Born on November 12 1929 in Philadelphia PA to John and Margaret Kelly, Grace was the third of four children. Her father was a rich bricklayer, so money was never a problem. After graduating from high school, Grace moved to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts there. While in school Grace did several modelling jobs. After graduating from the academy, Grace appeared in many television programs and theatre productions.
Grace's first movie was Fourteen Hours (1951) where she had a very little part. The first major picture for her was High Noon (1952). She played the young bride of a sheriff ( played by Gary Cooper ). Her next movie required her to sign a studio contract with MGM. The movie was Mogambo (1953), co-starring Clark Gable.
By now she had caught the eye of the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Grace Kelly would star in three consecutive films for him. They were, Dial M for Murder (1954) with Ray Milland, Rear Window (1954) with James Stewart and To Catch A Thief (1955) with Cary Grant.
1954 was a busy year for Grace. Not only did she film the two Hitchcock films but she also did The Country Girl where Grace won the Best Actress Award at the Oscars for 1954. The movie also starred Bing Crosby. There was also Green Fire with Stewart Granger and The Bridges of Toko-ri with William Holden. Five films in one year with all leading roles is awesome for an actor these days!
After filming for To Catch a Thief (which was entirely filmed in the South of France) was over, Grace had to fly back to America to accept her award for Best Actress at the Oscars. Later Grace flew to France to attend the Cannes film festival. During the festival Grace was invited to meet the Prince Rainier of Monaco (her future husband). In the middle of 1955, Grace was preparing for the role of Alexandra in The Swan which was released in 1956. By the end of the year it was announced that Grace Kelly was engaged to Prince Rainier.
In early 1956 Grace started filming High Society which also starred Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Grace's last film as Grace Kelly was a remake of the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story. The movie was a musical comedy. Grace earned a Gold Record for her duet with Bing Crosby in the song "True Love". Her wedding was scheduled for April, so after the filming for High Society was over, Grace tied ends with America and "set sailed" to France where her fiancée was waiting.
Grace's engagement had created quite a stir with the media. With her rising popularity as an actress, her marriage and quitting films for life had boosted her popularity sky high! Her wedding was dubbed "The Wedding of the Century"! On April 4th, 1956 Grace her family and fifty of her friends boarded the USS Constitution which was headed for Monaco. On April 12th, 1956 the USS Constitution's trip to Monaco had stopped. Prince Rainier's yacht came out of the harbour to pick up Grace from the USS Constitution. When the yacht returned, Monaco had their first real glimpse of their future Princess. Needless to say the media was all over!
On April 18, 1956 in the throne room of the palace of Monaco, Grace went through the first part of her marriage, the civil ceremony, which was required by Monegasque law. On April 19, 1956 the wedding took place in the St. Nicholas Church. As an agreement with MGM, Grace and Rainier's wedding was to be filmed and then release as a movie back in America. The agreement was made because Grace had to break her 7 year contract with MGM. To say the least the wedding was beautiful, despite the cameras and high powered lights. Although it's said that Grace herself hated every moment of her wedding, she still looked stunning! After the wedding there was a garden party in the grounds of the palace. Then at 5 'o clock that evening Prince Rainier's yacht (the same that came to pick Grace up when she first arrived) set sailed for their honeymoon. Grace Kelly was now officially Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco!
When Grace arrived back from her honeymoon, she learned that she was pregnant. It was a difficult time for her; alone in a strange country and pregnant for the first time. But Princess Grace persisted. She made most of the decisions for the renovations of the palace, and she created the nursery for her children.
Princess Caroline was born on January 23, 1957. Grace was delighted with her new baby. Monaco was delighted to hear they had a heir to secure the principality. A year later, on March 14, 1958 Prince Albert was born. Seven years later, on February 1, 1965 the baby, Princess Stephanie was born. Grace loved her children, maybe she loved them too much, but that never got in the way when it came to disciplining them. Grace was fair. She tried hard to have her children grow up as normal as any child. Vacation time was usually spent back in Philadelphia and for several years Prince Albert attended summer camp with his American cousins.
To keep herself busy as Princess, Grace was President for The Red Cross , Monaco's masthead charity. With Grace's Hollywood connections, Monaco's Red Cross Ball brought in many movie stars and performers such as Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant. In her first year as Princess she started a yearly Christmas party for the children of Monaco, no parents were allowed. She became the honorary president of AMADE. AMADE helped underdeveloped countries with medicine and education. She also had an active part in La Leche League. La Leche League was an organisation that encouraged breast feeding. Near the end of her life Grace took up the art of dried flower arrangements. She even had her art displayed in a Paris gallery and sold some of her pieces as well (the money went to charity of course).
In 1978, Princess Grace's eldest child, Caroline got married. Needless to say the marriage didn't last. Not much of a surprise for Grace or Rainier who were quite against the whole thing from the beginning. Grace's relationships with her children, mostly her daughters, had changed a little. Caroline was a beautiful young woman who liked to go out late in Paris. She was no longer interested in school. Princess Stephanie always tended to get her way which made her sometimes difficult to get along with. Like her sister, she was turning into a very beautiful woman. Prince Albert had turned into a handsome young man. He later attended school in America.
Around 1978 Grace started reading poetry. She attended many poetry reading recitals. Also around the same year, Princess Grace worked closely with Robert Dornhelm on two films. The Children of Theatre Street was a film where Grace narrated. The second film was Rearranged, where she played herself.
On September 13, 1982 Princess Grace and Princess Stephanie were involved in a terrible car accident when their car careened off the winding roads of France leading to Monaco. Princess Stephanie was able to get out of the car when it finally stopped rolling but she suffered a few injuries. Princess Grace wasn't so lucky. Unfortunately, she had suffered a very mild stroke which caused her to lose control of her vehicle. After the car had stopped rolling down the cliff, Grace was found unconscious. The next day, on September 14, 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco, Grace Kelly, had died.
Thanks so much, Josefine for the biography and wonderful photos! You always do do much for us at LTR! Thank you! :)
Julia
p.s. adding some of my faves of Grace
Wonderful portrait of Grace taken by John Engstead...
Princesses Grace and Caroline of Monaco with Prince Rainier at the back....an early formal outing for Princess Caroline. From Pierre Galante's book "Grace de Monaco".
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Frankly speaking the late Princess Grace is my favourite royal...I am completely attracted to her highly refined beauty and her role as a Monegasque princess.
well,guys do you think she has an aesthetically lovely face and do you guys agree that Monaco is very fortunate to have a princess like her?
Originally posted by radioactive@May 12th, 2004 - 6:22 am hey there
Frankly speaking the late Princess Grace is my favourite royal...I am completely attracted to her highly refined beauty and her role as a Monegasque princess.
well,guys do you think she has an aesthetically lovely face and do you guys agree that Monaco is very fortunate to have a princess like her?
thank you
regards
radioactive
Yes, she was a great woman! And an AMAZING princess. IMO, it's as simple as: Monaco would not be what it is without her. Monaco was incredibly fortunate to have her.
About her beauty, it's not that simple. I used to think like many do. I thought that she was simply perfect looking. And I read many times that she was actually regular looking and/or that she was ugly without make-up. Even Rita Gam, one of her best friends(knowed for manly saying good things about her), said that she was regular looking and that she transformed herself on screen. And I used to think: "Oh my God! Are those people blind?". But with time, I started to notice that Grace knew to use her make-up VERY well. She knew exactly what to do with it to make herself look great. And looking at her teenagerhood pictures, time that she already wore make-up(but not so well), I can understand their point perfectly. IMO, she was quite unattractive in most of those pictures. Plus, it was said many times that she was incredibly photogenic. But she had a great bone structure though(you can't hide that with make-up).
p.s.:The 1st make-up trick I ever noticed(and you may see easily if you look at some of the pics) was the way she used to wear her lipstick. Grace had a full bottom lip and an almost inexistent upper lip. So, in her upper lip, she used to put lipstick beyond her mouth, so, it would look fuller.
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If you look at any of the countless number of photographs of Grace without make up on you will see she was remarkably attractive even before she applied the first touch of make up. I wouldn't say she was ever plain or unattractive. Even in her youth she was beautiful both with and without her make up. If Grace had one flaw it was that her jaw was too square.
Originally posted by Lalla Meriem@Jun 16th, 2004 - 9:12 am If you look at any of the countless number of photographs of Grace without make up on you will see she was remarkably attractive even before she applied the first touch of make up. I wouldn't say she was ever plain or unattractive. Even in her youth she was beautiful both with and without her make up. If Grace had one flaw it was that her jaw was too square.
Countless number of photographs of Grace without make up on? Those countless pictures are ceartainly not avaliable for me. I don't remember seeing one like...ever. I mean, just because she doesn't have red lip-stick on in a pic it doesn't mean that she wasn't wearing make-up. Do you have pictures of her without make-up on to show me?
Looking at her teen pics, I consider all of her sibs a lot better looking than she. IMO, she was definetely unattractive at that time. But than she got all produced.....but hey, I'm open for new ideas. You just need to show me your point. Right now, it's just my word against yours.
p.s.:I have nothing against her jaw. I think it's cute. If I had to point her biggest flaw I would say that her lines were not strong enough.
Originally posted by renats@Jun 16th, 2004 - 4:52 pm Looking at her teen pics, I consider all of her sibs a lot better looking than she.
I disagree with this statement renats. Have you seen the picture of the wedding of Lizanne? Both girls (Lizanne the bride and Grace a bridesmaid) were wearing make-up and Grace is defintely prettier.
Originally posted by nouwrein+Jun 18th, 2004 - 3:19 am--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (nouwrein @ Jun 18th, 2004 - 3:19 am)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-renats@Jun 16th, 2004 - 4:52 pm Looking at her teen pics, I consider all of her sibs a lot better looking than she.
I disagree with this statement renats. Have you seen the picture of the wedding of Lizanne? Both girls (Lizanne the bride and Grace a bridesmaid) were wearing make-up and Grace is defintely prettier. [/b][/quote]
She wasn't a teenager at Lizanne's wedding. Take a look at Peggy's wedding.....
Here is a magazine clipping from ebay with grace&rainier with some of the british royals. Does anyone know if the lady in the first left hand corner picture with grace is princess margaret? It looks alot like her..I never knew grace and margaret had met before. :flower:
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Here is a magazine clipping from ebay with grace&rainier with some of the british royals. Does anyone know if the lady in the first left hand corner picture with grace is princess margaret? It looks alot like her..I never knew grace and margaret had met before. :flower:
Yes, that's Princess Margaret - I have that clipping. The story is that when they first met Princess Margaret looked her up and down and said, "Well, you don't LOOK like a movie star," and Grace replied, "Well, I wasn't BORN one, you know."
The last I read was that she is alive and well and maintains contact with her nieces, nephew and Ranier, with whom she has always enjoyed a good relationship. I believe she lives in Philadelphia.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monos26
Does anyone know if Lizanne is still in Philadelphia or what she's up to these days? I know she's the only one that's still alive.
Biography of Princess Grace
so beautiful lady...
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