The Impact Of Grace Kelly | The Great Acting Blog

An article appeared in The Independent recently, complaining that Grace Kelly doesn’t deserve to be hailed as a great movie star because of the brevity of her career: –

“….her screen career lasted only six years and comprises fewer than a dozen movies. On that basis, the much- repeated claim that she was one of America’s all-time great movie stars simply doesn’t stack up.”

I say that longevity of career is less important than impact. Viewers are still watching her movies and being captivated more than 50 years after they were made. There have been countless movie stars over the years, and almost all of them have been forgotten. However, there are a few who made such an impression that they transcend their own time and are for all time. This represents the true greatness of the true movie star. They possess some universal quality which can affect us on a fundamental level. They are no longer citizens, they are mythological characters looming large in our cultural iconography. James Dean, whose career only lasted three pictures, is arguably one of the most recognisable actors of all time. He defined a generation, that was his impact. But nobody is complaining he doesn’t deserve his position because his career was so short. Stars like Grace Kelly somehow seduce us with a kind of effortless magic, they cast a spell and while we are under it, the clock stops ticking. Their memory remains locked within the individuals who see their work and within the culture at large, for all time.

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