SHE writes: "A kind of elegant ex-actor, mixer in social scenes approached me about doing an hour-long TV program on Princess Grace in Monaco. Budd Schulberg was writing. Interesting. Budd had given names to the committee (on un-American activities.) He'd also written 'On the Waterfront,' the great film Elia Kazan directed. This was the project Kazan and Arthur Miller had shopped in Hollywood and been turned down because — it seemed to favor the unions — and the studios were trying to strangle them.
![]() | ![]() | | Lee Grant and Princess Grace in the Mirror Gallery of the Palace of Monaco for the taping of "The Story of Princess Grace ... Once Upon a time Is Now." | ![]() | | "There she was, our Grace, so vulnerable and appealing. The producer was furious." | ![]() |
"Budd was a charming worn-out guy. Very simpatico. We met on the way to the airport — we looked in each other's eyes, saw the worlds apart in them, and kept our thoughts to ourselves.
"I visited the castle, went through all the formalities. Castles are dreary old places. One thinks, the upkeep, the upkeep. We were taken to the royal living quarters — a comfy living room. Grace was welcoming, charming, stressed and nervous — I asked her the questions Budd had written. The answers were formulaic and pleasant. Her posture was that of a girl whose mother had told her to sit straight.
“After the first set of questions, while the camera was reloading, I spoke to her as one woman to another, one actress to another. Before this choice to be princess, Grace had gone with my first theatre boyfriend, Gene Lyons. Gene and I were together for two years: Grace and Gene were together for two years — and he was madly in love with her. She was a rich girl from Philly. Taking away the trappings, I said to her, 'Why are you so cowered? What are you afraid of? Here's a chance to talk about your life, your children, your husband — be open. You're so closed off; the things you're saying sound scripted. It's boring.' She started to cry. The producer, who had been her friend in an earlier life, stepped in. 'Am I boring?' she asked. 'Am I boring? I don't want to be.' I watched and wished the camera were rolling. There she was, our Grace, so vulnerable and appealing. The producer was furious.
“On camera she relaxed more, was very charming, but revealed nothing. She saved the reality for the periods when the camera reloaded, and then she would really talk. She had no friends in Monaco, and the women in the Royal families, those who were in the court, were very critical of her free and easy American style. She, at the time, was surrounded by sharp, mean critics. So she had to watch what she said at all times. Her husband, Prince Rainer? He had a lot of other interests, and she missed him. And he was sending her off that year to live in Paris by herself, because Stephanie was going to start school there, and he felt that the child needed her mother's guiding hand. I said, ‘Well, Paris — you'll be away from here at least!’ She said, ‘I spent time in Paris. I was never invited to dinner. I was never invited to anyone's house, their home. The only time anyone asked me anywhere was to some big function, where they wanted me with the ribbon across my chest!’
![]() | ![]() | | The Princess and the host. | ![]() |
“While I was getting to know and care for Grace, Joey and Larry joined me in Monaco. I miss Larry Hauben more than any other of my dead friends. He was so fucking unique and smart. And a total druggie. Larry won the Oscar for the screenplay 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.'
“Larry and Joey took off for Rome, where Joey's friend Cerro was the biggest and cuddliest coke dealer in town. They all stayed up at the Spanish Steps at the Hotel De La Ville, which had been my favorite hotel, and then went through, literally, pounds of white powder piled up on the coffee table. Joey and Larry understood Italian perfectly, though they didn't speak a word of it, and had hours of heated discussions with Cerro and his friends. Larry slept upright in a closet, and they were both thrown out of the Vatican for lying on the marble floor in order to better view the Sistine Chapel. A boy's life. All the while I stayed behind in Monaco.
“The producer never spoke to me ever again." |
