Grace Kelly - Fairy-Tale Life of Actress-Turned-Princess 1929-1982

Hollywood amuses me. Holier-than-thou for the public and unholier-than-the-devil in reality.
—GRACi’ KELLY

ome people dream of a fairytale life; Grace Kelly actually lived one. Born into one of the wealthiest families in Philadelphia, yet determined to make it on her own, she supported herself in New York while attempting to get acting jobs, and then quickly moved to California where she was almost immediately a film success, starring with all-time greats such as Gary Cooper and Clark Gable. As if that weren’t enough, the star’s beauty and elegance attracted a prince, and she became his princess wife. Ir seemed incredible that all of this good fortune occurred, but it was even more surprising that it occurred before the young woman had reached the age of twenty-seven.
Born on November 12, 1929, to John and Margaret Kelly, Grace Kelly was the third of four children, brought up to be strong in both athletics and academics. Her father had been an Olympic gold-medal rower and then a highly successful businessman, having inherited a brick business that he then developed into a major industry in Philadelphia.
Graduating from high school in 1947 after receiving a good education at parochial and private schools, Grace set off for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. By 1949, after doing some modeling work and winning small television roles, she made it to the Broadway stage. Shortly thereafter, in 1951, she traveled to California and made her first Hollywood film appearance in Fourteen Hours, in which she had a very small part.
Only one year later Grace performed with the much admired Gary Cooper in High Noon, a film that is still seen as a great western and for which Gary Cooper won an Academy Award. Grace’s elegance, poise, beauty, and sensuality created an almost immediate sensation with moviegoers. By 1953 she received a contract with MGM and starred with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner in Mogambo, which turned out to be quite popular and which brought her an Oscar nomination. Only two years later Grace would actually win the Best Actress award for her role in The Country Girl, in which she starred with Bing Crosby.
Grace’s cool charm, sexual allure, and box-office magnetism drew master director Alfred Hitchcock to team her with powerful male leads in three of his films: Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland and Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart, both in 1954, and To Catch a Tkiefwhh Caiy Grant in 1955. To this day the films are seen as masterful. Also in 1954, Grace appeared in Green Fire with Stewart Granger and The Bridges at Toko-Ri with William Holden, Fredric March, and Mickey Rooney, making her Hollywood’s most popular star by [he mid-1950s. Little did anyone know that while achieving stunning and fast success, Grace’s movie career would be short-lived.
For Grace, beauty and poise defined not just her screen personae but her true self, and these would be part of what would appeal to one of the world’s most eligible bachelors at the time, Prince Rainier of Monaco (a tiny principality on the Mediterranean), whom Grace met at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 1955. Grace returned to the United States and worked with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra on High Society, a musical comedy that was a remake of the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story. Her duet with Bing Crosby on the song “True Love” brought them a Cold Record. In the same year she would perform in 1 he Swan, but for the blond beauty, this would be her last year in films. It proved quite ironic that The Swan plot revolved around a young woman engaged to a prince. Graces second meeting with Prince Rainier, at the home of a Kelly family friend in the United States, was special enough for the two to become engaged four days later. They married on April 19, 1956, creating an abundance of media attention. After the wedding at St. Nicholas Church in Monaco, there was a garden party on the grounds of the palace. By five o’clock the bride and groom set off on their honeymoon, sailing away on the princes yacht.
Since Grace had still been under contract with MGM, a deal was negotiated that her wedding would be filmed for the studio and shown in theaters throughout the United States. Americans would continue to keep track of Grace’s every move, clamoring for news about her children: Princess Caroline, born in 1957; Prince Albert, born in 1958; and Princess Srephanie, born in 1965.
In her roles as mother and princess, Grace was not content to perform only necessary duties. She served on the board of directors of Twentieth Century Fox for some years. Additionally, Grace was president of the Red Cross in Monaco, and when they held rheir fund-raising ball, they received supporr from many U.S. stars. Grace also provided help for the La Leche League, a group founded to encourage and provide information on breast-feeding.
Rumors circulated that Grace actually had become unhappy and lonely. In 1964 she considered starring in a new Hitchcock movie, Mamie, but her husband declined the offer made ro her when negative public opinion seemed to grow in Monaco. No matter, Americans still found the family intriguing, even as Grace grew older.
On September 14, 1982, the famed princess and her daughter Princess Stephanie were victims of a terrible car crash. While driving along a stretch of the French Riviera, Grace lost control of the car, and it rolled down an embankment. Princess Stephanie only received minor injuries, but Grace apparently had suffered a stroke. She was unconscious when rescuers got to her, and she died the next day.

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