

00:34:52.289 --> 00:34:55.050
opposed to her acting. He was a self -made man,

00:34:55.210 --> 00:34:57.289
an Olympian, but he viewed the acting profession

00:34:57.289 --> 00:35:00.070
as, and I'm quoting from the records here, a

00:35:00.070 --> 00:35:03.670
slim cut above streetwalker. It's a brutal quote.

00:35:04.010 --> 00:35:07.510
And he said it to the press? He did, and a weaker

00:35:07.510 --> 00:35:10.050
will would have just folded right there. Daddy

00:35:10.050 --> 00:35:12.849
says no, so I'll stay in Philadelphia. Instead,

00:35:13.070 --> 00:35:15.969
she not only pursued it, she dominated it. In

00:35:15.969 --> 00:35:20.170
just five years, from 1951 to 1956, she went

00:35:20.170 --> 00:35:22.949
from a minor role in 14 Hours to winning the

00:35:22.949 --> 00:35:25.730
Academy Award for The Country Girl. That isn't

00:35:25.730 --> 00:35:28.619
drifting. That is execution. And her move to

00:35:28.619 --> 00:35:31.599
Monaco? It wasn't some romantic swoon where she

00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:33.880
lost her head. The sources are clear on this.

00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:36.579
It was a rational appraisal on both sides. She

00:35:36.579 --> 00:35:40.119
essentially chose a new career. Princess. And

00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:42.440
she professionalized that role just as she had

00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:44.639
acting. She wasn't a victim of the monarchy.

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:47.780
She was its CEO. See, I come at it from such

00:35:47.780 --> 00:35:50.920
a different angle. You call it a rational appraisal,

00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.519
but I see it as a flight from one form of control

00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:56.110
to another. likely hoping the new cage would

00:35:56.110 --> 00:35:58.829
be bigger than the last. You mentioned her father's

00:35:58.829 --> 00:36:01.409
disapproval. That never really went away. Even

00:36:01.409 --> 00:36:03.769
when she won the Oscar, he publicly said he was

00:36:03.769 --> 00:36:06.190
surprised because he thought her sister, Peggy,

00:36:06.190 --> 00:36:08.889
was the talented one. She was constantly chasing

00:36:08.889 --> 00:36:11.599
a validation she just never got. That's true.

00:36:11.659 --> 00:36:13.739
That's true regarding her father. But doesn't

00:36:13.739 --> 00:36:15.320
that just make her achievements all the more

00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:17.760
impressive? She succeeded in spite of him. Or

00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:21.519
she succeeded because she was molded by him to

00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:24.719
seek approval from these powerful authority figures.

00:36:25.179 --> 00:36:27.880
I mean, look at the nature of her work in Hollywood.

00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:30.719
You say she conquered the system, but she was

00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.639
a high -value commodity within it. MGM treated

00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:36.179
her like a rental property. They loaned her out

00:36:36.179 --> 00:36:38.780
five times. She was shipped off to Paramount

00:36:38.780 --> 00:36:41.309
for Rear Window and The Country Girl. She was

00:36:41.309 --> 00:36:44.909
a piece of inventory. And the directors? Hitchcock

00:36:44.909 --> 00:36:47.369
viewed her through this lens of absolute control.

00:36:47.750 --> 00:36:50.030
He initially called her performance in High Noon

00:36:50.030 --> 00:36:53.690
mousy and lacking animation. He felt he had to

00:36:53.690 --> 00:36:56.630
mold her. She was the clay, not the sculptor.

00:36:56.690 --> 00:36:59.150
And when she married Rainier, she didn't just

00:36:59.150 --> 00:37:02.110
change jobs. She was forced into retirement at

00:37:02.110 --> 00:37:05.889
26. That is a sacrifice of the self, not a career

00:37:05.889 --> 00:37:08.789
pivot. I'm not convinced by that line of reasoning.

00:37:09.210 --> 00:37:11.530
because it ignores how she used that so -called

00:37:11.530 --> 00:37:14.769
inventory status to her advantage. Let's look

00:37:14.769 --> 00:37:17.829
closely at those loan -outs, because that is

00:37:17.829 --> 00:37:20.130
where I think your commodity argument really

00:37:20.130 --> 00:37:22.929
falls apart. You interpret her being loaned out

00:37:22.929 --> 00:37:26.150
as her being a pawn. I interpret it as her manipulating

00:37:26.150 --> 00:37:29.050
the system. When she signed that seven -year

00:37:29.050 --> 00:37:32.289
contract with MGM, it wasn't the standard servitude

00:37:32.289 --> 00:37:35.230
young actresses signed. She negotiated terms

00:37:35.230 --> 00:37:39.110
that were just unheard of. She had a good agent.

00:37:39.530 --> 00:37:42.610
Lou Wasserman. She had a good agent, yes, but

00:37:42.610 --> 00:37:45.309
she had the spine to back him up. She demanded

00:37:45.309 --> 00:37:47.869
time off every two years to work in the theater.

00:37:48.090 --> 00:37:50.889
No other starlet was getting that clause, and

00:37:50.889 --> 00:37:53.650
she refused to live in Los Angeles, insisting

00:37:53.650 --> 00:37:55.969
on staying at Manhattan House in New York because

00:37:55.969 --> 00:37:59.289
she hated the superficiality of LA. That is not

00:37:59.289 --> 00:38:02.289
the behavior of a passive rental property. She

00:38:02.289 --> 00:38:04.989
was dictating where she lived and how she worked.

00:38:05.090 --> 00:38:07.650
She treated MGM like a distribution partner,

00:38:07.769 --> 00:38:10.739
not a boss. But did those clauses actually give

00:38:10.739 --> 00:38:13.639
her artistic freedom? Look at the roles MGM actually

00:38:13.639 --> 00:38:15.800
wanted for her. They typecast her immediately.

00:38:16.260 --> 00:38:19.300
Time magazine put her on the cover in 1955 as

00:38:19.300 --> 00:38:22.119
the girl in white gloves, you know, contrasting

00:38:22.119 --> 00:38:24.780
her with the smoky film sirens like Marilyn Monroe.

00:38:25.019 --> 00:38:27.440
She was the ice queen before she even got to

00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:29.840
the palace. She was playing a role that society

00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.699
demanded of her, this pristine, upper -class

00:38:32.699 --> 00:38:35.920
virgin. She was trapped in that image. Like green

00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:38.679
fire, which she hated. She literally threatened

00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:41.400
to quit the studio to pack her bags and leave

00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:43.639
for New York for good if they didn't let her

00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:46.019
play Georgie Elgin. And for our listeners who

00:38:46.019 --> 00:38:48.500
haven't seen The Country Girl, this is the role

00:38:48.500 --> 00:38:51.579
where she plays the the dowdy, suffering wife

00:38:51.579 --> 00:38:55.019
of an alcoholic. Exactly. It was the anti -Grace

00:38:55.019 --> 00:38:57.400
Foley role. She had to wear cardigans, glasses,

00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:00.639
almost no makeup. She knew that role would break

00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:03.340
the Ice Queen mold and win her the Oscar, and

00:39:03.340 --> 00:39:06.219
she forced MGM to let her take it. She went up

00:39:06.219 --> 00:39:09.099
against Judy Garland in A Star is Born, who everyone

00:39:09.099 --> 00:39:12.139
thought was a lock, and she won. That was a strategic

00:39:12.139 --> 00:39:15.239
military victory against the studio heads. She

00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:18.400
identified the target, the Oscar, and she bulldozed

00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.519
the studio to get the weapon she needed to win

00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:23.460
it. It was a victory, I'll grant you that. But

00:39:23.460 --> 00:39:26.820
look at the cost of her success and who she had

00:39:26.820 --> 00:39:30.199
to align with to get it. She was constantly seeking

00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:33.579
mentors. Father figures, really. You say she

00:39:33.579 --> 00:39:36.039
chose her mentors, but look at the trade -offs.

00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:39.179
She turned down On the Waterfront with Marlon

00:39:39.179 --> 00:39:42.079
Brando. I mean, a film that revolutionized acting

00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:44.699
to work with Hitchcock again on Rear Window.

00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:48.239
Which was the right call. Rear Window's a masterpiece.

00:39:48.969 --> 00:39:52.269
It is a masterpiece, yes, but it's a masterpiece

00:39:52.269 --> 00:39:56.070
of voyeurism and control. And that dynamic bled

00:39:56.070 --> 00:39:59.210
into reality. Hitchcock was obsessed with her.

00:39:59.369 --> 00:40:01.650
He sat and talked to her about Rear Window while

00:40:01.650 --> 00:40:04.530
they were still filming Dial M for Murder. He

00:40:04.530 --> 00:40:07.150
controlled her silhouette, her wardrobe, from

00:40:07.150 --> 00:40:10.269
the sheer negligee to the floral dress. He was

00:40:10.269 --> 00:40:13.929
crafting an image. And just as she perfected

00:40:13.929 --> 00:40:16.469
that image, she was transported to a place where

00:40:16.469 --> 00:40:19.869
image was literally the law. Let's talk about

00:40:19.869 --> 00:40:22.889
the marriage. You call it a partnership. I look

00:40:22.889 --> 00:40:25.369
at the wedding itself. It wasn't a celebration

00:40:25.369 --> 00:40:28.070
of love. It was an institutional absorption.

00:40:28.570 --> 00:40:31.230
Well, it was a state event, certainly. But she

00:40:31.230 --> 00:40:33.090
knew that going in. She was prepared for the

00:40:33.090 --> 00:40:35.869
pageantry. I don't think anyone can truly know

00:40:35.869 --> 00:40:39.849
that going in. It was media overkill, according

00:40:39.849 --> 00:40:43.289
to biographer Robert Lacey. 30 million viewers.

00:40:43.650 --> 00:40:45.989
But more than that, look at the requirements.

00:40:46.710 --> 00:40:49.309
The Napoleonic Code and the Catholic Church demanded

00:40:49.309 --> 00:40:53.889
two ceremonies, a civil one on April 18th, a

00:40:53.889 --> 00:40:58.030
religious one on April 19th. At the civil ceremony,

00:40:58.329 --> 00:41:04.469
142 official titles were recited, 142. She ceased

00:41:04.469 --> 00:41:07.690
to be Grace Kelly and became a list of feudal

00:41:07.690 --> 00:41:11.250
acquisitions, Duchess of Valentanoa, Countess

00:41:11.250 --> 00:41:14.849
of Polignac, I mean, on and on. But she wasn't

00:41:14.849 --> 00:41:18.730
just acquired. She was securing her future. She

00:41:18.730 --> 00:41:21.989
was securing the Grimaldi future. The pressure

00:41:21.989 --> 00:41:24.989
to produce an heir was immediate. Princess Caroline

00:41:24.989 --> 00:41:28.989
was born in January 1957, nine months and a few

00:41:28.989 --> 00:41:31.269
days after the wedding. Prince Albert followed

00:41:31.269 --> 00:41:34.889
in 1958. She was brought there to secure the

00:41:34.889 --> 00:41:37.710
succession, and she did it. That looks like duty,

00:41:37.869 --> 00:41:41.369
yes. But it also looks like biological conscription.

00:41:41.590 --> 00:41:45.500
The deal was... Give us an heir, save the principality

00:41:45.500 --> 00:41:48.239
from reverting to France. I think you're stripping

00:41:48.239 --> 00:41:51.119
her of her agency in that decision. She wanted

00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:53.760
a family. She was a deeply religious Catholic.

00:41:54.099 --> 00:41:57.039
The marriage wasn't something done to her. She

00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:59.780
was an active participant. And let's talk about

00:41:59.780 --> 00:42:03.400
how she handled that absorption. She wasn't crushed

00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:06.239
by the media pressure. She navigated it. And

00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:08.480
later when she was pregnant and the paparazzi

00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:11.159
were hounding her, what did she do? You're going

00:42:11.159 --> 00:42:14.090
to mention the bag. I am absolutely going to

00:42:14.090 --> 00:42:16.869
mention the bag because it is a perfect example

00:42:16.869 --> 00:42:20.929
of her genius. She used her Hermes bag, the Saka

00:42:20.929 --> 00:42:23.730
Depeche, to shield her pregnancy bump from the

00:42:23.730 --> 00:42:27.159
cameras. That moment created the Kelly bag. It

00:42:27.159 --> 00:42:29.519
became a fashion icon selling out everywhere.

00:42:29.820 --> 00:42:32.559
But the intent wasn't fashion. The intent was

00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:35.260
functional. She was controlling what the public

00:42:35.260 --> 00:42:37.920
could see. She was manipulating the media to

00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:40.619
protect her privacy. That is a woman in control

00:42:40.619 --> 00:42:44.000
of the lens, not a victim of it. She took a prop

00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:46.980
and turned it into a shield. That's a compelling

00:42:46.980 --> 00:42:49.699
argument. But have you considered that it's also

00:42:49.699 --> 00:42:52.849
a symbol of her hiding? I'm sorry, but I just

00:42:52.849 --> 00:42:55.690
don't buy that the Kelly bag moment is a triumph

00:42:55.690 --> 00:42:58.650
of agency. It's a symbol of her needing a shield.

00:42:59.070 --> 00:43:02.409
She was constantly shielding herself. And once

00:43:02.409 --> 00:43:04.369
the heir was born and the succession was secure,

00:43:04.650 --> 00:43:07.489
what happened to the artist? This is where the

00:43:07.489 --> 00:43:10.489
tragedy really sets in for me. We have to talk

00:43:10.489 --> 00:43:13.329
about the Marnie incident. I suspect I know where

00:43:13.329 --> 00:43:16.530
you're going with this. It is the smoking gun

00:43:16.530 --> 00:43:20.230
of her constraint. In 1962, six years into the

00:43:20.230 --> 00:43:23.090
marriage, Hitzcock comes back. He offers her

00:43:23.090 --> 00:43:25.909
the lead in Marnie. She is eager. She wants to

00:43:25.909 --> 00:43:28.849
do it. It's a chance to reclaim her art, to work

00:43:28.849 --> 00:43:31.429
with her mentor again. The palace initially even

00:43:31.429 --> 00:43:35.010
says yes. And then she has to decline. Why? Because

00:43:35.010 --> 00:43:38.550
of public outcry in Monaco. It wasn't just outcry.

00:43:38.710 --> 00:43:41.909
It was a complex political situation. You have

00:43:41.909 --> 00:43:45.829
to remember, in 1962, Monaco was in a massive

00:43:45.829 --> 00:43:49.119
standoff with France. Charles de Gaulle was threatening

00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:51.659
to cut off electricity and blockade the principality

00:43:51.659 --> 00:43:54.559
over tax laws. It was a crisis. Which makes it

00:43:54.559 --> 00:43:57.159
even worse. She was a pawn in a geopolitical

00:43:57.159 --> 00:43:59.539
game. But the core reason given was that the

00:43:59.539 --> 00:44:01.940
people, and likely Prince Rainier, did not want

00:44:01.940 --> 00:44:04.260
their princess playing a kleptomaniac on screen.

00:44:04.579 --> 00:44:07.280
Even if the political timing was bad, the message

00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:09.800
was clear. The role of princess supersedes the

00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:12.460
role of artist. She was censored by her station.

00:44:13.050 --> 00:44:14.969
Later, Herbert Ross tried to cast her in The

00:44:14.969 --> 00:44:17.869
Turning Point in 1977. Rainier just dismissed

00:44:17.869 --> 00:44:20.269
the idea out of hand. Her creative output was

00:44:20.269 --> 00:44:22.510
reduced to narrating documentaries like The Children

00:44:22.510 --> 00:44:25.070
of Theater Street or reading poetry. This is

00:44:25.070 --> 00:44:27.150
one of the greatest actresses of her generation,

00:44:27.389 --> 00:44:29.989
someone Cary Grant preferred over Ingrid Bergman,

00:44:30.070 --> 00:44:33.170
and she's reduced to cutting ribbons. I see why

00:44:33.170 --> 00:44:35.409
you think that, but let me give you a different

00:44:35.409 --> 00:44:38.949
perspective on her work as a princess. You're

00:44:38.949 --> 00:44:41.570
judging her output solely by Hollywood standards.

00:44:42.030 --> 00:44:45.489
If she isn't on screen, you say she isn't working.

00:44:45.789 --> 00:44:49.750
But she viewed her role as princess as a job,

00:44:49.849 --> 00:44:53.309
and she was an effective CEO. She didn't just

00:44:53.309 --> 00:44:57.269
cut ribbons. She founded Amadei Mondial in 1963

00:44:57.269 --> 00:45:00.590
because she was horrified by the plight of Vietnamese

00:45:00.590 --> 00:45:04.369
children. Charity work is expected of royals.

00:45:04.369 --> 00:45:08.199
It's part of the deal. But she elevated it. Amadei

00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:11.679
gained consultative status with the UN and UNICEF.

00:45:11.880 --> 00:45:15.260
That is a massive diplomatic achievement. She

00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:18.239
professionalized the philanthropy of the principality.

00:45:18.420 --> 00:45:20.739
She founded the Princess Grace Foundation to

00:45:20.739 --> 00:45:23.320
support artisans. She helped found the Princess

00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:26.800
Grace Academy for ballet. She was building institutions

00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:30.199
that outlasted her films. She took the role of

00:45:30.199 --> 00:45:33.699
princess, which had been purely ceremonial, and

00:45:33.699 --> 00:45:36.780
gave it executive function. Charity work is noble.

00:45:37.230 --> 00:45:39.969
I'm not denying that. But does it satisfy the

00:45:39.969 --> 00:45:42.809
soul of an artist like Grace Kelly? I look at

00:45:42.809 --> 00:45:45.329
those years and I see a woman trying to fill

00:45:45.329 --> 00:45:48.670
a void. She found other outlets. She was on the

00:45:48.670 --> 00:45:52.530
board of 20th Century Fox in 1976. That's a detail

00:45:52.530 --> 00:45:54.949
people often miss. She was one of the first female

00:45:54.949 --> 00:45:58.510
members on a major studio board. She kept a foot

00:45:58.510 --> 00:46:01.090
in the business side, and she ensured her American

00:46:01.090 --> 00:46:03.989
identity survived in the palace, hosting Thanksgiving,

00:46:04.269 --> 00:46:07.090
organizing baseball games. She wasn't erased.

00:46:07.230 --> 00:46:09.909
She integrated her past self into her present

00:46:09.909 --> 00:46:12.510
role. She said herself she wanted to be remembered

00:46:12.510 --> 00:46:16.219
as someone who accomplished useful deeds. That

00:46:16.219 --> 00:46:18.280
sounds like someone who found fulfillment in

00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:20.880
service, not someone pining for the applause.

00:46:21.320 --> 00:46:24.179
But look at the arts she was left with. Flower

00:46:24.179 --> 00:46:27.139
pressing. My Book of Flowers, published in 1980.

00:46:27.420 --> 00:46:29.960
It's lovely, I'm sure. But it feels like the

00:46:29.960 --> 00:46:32.280
hobby of someone with too much time and too little

00:46:32.280 --> 00:46:35.199
outlet for their actual genius. It's a far cry

00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:38.039
from the tension of a Hitchcock set. And even

00:46:38.039 --> 00:46:40.900
her attempt at a film later in life, rearranged,

00:46:40.940 --> 00:46:43.400
was this independent project that never saw the

00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:45.480
light of day. Because she died before they could

00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:47.559
shoot enough scenes to make it a TV hour for

00:46:47.559 --> 00:46:50.179
ABC. It feels like she was constantly trying

00:46:50.179 --> 00:46:52.300
to claw back just a little bit of that artistic

00:46:52.300 --> 00:46:55.659
life. And the walls kept stopping her. Rearranged

00:46:55.659 --> 00:46:58.199
actually supports my point. She was working on

00:46:58.199 --> 00:47:00.260
it. She was collaborating with Rainier on it,

00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.219
actually. She was finding a way. She never stopped

00:47:03.219 --> 00:47:06.280
trying to create. She was 52. She was just getting

00:47:06.280 --> 00:47:08.559
started on her third act. And that brings us

00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:11.139
to the end. Because if we are talking about control

00:47:11.139 --> 00:47:15.429
versus chaos, The accident in 1982 is the ultimate

00:47:15.429 --> 00:47:18.369
loss of control. And I don't just mean the crash

00:47:18.369 --> 00:47:21.409
itself, but the narrative around it. It was a

00:47:21.409 --> 00:47:24.590
tragedy, undeniably. But even in those final

00:47:24.590 --> 00:47:27.530
moments, there's evidence of her agency. She

00:47:27.530 --> 00:47:31.230
was driving the Rover P6 3500 herself. She had

00:47:31.230 --> 00:47:34.010
dismissed the chauffeur. Why? Because she had

00:47:34.010 --> 00:47:36.070
dresses in the back she needed to get altered,

00:47:36.210 --> 00:47:38.539
and there wasn't room for the driver. She was

00:47:38.539 --> 00:47:41.179
handling her own errands. She was in the driver's

00:47:41.179 --> 00:47:43.980
seat. She didn't want to be driven. She wanted

00:47:43.980 --> 00:47:46.579
to drive. She was in the driver's seat, yes.

00:47:46.820 --> 00:47:50.119
But the car and the situation failed her. And

00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:52.000
this brings up a technical point that's often

00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:54.599
overlooked. The engineers found that the car

00:47:54.599 --> 00:47:57.659
was in standard drive mode, not the mountain

00:47:57.659 --> 00:48:00.500
gear. Which implies a mechanical oversight or

00:48:00.500 --> 00:48:04.269
a momentary lapse. Right. The mountain gear would

00:48:04.269 --> 00:48:06.730
have used the engine braking to slow the descent

00:48:06.730 --> 00:48:09.269
on those winding roads. The fact that it was

00:48:09.269 --> 00:48:11.690
in standard suggests she might have suffered

00:48:11.690 --> 00:48:14.309
that cerebral hemorrhage before she could shift.

00:48:14.429 --> 00:48:16.829
Or, press app, she just lost the feel for the

00:48:16.829 --> 00:48:18.829
machine. But look at what happened immediately

00:48:18.829 --> 00:48:21.610
after. The palace issued a statement claiming

00:48:21.610 --> 00:48:25.070
brake failure. They tried to spin it. They tried

00:48:25.070 --> 00:48:27.590
to control the story to protect the image even

00:48:27.590 --> 00:48:30.030
while she was dying. The palace was in shock.

00:48:30.510 --> 00:48:32.670
It was a chaotic moment. It was characteristic.

00:48:33.210 --> 00:48:35.869
Rover actually had to send engineers to prove

00:48:35.869 --> 00:48:38.389
the brakes were fine to get the palace to retract

00:48:38.389 --> 00:48:41.309
the lie. Even in her death, she was a PR problem

00:48:41.309 --> 00:48:44.469
to be managed by the institution. That just breaks

00:48:44.469 --> 00:48:47.150
my heart. The woman who defined elegance was

00:48:47.150 --> 00:48:49.309
reduced to a press release about brake fluid.

00:48:49.530 --> 00:48:52.250
That may be true of the institution, but look

00:48:52.250 --> 00:48:55.550
at the impact of the individual. Princess Stephanie

00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:58.760
who was in the car, survived but missed the funeral

00:48:58.760 --> 00:49:01.619
because of her injuries. The trauma rippled out.

00:49:01.820 --> 00:49:04.659
But I disagree that the system consumed her.

00:49:04.780 --> 00:49:07.639
I think the legacy she left proves that she was

00:49:07.639 --> 00:49:10.820
more than just a consumed figure. She transformed

00:49:10.820 --> 00:49:14.380
Monaco. Transformed it into what? Before Grace

00:49:14.380 --> 00:49:17.519
Kelly, Monaco was a fading gambling resort with

00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:20.320
a questionable reputation. It was a place for

00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:24.440
tax exiles and fading glitz. She made it a cultural

00:49:24.440 --> 00:49:27.300
hub. She brought the arts. She brought American

00:49:27.300 --> 00:49:30.699
vitality. When she died, she was buried in the

00:49:30.699 --> 00:49:33.219
Grimaldi family vault after a funeral attended

00:49:33.219 --> 00:49:36.300
by everyone from Nancy Reagan to Diana, Princess

00:49:36.300 --> 00:49:39.480
of Wales. She commanded that respect, not just

00:49:39.480 --> 00:49:41.599
because of her title, but because of who she

00:49:41.599 --> 00:49:44.380
was. She stated she wanted to leave the memory

00:49:44.380 --> 00:49:47.380
of a human being with a correct attitude. That

00:49:47.380 --> 00:49:50.940
is a stoic chosen philosophy. That quote is telling

00:49:50.940 --> 00:49:54.500
though. A correct attitude. It sounds so, so

00:49:54.500 --> 00:49:58.099
disciplined, so repressed. Accomplished, useful

00:49:58.099 --> 00:50:01.539
deeds. It's the language of duty, not of passion.

00:50:01.800 --> 00:50:05.159
And I think that's the tragedy. We lost the passion

00:50:05.159 --> 00:50:07.840
of the actress for the correct attitude of the

00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:11.539
princess. You mentioned Cary Grant earlier. When

00:50:11.539 --> 00:50:13.539
asked his favorite actress, he didn't hesitate.

00:50:13.800 --> 00:50:17.860
He said, I much preferred Grace. She had serenity.

00:50:18.079 --> 00:50:21.269
But I wonder if that serenity was peace? or if

00:50:21.269 --> 00:50:23.989
it was just a very beautiful mask that she wore

00:50:23.989 --> 00:50:26.989
because she had no other choice. That is the

00:50:26.989 --> 00:50:29.989
enduring mystery, isn't it? But to wrap up my

00:50:29.989 --> 00:50:32.989
position, I look at a woman who lived 52 years,

00:50:33.110 --> 00:50:36.090
and in that short time, she won an Oscar, became

00:50:36.090 --> 00:50:39.309
a global fashion icon, modernized a principality,

00:50:39.409 --> 00:50:42.070
and raised a family. You don't do that by being

00:50:42.070 --> 00:50:44.710
a victim. You do that by being an architect.

00:50:45.309 --> 00:50:47.469
She built a life that most people couldn't even

00:50:47.469 --> 00:50:49.809
dream of, and she did it with a precision that

00:50:49.809 --> 00:50:52.449
was entirely her own. She played the hand she

00:50:52.449 --> 00:50:55.469
was dealt, and she won every round. And I look

00:50:55.469 --> 00:50:57.670
at a woman who was traded from a father who called

00:50:57.670 --> 00:51:00.690
her acting a step above streetwalking to a studio

00:51:00.690 --> 00:51:03.130
that rented her out to a prince who refused to

00:51:03.130 --> 00:51:05.730
let her work. The what -if of her career looms

00:51:05.730 --> 00:51:08.329
larger than her royal titles. We were robbed

00:51:08.329 --> 00:51:10.550
of the mature work of a great artist. That is

00:51:10.550 --> 00:51:12.630
a loss no matter how many ribbons were cut or

00:51:12.630 --> 00:51:14.969
how many boards she sat on. She was a bird in

00:51:14.969 --> 00:51:17.190
a golden cage, and the tragedy is that she helped

00:51:17.190 --> 00:51:20.010
build the bars. We can certainly agree that her

00:51:20.010 --> 00:51:23.230
impact was undeniable, regardless of the mechanism.

00:51:23.710 --> 00:51:27.449
Whether she was the Hitchcock blonde or her serene

00:51:27.449 --> 00:51:29.889
highness, she commanded the world's attention.

00:51:30.409 --> 00:51:33.329
She certainly did. And perhaps the complexity

00:51:33.329 --> 00:51:36.250
lies in that space between the two titles. The

00:51:36.250 --> 00:51:39.070
woman who was both, and perhaps fully neither.

00:51:39.489 --> 00:51:42.719
Indeed. We encourage our listeners to go back

00:51:42.719 --> 00:51:45.440
and watch Rear Window, watch The Country Girl,

00:51:45.599 --> 00:51:48.860
really watch her performance, not just her face,

00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:51.400
and read up on the history of the Grimaldis.

00:51:51.539 --> 00:51:54.280
There is so much more to explore in the archives.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:57.860
Absolutely. It's a fascinating, if heartbreaking,

00:51:58.019 --> 00:52:00.800
story. Thank you for joining us on The Debate.

00:52:01.019 --> 00:52:01.719
Thank you.