Friday, November 3, 2017

Book Review: Grace Kelly Hollywood Dream Girl

Author: Jay Jorgensen and Manoah Bowman
Publication Date: October 24, 2017
Publisher: Dey Street Books

The definitive visual biography of Grace Kelly’s unforgettable Hollywood career, chronicled in 400 extraordinary black-and white and color photographs, including many never-before-seen.

"Mr. Hitchcock taught me everything about cinema. It was thanks to him that I understood that murder scenes should be shot like love scenes and love scenes like murder scenes."—Grace Kelly

No movie star of the 1950s was more beautiful, sophisticated, or glamorous than Grace Kelly. The epitome of elegance, the patrician young blonde from Philadelphia conquered Hollywood and won an Academy Award for Best Actress in just six years, then married a prince in a storybook royal wedding. Today, more than thirty years after her death, Grace Kelly remains an inspiring fashion icon.

Filled with a dazzling array of photographs, many from original negatives, Grace Kelly showcases the legend’s brief yet significant acting career as never before. Blending pictures and memorabilia, this breathtaking compendium traces every step of her artistic journey, including her early television appearances, her breakout role opposite Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952), her exceptional collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock on her most indelible films—Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland (1954), Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart (1954), and To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant (1955)—and her performance in the musical High Society (1956) alongside Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

A stunning gallery of more than 400 prized and rare photographs and illustrations—precious childhood snapshots, previously unpublished Edith Head and Helen Rose wardrobe sketches, original portraits, scene stills, on-set candids, wardrobe test shots, vintage magazine covers, and rare reproductions of exhibitor’s showmanship manuals showing how film studios marketed Grace Kelly as a star—Grace Kelly captures this beloved luminary’s eternal beauty as never before, and is a fresh, celebratory look at her remarkable career and her enduring cultural influence.


“I think the thing that most people forget is that when all of this is happening to Grace, this extraordinary excitement about her career being generated and roles with the world’s most famous leading men and the world’s most respected directors, she was just a girl in her early twenties.”

“Grace had a lot of beaus and boyfriends who were actors and human beings, dress designers and this and that. But there wasn’t this one person who could fulfill this childhood image that a great many of us have about wanting that one man in our life to be special – and really to be the old prince on the white charger.”

“There was an innate aristocracy – elegance – about her. Not only in comportment and manners, but also in thinking and being. It has been a cliché to say that Grace Kelly looked like a princess. But she did.”

“Grace, without any direction, she just went over, climbed up the fire escape, climbed in one of the windows and sneaked into the door and then looked over across the way to Hitchcock and said ‘Is that what you mean?’…She seemed to know the movements before Hitchcock had anything to say about it.”


This has to be the most comprehensive book covering Grace Kelly’s life and career that I have ever read. I have read and enjoyed a few other film books written by Jay Jorgensen, so of course I had to check this one out as well. Grace Kelly was an iconic lady and rivals others like Audrey Hepburn. She had a sophisticated air and flair to her and was loved by many who followed her stardom. I must admit that I do not follow Grace Kelly’s films like I follow and admire Marilyn Monroe’s or Audrey Hepburn’s, but after reading this book I cannot wait to view more of her films. Jay Jorgensen’s work is inspirational and really does Grace Kelly justice in all aspects of her life.

The book is strategically and chronologically organized and tracks Grace throughout many momentous periods of her life. Full of incredibly rare photos, with her Hitchcock films receiving feature content, this fantastic book is a must for Hitchcock fans, movie fashion historians, and anyone who loves a high quality book on Hollywood’s glorious past. The small snippets that were written about her movies, her love life, and how she was perceived by the media were very informative and the quotes that were shared by others about her were poetic and so eloquently written. Many people had such wonderful things to say about Grace Kelly and it was so heartwarming and powerful to read.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Dey Street Books in exchange for my honest review***



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