Leslie Sundal
Leslie Sundal
Leslie Sundal
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Grace KellyGrace Kelly (1929-1982) had a brief but very successful Hollywood career. She was the sparkling, elegant heroine in three classic Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. Her talents rivalled her beauty, winning her the Best Actress Oscar for The Country Girl in 1954. After marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956, she became Princess of Monaco and retired from the cinema.
Grace Patricia Kelly was born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Margaret Katherine Majer, who had taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania, and John Brendan Kelly, Sr., who owned a successful brickwork contracting company and was a three-time Olympic Gold winner for rowing. Her uncle was Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright George Kelly. At an early age, Grace decided to become an actress. After her high school graduation in 1947, she struck out on her own, heading to New York. Despite her parents' disapproval, she attended and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She worked as a model and in 1949, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of August Strindberg's The Father alongside Raymond Massey. At 19, her graduation performance was as Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story. Grace also made a foray into the infant medium of television and appeared in 60 live drama productions between 1950 and 1953. Her success on television brought her a role in a major motion picture. Her first film was Fourteen Hours (Henry Hathaway, 1951) when she was 22. It was a small part, but a start nonetheless. The following year, she landed the role of Amy Kane in the now-classic Western High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952), opposite starring Gary Cooper. The film turned out to be very popular. Curiously, however, she did not benefit from the film's success, and no other offers were immediately forthcoming. In 1953, Grace appeared in only one film, the popular jungle drama Mogambo (John Ford, 1953). She played Linda Nordley next to Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. Director Ford said that she showed "breeding, quality and class." Her role won her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1954. Both films had got her noticed and Grace signed a seven-year contract with MGM.
It was master director Alfred Hitchcock who turned Grace Kelly into a major star. She was the perfect blonde he had been seeking throughout his career. Her first film for him was Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954), the screen adaptation of Frederick Knott's Broadway hit. Then, her standout performance as elegant socialite Lisa Fremont in the brilliant Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) brought her to prominence. She was cast opposite James Stewart, who played a photographer who witnesses a murder in an apartment across the courtyard while convalescing in a wheelchair. TCM: “The dazzlingly designed Hitchcock classic would showcase Kelly's beauty and her true personality.” In 1954 Kelly appeared in five films. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Georgie Elgin, the wife of a washed-up crooner (Bing Crosby) in The Country Girl (George Seaton, 1954) a film version of Clifford Odets' Broadway hit. William Holden played a director of a Broadway play, who falls for Kelly's character after casting her depressed and alcoholic husband, - an uncomfortable love triangle that mirrored real life. Reportedly Kelly had affairs with both Holden and Crosby. In 1955, Grace teamed for the third and final time with Hitchcock on To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955), co-starring Cary Grant. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “To Catch a Thief is as enjoyable and engaging now as it was 40 years ago. Though the Riviera location photography is pleasing, our favourite scene takes place in a Paramount Studios mockup of a luxury hotel suite, where Grant and Kelly make love while a fireworks display orgasmically erupts outside their window.” In 1956, she played Tracy Lord in the musical comedy High Society (Charles Walters, 1956), which was based on the Oscar-winning comedy The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940). The whimsical tale ended with her re-marrying her former husband, played by Bing Crosby. The film was well-received but turned out to be her final acting performance.
In 1955, Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier III of Monaco during the Cannes Film Festival. She broke off her affair with fashion designer Oleg Cassini to marry the Prince. News of the engagement was a sensation. The lavish wedding in 1956 was estimated to have been watched by over 30 million viewers on live television. Grace and Rainier had three children: Princess Caroline of Monaco (1957), Prince Albert of Monaco (1958), and Princess Stéphanie of Monaco (1965). Reportedly, Grace hoped to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but Monaco's citizens were outraged about the idea of their princess playing a kleptomaniac and kissing Sean Connery. So, Marnie premiered in 1964 with Tippi Hedren in Kelly's role. Prince Rainier later dismissed director Herbert Ross's entreaties for Grace to star in his drama The Turning Point (1977). For the rest of her life, she was to remain in the news with her marriage and her three children. As Princess of Monaco, Grace retained her American roots, maintaining dual U.S. and Monégasque citizenship. In 1982, Grace died in Monaco, a day after suffering a stroke while driving, causing her to crash. She was 52. An estimated 100 million people viewed her funeral on TV. Rainier, who never remarried, was buried alongside her following his death in 2005.
Sources: Denny Jackson and Dale O'Connor (IMDb), Pedro Borges (IMDb), Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), TCM, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards .
Gordon MacRae and Sheila MacRaeGordon MacRae and Sheila MacRae .
With his handsome boy-next-door looks, deep baritone, and glorious smile, Gordon MacRae (1920-1986) was successful as a singer and musical actor. He was best known for five films with Doris Day and his roles in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! (1955) and Carousel (1956).
Albert Gordon MacRae was born in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1920. He was the son of radio singer and tool maker ‘Wee Willie’ MacRae, and Helen Violet Sonn, a concert pianist. When he was very young, his family moved to Syracuse, NY, where he attended Nottingham High School, participating in the Drama Club. It was during this time that he also learned to play the piano, the clarinet and the saxophone. He graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, in 1940 and won a singing contest sponsored by Picture Magazine at age 19,. The prize was a two-week engagement at the New York World's Fair performing with the Harry James and Les Brown bands. Shortly afterwards, he obtained work as a singer with the Horace Heidt Band in New York City. The singer stayed with Heidt's outfit for a couple of years before enlisting in the armed forces. In 1941, he wed actress and singer Sheila Margot Stephens. They would have four children: Meredith, Heather, William and Robert, and both, Meredith and Heather MacRae would pursue acting careers. During World War II, he joined the Army Air Force, serving as a navigator for two years. At the end of the war, he returned to New York City, where he made his Broadway debut in the show ‘Junior Miss’, as a replacement in the role of Tommy Arbuckle. In 1946, he appeared in Ray Bolger's Broadway revue ‘Three to Make Ready’. A Capitol Records talent scout saw him in it and signed him to a long-term recording contract. He would stay with Capitol Records for the next twenty years. Beginning in 1947, MacRae's releases for Capitol were quite successful. Through 1954 he scored numerous hits, among them ‘Rambling Rose’, ‘So in Love’, ‘It's Magic’, ‘I Still Get Jealous’, ‘Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue’, and ‘At the Candlelight Café’. Following an absence of four years from the charts, ‘The Secret’ brought about his return. Many of his hit recordings were made with Jo Stafford. MacRae also put out an album in collaboration with his wife, Sheila MacRae. During the late 1940s MacRae landed a starring role in the music-based program ‘The Railroad Hour’, where he remained through 1954 despite a change of networks. It presented operettas and musicals, all starring MacRae and many different leading ladies.
In 1948, Gordon MacRae signed a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers Studio. His first film was a non-musical boxing drama, The Big Punch (Sherry Shourds, 1948), opposite Lois Maxwell, later known as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films. His next film was a musical with June Haver and Ray Bolger, Look for the Silver Lining (David Butler, 1949). Several musical films were soon to follow which highlighted his singing talent. He starred in five fondly remembered films with Doris Day, beginning with Tea for Two (David Butler, 1950). In 1951, they starred in On Moonlight Bay (Roy Del Ruth, 1951, followed by the sequel By the Light of the Silvery Moon (David Butler, 1953). That same year, he also starred opposite Kathryn Grayson in the third film version of The Desert Song (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1953). This was followed by his two best-remembered roles as Curly in Oklahoma! (Fred Zinnemann, 1955), and as Billy Bigelow in Carousel (Henry King, 1956). In both Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, he had appeared previously on Broadway and in both films, he co-starred with Shirley Jones. While appearing in a nightclub act with his wife at Lake Tahoe, he received an emergency phone call to replace Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's stage hit Carouse", after Sinatra walked out on the filming when he discovered that every scene was to be filmed twice - once for regular CinemaScope and once for CinemaScope 55. Within three days, MacRae, who had wanted to play the role, reported to the set. Ironically, the producers then discovered a way to shoot in CinemaScope 55 and then convert it to regular CinemaScope without shooting the film twice.
In 1956, Gordon MacRae moved to television with his show, The Gordon MacRae Show which lasted only one season. He also frequently turned up on such popular television shows as The Colgate Comedy Hour. At this stage, he began drinking heavily, eventually becoming an alcoholic which may have cost him his marriage. Sheila divorced him in 1967. MacRae remarried just four months later to Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Lambert Schrafft. She would remain with him until the end of his life and the couple raised one daughter, Amanda Mercedes MacRae born in 196.. During the 1960s he appeared often on the Ed Sullivan Show. In 1974, he appeared as a sheriff on an episode of the TV series McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver. By the late 1970s he claimed to have wrested control over his alcohol addiction and he went on to counsel other alcoholics. His last film appearance was in 1979. He played the supporting role of Joe Barnes in the drama The Pilot (Cliff Robertson, 1980) in which Cliff Robertson held the lead role of an alcoholic pilot. In 1982, MacRae suffered a stroke. With the support of his wife and children, he kept touring and singing hits from his earlier years. In the fall of 1985, he underwent a carotid artery operation. At that time, he was diagnosed with cancer and was forced to retire completely. Gordon MacRae died in 1986 of pneumonia, from complications due to cancer of the mouth and jaw at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was only 64. The actor was interred at the Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Sources: Kit and Morgan Benson (Find A Grave), Linda Seida (AllMusic), Patrick Fullerton (IMDb), Hollywood – Walk of Fame, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards .
Lynn Five Cents Savings Bank
Celebrating Sixty Years of Doctor Who in Comics
Virginia National Guard
Virginia National Guard
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
250th Anniversary Celebration250.greenvillenc.gov
