Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American film actress who after starring in several significant films in the early- to mid-1950s became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.

After embarking on an acting career in 1950, when she was 20, Kelly appeared in New York City theatrical productions and more than 40 episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. From 1952 to 1956 she starred in several critically and commercial successful films, usually opposite male romantic leads 25 to 30 years older than her. In October 1953, she gained stardom from her performance in director John Ford's African-filmed adventure-romance Mogambo, starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, which won her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1954 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her deglamorized performance in the drama The Country Girl with Bing Crosby.^[1] Other noteworthy films she starred in include the western High Noon (1952), with Gary Cooper; the romance-comedy musical High Society (1956), with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra; and three Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers in rapid succession: Dial M for Murder (1954), with Ray Milland; Rear Window (1954), with James Stewart; and, To Catch a Thief (1955), with Cary Grant.

Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Rainier, and began her duties as Princess of Monaco. It is well known that Hitchcock was hoping she would appear in more of his films which required an "icy blonde" lead actress, but he was unable to coax her out of retirement. Kelly and Rainier had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Kelly retained her link to America by her dual U.S. and Monégasque citizenship.^[2] Princess Grace died at Monaco Hospital on September 14, 1982, succumbing to injuries sustained in a traffic collision the day before.^[3] At the time of her death, she was 52 years old.

She is listed 13th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema.^[4]

Grace Patricia Kelly was born on November 12, 1929, at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an affluent and influential family.^[5] Her father, Irish-American John B. Kelly Sr.,^[6] had won three Olympic gold medals for sculling and owned a successful brickwork contracting company that was well known on the East Coast. As Democratic nominee in the 1935 election for mayor of Philadelphia, he lost by the closest margin in the city's history. In later years, he served on the Fairmount Park Commission and, during World War II, was appointed by President Roosevelt as National Director of Physical Fitness. His brother Walter C. Kelly was a vaudeville star, who also made films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures, and another named George was a Pulitzer Prize–winning dramatist, screenwriter, and director.^[7]

Kelly's mother, Margaret Katherine Majer, had German parents.^[8][9] Margaret had taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania and had been the first woman to coach women's athletics at the institution.^[9][10] She also modeled for a time in her youth.^[9] After marrying John B. Kelly in 1924, Margaret focused on being a housewife until all her children were of school age, following which she began actively participating in various civic organizations.^[9]

Kelly had two older siblings, Margaret and John Jr., and a younger sister, Elizabeth. The children were raised in the Catholic faith.^[11][12]

Kelly grew up in a small, close knit Catholic community, Saint Bridget's, the East Falls parish where she was baptized and received her earliest education. Founded in 1853 by Saint John Neumann, the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, Saint Bridget's was at that time a relatively young parish, where families were very close to one another. While attending Ravenhill Academy, a reputable Catholic girls' school, Kelly modeled fashions at local charity events with her mother and sisters. In 1942, at the age of 12, she played the lead in Don't Feed the Animals, a play produced by the East Falls Old Academy Players.^[7] Before graduating in May 1947 from Stevens School, a socially prominent private institution in nearby Chestnut Hill, she acted and danced. Her graduation yearbook listed her favorite actress as Ingrid Bergman and her favorite actor as Joseph Cotten.^[13] Written in the "Stevens' Prophecy" section was: "Miss Grace P. Kelly – a famous star of stage and screen". Owing to her low mathematics scores, Kelly was rejected by Bennington College in July 1947.^[14]

Despite her parents' initial disapproval, Kelly decided to pursue her dreams of being an actress. John was particularly displeased with her decision; he viewed acting as "a slim cut above streetwalker".^[12] To start her career, she auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, using a scene from her uncle George Kelly's The Torch-Bearers (1923). Although the school had already met its semester quota, she obtained an interview with the admission officer, Emile Diestel, and was admitted through the influence of George.^[12]

Kelly worked diligently, and practiced her speech by using a tape recorder. Her early acting pursuits led her to the stage, and she made her Broadway debut in Strindberg's The Father, alongside Raymond Massey. At 19, her graduation performance was as Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.^[12]

Television producer Delbert Mann cast Kelly as Bethel Merriday in an adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name; this was her first of nearly 60 live television programs.^[12] As a theatre personality, she was mentioned in Theatre World magazine as: "[a] most promising personality of the Broadway stage of 1950." Some of her well-known works as a theater actress were: The Father, The Rockingham Tea Set, The Apple Tree, The Mirror of Delusion, Episode (for Somerset Maugham's tele-serial), among others.^[15]

Success on television eventually brought her a role in a major motion picture. Impressed by her work in The Father, the director of the Twentieth Century-Fox film Fourteen Hours (1951), Henry Hathaway, offered her a small role in the film. Kelly had a minor role, opposite Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, and Barbara Bel Geddes, as a young woman contemplating divorce.^[16] Kelly's co-artist Paul Douglas commented of her acting in this film: "In two senses, she did not have a bad side – you could film her from any angle, and she was one of the most un-temperamental co-operative people in the business."^[17] Following the release of this film, the "Grace Kelly Fan Club" was established. It became popular all over the United States, with local chapters springing up and attracting many members. Kelly referred to her fan club as "terrifically amusing".^[17]

Kelly was noticed during a visit to the set of Fourteen Hours by Gary Cooper, who subsequently starred with her in High Noon (1952). He was charmed by her, and said that she was "different from all these sexballs we've been seeing so much of". However, Kelly's performance in Fourteen Hours was not noticed by critics, and did not lead to her receiving other film acting roles. She continued her work in the theater and on television,^[7] although she lacked "vocal horsepower", and would likely not have had a lengthy stage career.^[12]

Kelly was performing in Colorado's Elitch Gardens when producer Stanley Kramer offered her a role co-starring opposite Gary Cooper in Fred Zinnemann's High Noon, a western set in a historic old mining town in Columbia, California. She accepted the role, and the film was shot in the late summer/early fall of 1951 over a 28-day shooting schedule in hot weather conditions. She was cast as a "young Quaker bride to Gary Cooper's stoic Marshall", and she wore a "suitably demure vaguely Victorian dress", alongside Gary Cooper, who was 28 years her senior.^[16] The movie was released in the summer of 1952.^[18] High Noon garnered four Academy Awards, and has since been ranked among the best films of all time.^[19] However, High Noon was not the film that made Kelly a movie star, despite it now being one of her best-known films.^[20] As biographer H. Haughland states: "Miss Kelly's acting did not excite the critics, or live up to her own expectations."^[16] Some critics scoffed at the conclusion of the film in which Cooper's character has to be saved by Kelly.^[21] David Bishop argues that her pacifist character, killing a man who is about to shoot her husband, was cold and abstract. Alfred Hitchcock described her performance as "rather mousy", and stated that it lacked animation. He said that it was only in her later films that she "really blossomed" and showed her true star quality.^[19][22]

Grace Kelly's uncle George Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, advised and mentored Kelly during her Hollywood film career.^[23] Her film career lasted from September 1951 to March 1956.^[24]

After filming High Noon, Kelly returned to New York City, and took private acting lessons, keen to be taken seriously as an actress.^[16] She performed in a few dramas in the theater, and in TV serials.^[25] She appeared in several television plays (starring in over sixty television shows),^[23] and screen-tested for the film Taxi in the spring of 1952. Director John Ford noticed Kelly in a 1950 screen test, and his studio flew her out to Los Angeles to audition in September 1952. Ford said that Kelly showed "breeding, quality, and class". She was given the role, along with a seven-year contract at the relatively low salary of $850 a week.^[26] Kelly signed the deal under two conditions: first, that one out of every two years, she had time off to work in the theatre; and second, that she be able to live in New York City at her residence in Manhattan House, at 200 E. 66th Street, now a landmark.^[27][12]

Two months later, in November 1952, Kelly and the cast arrived in Nairobi to begin the production of the film Mogambo. Gene Tierney initially was cast in the role, but she had to drop out at the last minute due to personal issues.^[28][29] Kelly later told Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, "Mogambo had three things that interested me: John Ford, Clark Gable, and a trip to Africa, with expenses paid. If Mogambo had been made in Arizona, I wouldn't have done it."^[30] Kelly plays Linda Nordley, a contemplative English wife with a romantic interest in Clark Gable. The costumes, designed by Helen Rose, were "safari style". Over the three-month shoot, no feminine looking outfits were used. A break in the filming schedule afforded her and Mogambo co-star Ava Gardner a visit to Rome.^[31] The film was released in 1953, and had a successful run at the box office.^[26] Kelly was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.^[32]

After the success of Mogambo, Kelly starred in the TV play The Way of an Eagle with Jean-Pierre Aumont, before being cast in the film adaptation of Frederick Knott's Broadway hit Dial M for Murder, opposite Ray Milland and Robert Cummings. In this film, Kelly plays the role of the wealthy wife of a retired professional tennis player.^[26][33] Director Alfred Hitchcock, who had also seen the 1950 screen test, would become one of Kelly's last mentors. She was loaned by her studio MGM (with whom she had signed a seven-year contract in order to do Mogambo), to work on several Hitchcock films, later appearing in Rear Window and To Catch a Thief.^[34][26]

Kelly began filming scenes for her next film, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, in early 1954, with William Holden, for Paramount Pictures. The story, based on the novel by James Michener, is about American Navy jet fighters stationed to fight in Asia. Kelly plays the role of Holden's wife. Her dress designer was Edith Head, with whom she had established a friendly relationship. The upper-class outfits received a mixed reception from critics; one critic said that "Kelly's flavoring was just plain vanilla".^[26]

Kelly unhesitatingly turned down the opportunity to star alongside Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954).^[35] Eva Marie Saint, who replaced her, won an Academy Award for that role. Instead, she committed to the role of Lisa Fremont in Rear Window. Said Kelly, "All through the making of Dial M for Murder, he (Hitchcock) sat and talked to me about Rear Window all the time, even before we had discussed my being in it."^[36]

Kelly's new co-star, James Stewart, was highly enthusiastic about working with her.^[37] The role of Lisa Fremont, a wealthy Manhattan socialite and model – a fashion model who "never wore her dress twice" ^[26] – was unlike any of the previous women she had played. For the first time, she was playing an independent career woman. Just as he had done earlier, Hitchcock provided the camera with a slow-sequenced silhouette of Kelly, along with a close-up of the two stars kissing, finally lingering closely on her profile. Hitchcock brought her elegance to the fore by changing her dresses many times, including: "glamorous evening short dresses, a sheer negligee over a sleek night gown, a full skirted floral dress, and a casual pair of jeans".^[26] On the film's opening in October 1954, Kelly was again praised. Variety's film critic remarked on the casting, commenting on the "earthy quality to the relationship between Stewart and Miss Kelly", as "both do a fine job of the picture's acting demands".^[38]

Kelly played the role of Bing Crosby's long-suffering wife, Georgie Elgin, in The Country Girl, after a pregnant Jennifer Jones bowed out. Already familiar with the play, Kelly was highly interested in the part. To do it, MGM would have to lend Kelly to Paramount. Kelly was adamant, and threatened the studio, saying that if they did not allow her to do the film, she would pack her bags and leave for New York for good. MGM relented, and the part was hers. Kelly also negotiated a more lucrative contract in light of her recent success.^[39] In the film, Kelly plays the wife of a washed-up, alcoholic singer, played by Crosby. Her character becomes torn emotionally between her two lovers, played by Bing Crosby and William Holden. She was again dressed by Edith Head to suit her role in the film. She was initially dressed in fashionable dresses, but this wardrobe changed to ordinary-looking cardigans and "house dresses" toward the end of the film.^[39]

As a result of her performance in The Country Girl, Kelly was nominated for and ultimately won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Her main competitor was Judy Garland for her performance in A Star Is Born. After receiving the Oscar nomination, Kelly won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best actress for her performances in her three big movie roles of 1954: Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, and The Country Girl. At the Golden Globe Awards in 1955, Garland and Kelly both won awards for their respective performances. Garland won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and Kelly won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

With every film, Kelly received greater acclaim. The New York Times praised her performance in The Country Girl as "excellent", and Rear Window got her marquee credits on a par with, and beyond, those of James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock.^[40]

In April 1954, Kelly flew to Colombia for a 10-day shoot on her next project, Green Fire, with Stewart Granger. She played Catherine Knowland, a coffee plantation owner. Granger wrote in his autobiography of his distaste for the film's script, while Kelly later confided to Hedda Hopper, "It wasn't pleasant. We worked at a pathetic village – miserable huts and dirty. Part of the crew got shipwrecked ... It was awful."^[30]

After the consecutive filming of Rear Window, Toko-Ri, Country Girl, and Green Fire, Kelly flew to the French Riviera to begin work on her third, and last, film for Alfred Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief. Lent by MGM to Paramount Films for the fifth time, Kelly plays the role of a temptress who wears "luxurious and alluring clothes", while Cary Grant plays the role of a former cat thief now looking to catch a "thief who is imitating him".^[41] Kelly and Grant developed a mutual admiration. The two cherished their time together for the rest of their lives. Years later, when asked to name his all-time favorite actress, Grant replied without hesitation: "Well, with all due respect to dear Ingrid Bergman, I much preferred Grace. She had serenity."^[42]

In 1956, Kelly portrayed Princess Alexandra in the British film The Swan, directed by Charles Vidor, opposite Alec Guinness and Louis Jourdan. Her final role was in Charles Walters's musical film High Society, a re-make of the 1940 MGM classic The Philadelphia Story. In this film, she stars opposite Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Celeste Holm.^[43]

Kelly headed the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival in April 1955. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session with Prince Rainier III, the sovereign of the Principality of Monaco, at the Prince's Palace, about 55 kilometers away from Cannes. After a series of delays and complications, she met him at the Prince's Palace of Monaco on May 6, 1955.^[44] At the time of her initial meeting with him, she was dating the French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont.^[45]

After a year-long courtship described as containing "a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides",^[46] Prince Rainier married Kelly in 1956.^[47] The Napoleonic Code of Monaco and the laws of the Roman Catholic Church necessitated two ceremonies – both a civil ceremony and a religious wedding.^[48] The 16-minute civil ceremony took place in the Palace Throne Room of Monaco on April 18, 1956,^[48] and a reception later in the day was attended by 3,000 Monégasque citizens.^[49][50] To cap the ceremony, the 142 official titles that she acquired in the union (counterparts of her husband's) were formally recited. The following day the church ceremony took place at Monaco's Saint Nicholas Cathedral, before Bishop Gilles Barthe.^[48] The wedding was estimated to have been watched by over 30 million viewers on live television and was described by biographer Robert Lacey as "the first modern event to generate media overkill".^[50] Her wedding dress, designed by MGM's Academy Award-winning Helen Rose,^[50] was worked on for six weeks by three dozen seamstresses. The bridesmaids' gowns were designed by Joe Allen Hong at Neiman Marcus.^[51] The 700 guests included several famous people, including Aristotle Onassis, Cary Grant, David Niven and his wife Hjördis, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner, Aga Khan III, Gloria Guinness,^[52] and many others. Frank Sinatra was invited but did not attend.^[53][54] Kelly and Rainier left that night for their seven-week Mediterranean honeymoon cruise on his yacht, Deo Juvante II.^[50][55]

The couple had three children:

Hitchcock offered Princess Grace the lead in his film Marnie in 1962. She was eager, but public outcry in Monaco against her involvement in a film where she would play a kleptomaniac made her reconsider and ultimately reject the project. Director Herbert Ross tried to interest her in a part in his film The Turning Point (1977), but Rainier quashed the idea.^[56] Later that year, she returned to the arts in a series of poetry readings on stage and narration of the documentary The Children of Theater Street. She also narrated ABC's made-for-television film The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966).

Grace and Rainier worked together in a 33-minute independent film called Rearranged in 1979, which received interest from ABC TV executives in 1982 after premiering in Monaco, on the condition that it be extended to an hour. Before more scenes could be shot, Grace died and the film was never released or shown publicly again.^[57][58]

On September 13, 1982, Kelly was driving back to Monaco from her country home in Roc Agel when she had a stroke. As a result, she lost control of her 1971 Rover P6 3500.^[59] and drove off the steep, winding road and down the 120 foot (37 m) mountainside. Her daughter Stéphanie, who was in the passenger seat, tried but failed to regain control of the car.^[60] Kelly was taken to the Monaco Hospital (later named the Princess Grace Hospital Centre) with injuries to the brain and thorax and a fractured femur. Doctors believed that she had suffered a minor stroke while driving.^[61] She died the following night at 10:55 p.m. after Rainier decided to take her off life support.^[62]

Stéphanie suffered a light concussion and a hairline fracture^[63] of a cervical vertebra, and was unable to attend her mother's funeral.

Kelly's funeral was held at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate,^[64] on September 18, 1982. After a Requiem Mass, she was buried in the Grimaldi family vault. Over 400 people attended, including Cary Grant, Nancy Reagan, Danielle Mitterrand, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Empress Farah of Iran. At a later memorial service in Beverly Hills, James Stewart delivered the following eulogy:

Rainier, who did not remarry, was buried alongside her in 2005.^[65]

Kelly left a lasting legacy as a model, theater artist, television actress (her most prolific work, acting in around 100 TV plays), and an iconic Hollywood film star.^[66] Kelly has been cited as one of the "classic Hitchcock blondes", and as one of the most elegant women in cinematic and world history.^[67][68] One author describes her as the "elegant glamour girl of the screen".^[69]

Grace Kelly appeared on the cover of the 31 January 1955 issue of the weekly magazine Time. The magazine hailed her as the top movie star who brought about "a startling change from the run of smoky film sirens and bumptious cuties". She was described as the "Girl in White Gloves" because she wore "prim and noticeable white gloves", and journalists often called her the "lady" or "Miss Kelly" for this reason as well. In 1954, she appeared on the Best Dressed list, and in 1955, the Custom Tailored Guild of America listed her as the "Best-Tailored Woman".^[70]

In appreciation of her work with Hitchcock in three of his films, Kelly later wrote a foreword to the book The Art of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto. Spoto also had written High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly.^[71]

During her marriage, Kelly was unable to continue her acting career. Instead, she performed her daily duties as princess and became involved in philanthropic work.^[72]

She founded AMADE Mondiale, a Monaco-based non-profit organization that was eventually recognized by the UN as a Non-governmental organization. According to UNESCO's website, AMADE promotes and protects the "moral and physical integrity" and "spiritual well-being of children throughout the world, without distinction of race, nationality or religion and in a spirit of complete political independence." Her daughter, Princess Caroline, carries the torch for AMADE today in her role as President.

Kelly was also active in improving the arts institutions of Monaco, forming the Princess Grace Foundation in 1964 to support local artisans. In 1983, following her death, Princess Caroline assumed the duties of President of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation; Prince Albert is Vice-President.^[73]

Following Kelly's death, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) was established to continue the work she had done anonymously during her lifetime, assisting emerging theater, dance and film artists in America. Incorporated in 1982, PGF-USA is headquartered in New York and is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, publicly supported organization. The Princess Grace Awards, a program of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, has awarded nearly 800 artists at more than 100 institutions in the U.S. with more than $15 million to date. The foundation also says it "holds the exclusive rights and facilitates the licensing of her name and likeness throughout the world."^[74]

While pregnant with her daughter Caroline in 1956, Kelly was frequently photographed clutching a distinctive leather handbag manufactured by Hermès. The purse, or Sac à dépêches, was likely a shield to prevent her pregnant abdomen from being exposed to the prying eyes of the paparazzi. The photographs, however, popularized the purse and became so closely associated with the fashion icon that it would thereafter be known as the Kelly bag.^[75]

Kelly was inaugurated into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1960.^[76]

Numerous exhibitions have been held of Kelly's life and clothing. The Philadelphia Museum of Art presented her wedding dress in a 2006 exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of her marriage,^[77] and a retrospective of her wardrobe was held at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in 2010.^[78] The V&A exhibition continued in Australia at the Bendigo Art Gallery in 2012.^[79] This famous dress, seen around the world, took thirty five tailors six weeks to complete.^[80] An exhibition of her life as Princess of Monaco was held at the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation in Moscow in 2008 in conjunction with Monaco's Grimaldi Forum.^[81] In 2009, a plaque was placed on the "Rodeo Drive Walk of Style" in recognition of her contributions to style and fashion.^[82]

After her death, Kelly's legacy as a fashion icon lived on. Modern designers, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Zac Posen, have cited her as a fashion inspiration.^[12] During her lifetime, she was known for introducing the "fresh faced" look, one that involved bright skin and natural beauty with little makeup.^[83] Her fashion legacy was even commemorated at the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, where an exhibit titled, "Grace Kelly: Style Icon" paid tribute to her impact on the world of fashion.^[12] The exhibit included 50 of her legendary ensembles.^[80] She is remembered for her "college-girl" everyday fashion, defined by her pulled-together yet simple look.^[80]

In 1955, Kelly was photographed by Howell Conant in Jamaica. He photographed her without makeup in a naturalistic setting, a departure from the traditional portrayal of actresses.^[84] The resulting photographs were published in Collier's, with a celebrated photo of her rising from the water with wet hair making the cover.^[84][85] Following her marriage, Conant was the unofficial photographer to the House of Grimaldi and extensively photographed her, Rainier, and their three children.^[86] In 1992, Conant published Grace, a book of photographs that he took during her 26-year tenure as Princess of Monaco.^[87]

Kelly has been depicted by many pop artists including Andy Warhol and James Gill. Warhol made a portrait of her for the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia as a limited edition silkscreen in 1984.^[88]

A rose garden in Monaco's Fontvieille district is dedicated to the memory of Kelly. It was opened in 1984 by Rainier.^[89] She is commemorated in a statue by Kees Verkade in the garden, which features 4,000 roses.^[90]

In 2003, the Henley Royal Regatta renamed the Women's Quadruple Sculls the "Princess Grace Challenge Cup." The Henley Stewards invited her to present the prizes at the 1981 regatta, expiating the ill will from her father's falling foul of its amateurism rules in 1920. Prince Albert presented the prizes at the 2004 regatta.^[91]

In 2012, Kelly's childhood home was made a Pennsylvania historic landmark, and a historical marker was placed on the site. The home, located at 3901 Henry Avenue in the East Falls section of Philadelphia, was built by her father John B. Kelly Sr. in 1929. Grace lived in the home until 1950, and Prince Rainier III proposed to her there in 1955. The Kelly family sold the property in 1974.^[92][93] Prince Albert of Monaco purchased the property, speculating that the home would be used either as museum space or as offices for the Princess Grace Foundation.^[94][95]