CHAPTER 11
Carolyn
Grace’s career as an actress had finally taken flight. In January of 1954, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Mogambo. Although she didn’t win, the nomination ensured that she was now officially famous. That April, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine with the headline HOLLYWOOD’S BRIGHTEST AND BUSIEST NEW STAR. She was securing roles in new films almost faster than she could make them. That same spring, she returned to Hollywood to begin shooting The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and William Holden. After that, she flew to France to film To Catch a Thief with Hitchcock and Cary Grant. When she returned to New York in the fall, in time for the release of Rear Window, she was determined to stay for a few months to catch her breath. She had made five films in a period of only eight short months.
There was no doubt that Grace’s growing fame created a tension between her and Carolyn. It wasn’t that Carolyn was jealous—she was thrilled at her friend’s success. It was just that there was a lack of equal footing between them that neither friend knew how to balance. They tried. One night in November of 1954, Grace invited Carolyn and Malcolm to join her at a gala premiere at the Capitol Theatre in New York. This would be a good opportunity not only for Carolyn and Grace to catch up but also for the Reybolds to spend time with Grace’s new love interest, the fashion designer Oleg Cassini. Cassini’s clientele included the most beautiful women in Hollywood—Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and Audrey Hepburn—and that night Grace wore a pale pink satin gown of his design.
Carolyn wore a strapless cocktail dress by Ceil Chapman, a New York designer she loved. Before leaving the Manhattan House, she and Grace had both pulled on short white evening gloves and grabbed small fur stoles to wear around their shoulders now that the weather was cooler. Together, they made the short ride down Broadway to Fiftieth Street. Grace was immaculate in her long gown, her golden hair swept into a chignon. In the past, it was Carolyn who had always known just what to wear, but with her career waning, her confidence was leaving her. She was wearing a shorter dress than Grace’s, and the only evening shoes she could find to match her dress were strappy sandals, which she knew weren’t exactly the right choice for the colder weather. Should she have worn a full-length gown? Different shoes?
As they approached the theater that evening, a group of photographers spotted Grace and gathered around to capture a picture. It was only natural for Carolyn, as a model, to reflexively smile when she saw a camera lens pointing in her direction, so she stopped to pose.
The following night, when Grace came up to the Reybolds’ apartment for dinner, as she often did when she was home in New York, she brought with her the photographs of the event that had appeared in the newspapers that day, including a picture of Carolyn and Grace as they turned to the photographers, with Malcolm and Cassini to one side. As Carolyn leaned over to look at the photos, she was certain she heard Grace mutter under her breath, “They take all the bows without making the pictures…”
Carolyn was so rattled by the comment that she couldn’t bring herself to ask Grace to repeat it or explain what she’d meant. She felt Grace was sending her a message: that Carolyn should stop encroaching on Grace’s hard-earned spotlight. No other words were exchanged on the subject, but Carolyn couldn’t shake the feeling that she had failed her friend. She resolved to walk at least ten paces behind Grace whenever they were out together in the future.
* * *
THE EVENING OF March 30, 1955, Carolyn sat at home in her apartment at the Manhattan House, watching the Twenty-Seventh Academy Awards ceremony on television. It was only the third time that the awards had been televised—and for viewers like Carolyn, it was still hard to believe that the events on-screen were actually happening in real time somewhere on the other side of the country. Carolyn watched, riveted, as Grace sailed across the stage of the RKO Pantages Theatre, wearing long white opera gloves to her elbows with a little evening purse swinging in the crook of her arm. In the television’s black-and-white blur, Grace’s long satin gown looked silvery white, but Carolyn knew it was actually the palest blue. At the last minute before leaving for Hollywood, Grace had knocked on Carolyn’s door, asking to borrow a slip to wear under the dress. Carolyn had loaned her a silk one, in yellow, Grace’s favorite color, to bring her luck.
After presenting the awards for Best Documentary Short and Best Documentary Feature, Grace returned to her seat in the theater and waited. Best Actress was among the final categories to be announced. Eventually William Holden—who had starred with Grace in The Country Girl—came out onstage to present the award. Audrey Hepburn, Dorothy Dandridge, Jane Wyman, and Judy Garland had all been nominated in the Best Actress category alongside Grace, with Garland as the favorite to win. But when Holden opened the envelope, it was Grace’s name he read from the card. Carolyn watched as Grace floated up the stairs of the RKO Theatre to claim her prize.
Grace took the statue in her hands and spoke softly into the microphone.
“The thrill of this moment,” she said, holding back tears, “keeps me from saying exactly what I really feel. I can only say thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who made this possible for me.”
Carolyn remembered the girl she had met all those years ago in New York, in glasses and cardigans, who was so determined to be an actress. Grace had done it. She had achieved her dream. Carolyn was so proud of her friend.
Later that month, when Grace
