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Turned down by the U.S. Air Force on account of an impressive string of speeding tickets, George Lucas took to the cosmos to abreact his predilection for superluminal velocity. Thirty plus years later, our rejected fighter pilot has long blossomed into one of the heaviest hitters in Hollywood history. His goodly arsenal of accolades has of late been expanded by a Prince Rainier III Award for outstanding contributions to the arts. No other than Mr. Darth Vader-Verizon, a.k.a. James Earl Jones, dropped by the 25th Anniversary Princess Grace Awards Gala at Sotheby’s New York to present the vaunted trophy to the accomplished producer.
Designers Ralph Rucci and Tommy Hilfiger; Town & Country’s Pamela Fiori; The Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway; High Society co-star Celeste Holm; Anne Randolph Hearst and daughter Amanda; John F. Lehman, former Secretary of Navy and first cousin once removed of Princess Grace; and Star Jones Reynolds mingled about, while Soprano Reneé Fleming, choreographer Susan Stroman, actor Anthony Rapp, and a chap named Moore – Roger Moore – took turns dispensing 22 Princess Grace Awards to a selected fry of budding artists in theater, film, and dance. Past Princess Grace Awards winners Robert Battle and Michael John Garcés received Princess Grace Statues for their achievments in dance and theater respectively; and even though the party went down on the wrong side of town, Donna Lynne Champlin performed a medley from West Side Story.
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, His Royal Highness Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, and the wedded wife of the latter as well as sister of the former, His Royal (formerly Serene) Highness Princess Carolina of Hanover (formerly of Monaco), added a mildly bewildering dash of aristocracy to the proceedings and also kindly furnished a few hand-me-downs for sale: for a combined price tag of $ 355,000, two original outfits worn by Princess Grace passed from Monacan royalty into the affluent albeit baseborn hands of William Doyle of Newbridge Silverware.
Shockingly, one of the glamorous getups had been donned twice by the quondam actress. A remarkable woman indeed.
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