Born Clara Grace Atchinson in Montana, she was thirty-seven in 1933. Grace—a two-time divorcee by
then—was a petite woman like Gladys, barely five feet tall. * In fact, they were able to wear the same
clothes, and they often did. She was known for her personal magnetism. When Grace was in a room, it
was difficult not to focus on her, so powerful was her presence. Although not beautiful in the accepted
sense of the word, she was so vital and charismatic she gave the impression of beauty. Her wavy hair
was usually dyed a peroxide blonde but sometimes left to its original brown color. She also had deepset
brown eyes and a thin mouth usually curled into a smile. Grace aspired to become an actress, but
though she had plenty of ambition and maybe even some talent, she would never apply herself to that
goal. She once wrote to a cousin, “If I could only have Jean Harlow’s life, what a good time I would
have. To be an actress is my dream, I guess. I don’t know that it could happen. But, still, I can dream,
can’t I?”
Grace and Gladys got along famously, even though they obviously did have their problems from time
to time. It’s a testament to Grace’s loyalty to Gladys that they were able to get past that troubling
stabbing incident, shortly after Norma Jeane was born. Both were good-time gals in the Roaring
Twenties and as such had no problem finding bootleg liquor and men. To say that they merely enjoyed
their flapper-girl lifestyles would be to understate their fun times. “We have FUN,” Grace wrote to her
cousin, making sure to capitalize each letter in the word.
Moreover, Gladys began to depend on Grace for direction and advice in almost all areas of her life.
With Della gone, she needed someone to lean on, and for now that would be Grace. They started acting
as a team, making joint decisions about their lives. Grace was smart and self-sufficient, and she always
felt she knew the solution to every problem—not just her own, but everyone else’s as well. She felt
compelled to give people advice, even those who didn’t ask for it. It was one of the reasons her
marriages had not worked out. For instance, she’d often start a conversation with the statement, “You
know what your problem is?” Then she would proceed to explain the “problem” whether a solution was
asked for or not. Gladys, who never had a guiding maternal influence, gravitated to Grace and
appreciated that her best friend cared enough about her to offer advice.
“In many ways, Grace lived her life through others,” Bea Thomas, who knew Grace, observed in 1976.
“Some felt she wasn’t particularly attractive and that she tried to do for others what she couldn’t do for
herself in terms of beauty. She had an inner beauty, though, and you can see it from her photos.
However, she gave Gladys a complete makeover. When she told her that her brunette hair made her
look ‘mousy’ and suggested bright red as a more suitable color, Gladys promptly dyed her hair. When
she told Gladys that her clothing style was too conservative and suggested she be more provocative,
Gladys agreed. The two went shopping for new dresses and it was Grace—not Gladys—who selected
each one of them. Grace also felt that Gladys’s vocabulary should be expanded, and often corrected her
grammar when the two were with friends. Grace couldn’t have children, so she encouraged Gladys to
take more responsibility for Norma Jeane.”