What if Grace Kelly had not become the Princess of Monaco?

[LiamCasey]

Grace Kelly married Prince Rainer of Monaco in April 1956 which caused her final film appearance to be *High Society* with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. However, Ms. Kelly did not pass away until her unfortunate stroke and resultant automobile accident in September 1982. What movie during that 26 year period would you have liked to see her in and why?

 

Considering that three of her eleven films were with Alfred Hitchcock, it is easy to imagine her in a number of his latter movies: the Kim Novak role in *Vertigo* (Would that still be the best film of all time as per the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll?), the Eva Marie Saint role in *North by Northwest* (Even with that switch, however, I'm fairly confident that other posters would still complain that that movie is shown too often!), or the Tippi Hedren roles in *The Birds* and *Marnie* (Which could have saved all from HBO's *The Girl*.).

[DownGoesFrazier]

Can't imagine Grace as the Judy Barton that Kim played. I can imagine her as the Kim in the first half.

[TopBilled]

I would like to have seen her do more dramatic roles, like the kind Ingrid Bergman played or Deborah Kerr played. I think she would've been very good in ANASTASIA, for example.

 

The one good thing about her quitting on top, while she was young and beautiful is that she did not get stuck doing Z-films in the 1970s.

[Sepiatone]

 

As she got older, she might have done less "Ingeniue"(sic) roles and moved to more serious, "darker" roles, like DeHavilland's in *Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte* . In keeping her relationship with Hitchcock, she might have done Bacall's part in HARPER. Eventually by the '70's, she might have gone to the stage, as GINGER ROGERS and MICKEY ROONEY did in that decade.

 

 

Sepiatone

 

 

[mrroberts]

Here's a question to ponder; if Grace had not become the Princess and kept acting, and if Hitch would have kept casting her in his films, and Hitch was preparing to make *Psycho* , which gal would Grace have played in that film? Which part would you have cast Grace in, the "Janet" role or the "Vera" role? And if Grace would have been in *The Birds* , maybe Hitch would have hired Tippi to be just the "stunt double"

[joefilmone]

Tippi Hendren would not have a two film career.

[mrroberts]

Since Grace was only 27 when she retired from films its easy to see her as a featured actress for at least another 10 years or so. The question is if she could have broadened her range as an actress, not just played the "high society/ pretty girl" types. Could Grace have been believable as a common "girl next door" ? She was supposed to be the first choice for *On The Waterfront* but turned it down to do Hitch's *Rear Window* . Ironically if Grace had done that role (assuming she would have given a convincing performance) her career might have gone in a different direction early on. She may have never done another Hitch picture either. I would have liked to see Grace do some kind of comedy (even a Doris Day type film), she may have been quite good in that area.

[allthumbs]

in 1962/63 as Hitch was preparing to start Marnie, Kelly was storied to be coming out of retirement and would make Marnie her comeback appearance. this story appeared in newspaper and broadcast reports at the time.

 

however, just as quickly as these reports appeared, it was announced (i presume by some news release from Monaco) that Grace Kelly was NOT going to do any movies and was "retired" from filmmaking. this incident was the last i ever heard of her doing another movie.

 

it has been reported that her 1956 marriage to Prince Ranier was a matter of negotiation (and pre-nups?). i suspect that her separation from the film business was part of that arrangement and was permanent. (and was called to her attention when the Marnie stories started.)

 

for as beautiful, sophisticated and regal she was in most of her films, she could also portray forlorn and hopelessly lost characters as she did in Country Girl and Dial M for Murder.

 

in that line, she could have played Catherine in Suddenly, Last Summer (Elizabeth Taylor did in 1959), or either Sister Sharon (Jean Simmons role) or Lulu (Shirley Jones) in Elmer Gantry. i think Kelly was quite versatile, and could have handled most anything

 

 

[LiamCasey]

> {quote:title=mrroberts wrote:}{quote}Here's a question to ponder; if Grace had not become the Princess and kept acting, and if Hitch would have kept casting her in his films, and Hitch was preparing to make *Psycho* , which gal would Grace have played in that film? Which part would you have cast Grace in, the "Janet" role or the "Vera" role?

I would cast Grace Kelly in the Vera Miles role rather than the Janet Leigh role. I'm fairly confident that I am guilty of typecasting here, but I can't mentally reconcile Ms. Kelly's screen image with a character who we initially meet at the end of a liaison in a hotel. But I am looking at things from a 2012 point-of-view. In 1960, the same thoughts would have existed about Ms. Leigh or most any other known actress playing Marion Crane.

[DownGoesFrazier]

No way Hitchcock would have allowed Grace to be butchered like that.

[Hibi]

Yes, it was announced that she was going to return to films in Marnie. I remember hearing about it as a child (and my grandmother saying she was nuts!) but the uproar in Monaco was so strong, she had to withdraw. (I'm sure it would've been even worse had she done it after they saw it. That rape scene!) She was also supposed to star in The Turning Point, but that came to nothing as well........

[mrroberts]

Hitchcock had a dark sense of humor (just how dark is the question). He had Grace brutally attacked before , but she survived. This time things would have been different. I am sure that many movie viewers were quite shocked that a popular sweet leading lady like Janet Leigh was brutally done in.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Do you mean in DIAL M FOR MURDER? Compared to what happened to Leigh in PSYCHO, that was like playing paddy-cake.

[lydecker]

What if Grace Kelly had not become the Princess of Monaco??

 

She would have ended up a helluva happier!! I could never understand

why, in the middle of a great career, she married this uber chauvinist

"prince" of a country smaller than Delaware. Some say she did it to

impress her father but, if that was the motivation, it was a pretty hollow one.

 

All bios make it clear she was quickly miserable in Monaco and felt like

a virtual prisoner.

[sfpcc1]

Monaco is smaller than the subdivision I grew up in.

 

It's less than a square mile in size. The only country smaller is Vatican City, (109 acres)

[DownGoesFrazier]

If Grace had married the Governor of Delaware, it wouldn't have had nearly the panache.

[Arturo]

*What if Grace Kelly had not become the Princess of Monaco??*

 

She would have continued with a successful movie career, done a few more Hitchcocks (instead of Miles, Novak, Saint or Hedren), and had affairs wtih her leading men; in other words a continuation of her career thus far.

 

Edited by: Arturo on Dec 21, 2012 11:14 AM

[allthumbs]

Kelly's unhappiness was used as a plot point in Julie Christie's Oscar winning flik Darling. the storyline in Darling was in no way a disguised telling of Kelly's life, just the part about being married to royalty and then winding up disillusioned.

 

she should have taken notes from the Ava Gardner role in The Barefoot Contessa, which told a similar story to the one in Darling.

[Arturo]

*she should have taken notes from the Ava Gardner role in The Barefoot Contessa, which told a similar story to the one in Darling.*

 

Well, we know the Prince had not lost his equipment in the war, nor as in the earlier drafts of TBC, was he homosexual, since he and Grace had three children (yes I know that sounds naive). But then again, Ava's character tried to remedy that, which led to her downfall.

 

Edited by: Arturo on Dec 21, 2012 12:04 PM