Princess Grace on the catwalk

MOVIE star princess Grace Kelly was astonished when she saw some of the film of her life before she became Monaco's first lady.

You can see it in the American-made fairy-tale saga ONCE UPON A TIME . . . IS NOW (BBC-1, 7.15).

There's a film of her as a model on a catwalk, demonstrating an exercising machine with a vibrating belt and doing a cigarette commercial - even though she's a nonsmoker.

Sandra Smith Allyn took a year to make the programme with her husband Bill.

She says: "The toughest and longest part was tracking down early film of Princess Grace." 

But the Allyns did have something going for them when they first approached Princess Grace with the idea of making the film. "Bill used to act with her in summer stage shows," says Sandra.

American actress Lee Grant, links the show.

There are excerpts from some of the Grace Kelly films, and contributions from Hollywood personalities James Stewart, William Holden, Stanley Kramer and Alfred Hitchcock.

Kramer says he thinks Grace was too young for her first big role in his film "High Noon."

“But we follow him with a clip from the film which disproves it," says Sandra.