A Princess Drifted Into Sleep... She had but a month to live on this Earth on this date...

She was born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

She would cross over to the other side on September 14, 1982 in Monacoville, Monaco. (Due to injuries suffered in a road accident, following a stroke)

As it is related in this newsbrief:
Princess Grace died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She and her daughter Stephanie were driving on a winding road at Cap-d'Ail in the Côte d'Azur region of France when Princess Grace suffered a stroke and lost control of the car, which plunged down a 45-foot (13.7-metre) embankment. This was on September 14, 1982.
The spot where she fatally lost control is said to be the same spot where the picnic scene in To Catch a Thief was filmed in 1954.

To Catch A Thief was one of the most famous films she had done in her short-lived career which totalled only... 13 films. (There's that number, again)
Her movies are banned in Monaco by order of Prince Rainier (who passed away himself recently, right around the time Prince Charles got wed to Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles used that as an excuse not to attend Rainier's funeral... Condolences to both Rainier's heirs and Charles.)

There will never be another one like Princess Grace of Monaco...
The inscription at her burial site in Monaco's cathedral does not refer to her as a princess. It uses the title "uxor principis" (prince's wife), which is traditional in the House of Grimaldi.

She is interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#5). [1995]

Ranked #51 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Grace Kelly had hoped "to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but the people of Monaco didn't want their princess playing a thief and romancing Sean Connery."

Instead, one of her films, The Swan, co-starring Alec Guinness as a prince, inspired real-life Prince Rainier to court her and lure her to his court...! Actress Rita Gam was among the bridesmaids in the subsequent royal wedding and, during the next few years, Grace Kelly made babies instead of movies. Three children were born, so many heirs to Prince Rainier: Princess Caroline (1957), Prince Albert (1958) and Princess Stephanie (1965). Part of Prince Rainier's attraction to marrying a movie star was to increase tourism in his tiny, cash-poor principality, and the Kelly family was turned off by his demands that a substantial dowry accompany Grace to Monaco. A figure of $2,000,000 was finally agreed upon, which was diverted from Grace's inheritance so that her brother and two sisters wouldn't be shortchanged.
The so-called "wealthy" family Grace was born into was actually an immigrant family of bricklayers who had barely a generation of new-found business success. Grace's father and brother were both Olympic gold-medal scullers. Grace's cousin, former US Secy of Navy John Lehman, Jr. now chairs the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports young performing talent. Also noteworthy, Grace's uncle was playwright George Kelly.

It has emerged that Princess Stephanie will receive only one percent of the late monarch's estate.
Prince Rainier's will stipulates that his two eldest children, Albert and Caroline, are to be allocated around £950 million each, while Stephanie, who is known for her turbulent love life, receives a relatively modest £17 million.
(Source: various news agencies - © 2004 by the appropriate owners of the included material)
Such is the price to pay for some grivoiseries... Grace had never approved of her younger daughter's escapades - and neither did Stephanie's father, obviously...

In 1993, the USA and Monaco simultaneously released a commemorative postage stamp honoring her. However, USA federal law forbids postage stamps depicting foreign heads of state, so the USA stamp listed her as "Grace Kelly", while the Monaco stamp listed her as "Princess Grace".

Note on the side of synchronicity: Grace Kelly was born one glorious morning at 5:31AM EST - while Prince Rainier died on a morning too, at 5:35AM - British time.

Rainier always made me think of a racketeer, out to make his racket - all of Monaco, which is no larger than New York's Central Park indeed - work and work big. His passing resemblance with the late, great Sir Alec Guinness did not make me think of the royal couple of Monaco as a real-life version of the hypothetical couple that would be formed had Obi-Wan gotten lucky with Princess Amidala...! That would have been anticipatory transplantation anyway, back in 1980... One only had Ben Kenobi and Princess Leia to go on back then! But I digress...
Grace Kelly was Rainier's second choice, to boot - he had had his eye on Marilyn Monroe first (she really would have attracted the tourists, yes) but ultimately decided that she was not "princess material" (or is that "prince's wife material", due to House of Grimaldi rules?)
There is a weirdo columnist up in Québec, Canada named Francine Grimaldi (sort of a mix of her predecessors and better-known pundits in her field; 25% Louella Parks, 25% Hedda Hopper and 50% Joan Rivers!) - I gather that Francine did not get 0.00000000000000000000001% out of the House of Grimaldi inheritance...

The poor man's royal couple *de remplacement* here, that could rival with "Grace Kelly & spouse" (could have been any spouse, almost) would indeed be Charles and Camilla (ugh!) - even Lady Di never came close to Grace though. Grace had tried to counsel Diana Spencer back in 1980... The advice must have been forgotten over time...
The truly poor man's replacement royal couple would be anything Hollywood has to offer. Only it has to be replaced again and again because couples don't last much in Tinseltown... Reese Witherspoon and her boytoy... Guy Ritchie and his Mad Donna... Who else is there again? One couple that NEVER came close to such status, even temporarily, was that which was briefly formed by Victoria Tennant (though blonde and a thespian who's made more than 13 movies - she is no Grace Kelly and never could have been, even in her prime. When it came time to cast Grace in her "biopic", she was never considered for a second and the role went to former Charlie's Angel Cheryl Ladd. But, I know, I am digressing...) thus, V.T. and... S.M. (yikes - sounds like early Anne Rice material to me!) - Steve Martin.
Fact is, if, on this date, a Princess' dream died, one could say that something else -but of second importance- died on this date as well. I would dare theorize that CLASSIC COMEDY (the way it should be and should have always remained) died on this date as well - with the birth of one Steve Martin! He is, at best, a replacement W.C. Fields nowadays - and that is too much credit right there already! (Too bad Fields lost his time working with Mae West when he could have shared some screentime with forerunners of Grace Kelly, if not Kelly herself... But that is another story.)

Strike one: he was born at the end of the worst conflict of all-time (so far) - in 1945. Which means that he was conceived during it (could Adolf be the father?)
Strike two: he was born in Waco, Texas. (My, he's the true Waco Whacko - not the other guy at all...)
Strike three: your pick - either his comedic style or his Clouseau & Bilko.

I apologize to end on such a note a moving tribute to The Princess...
Grace Kelly made all of those blonde jokes LIES...
Stevey there makes them all TRUE.
He lives - she has been gone since 1982.
Almost 25 years without such an angel - tis true that Heaven calls up the best ones first. And we are left behind with the (dirty) rotten (scoundrel) apples...

See you all next year on this date (or rather September 14th) - right here - to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the departure for a better plane of existence of one Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco and Philly...

Nota Bene: no thanks to the confused folks at Twisted History who, once again, got their dates wrong and led me to post this A MONTH TOO SOON... Oh well - it led to the distasteful but well-merited (for Martin) link between the demise of a princess and the birth of a hack! All in all, equal things in the Grand Scheme of Things - equally as deplorable.

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