This is indeed a very readable biography. It focuses mainly on the film career of Grace Kelly rather than the private life of the Princess of Monaco, which is nice because it presents the opportunity for fun bits of Hollywood trivia. My only qualm with this work is the author's personal relations...
I have read many biographies, this was by far the most painful. I knew next to nothing about Grace Kelly before reading this book and now I still know very little. The author spends far too much time on various scenes from her movies. It would have been nice to have more time spent on her persona...
This is a pretty difficult book to review which is why I've put it off so long. I've read enough biographies to know I have to be careful which one I pick up and to make sure it's properly researched and respected. I read way too many wildly speculative biographies of James Dean before I came upo...
We did this as a read-aloud...not so sure that was a good idea. I loved it! The kids, not so much. I think the level of vocabulary was a bit above the heads of my "tweens." Joan is the most inspiring person I have learned about. She was faithful. No ifs, ands, or buts. She was faithful to ...
Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto brings to life one of the most incandescent and elusive star to grace Hollywood, Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992). He has tapped archival materials and conducted dozens of interviews to present a life story filled with crucial new details: her hardships and struggles...
At precisely the same time, Rainier wrote Miss Grace Kelly a formal note of thanks for interrupting her busy professional schedule to visit him. So began a lively and frequent correspondence—an epistolary courtship instead of one conducted in person. According to Rainier, he and Grace “revealed m...
Joan Crawford said later, speaking frankly about the first year of her marriage to Alfred Steele. “But that was only because we were getting used to each other’s lives, making adjustments. Alfred lived at a very fast pace, keeping appointments on the split second. Sometimes I couldn’t keep up, an...
the French director René Clair said of Marlene Dietrich’s role in The Flame of New Orleans, his first American film. “But she understood this. I didn’t do it against her will. When Norman Krasna and I wrote the script, we intended that it be ironic—a romance with a sense of humor. Perhaps that’s ...