Grace Patricia Kelly
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2
Books
11
Awards
Grace Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1954 for her role in The Country Girl. She starred in three Alfred Hitchcock films, including Rear Window in 1954 and To Catch a Thief in 1955. In 1956 she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and retired from acting. She died in a car accident in Monaco in 1982 at age 52.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Grace Kelly — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Grace Kelly by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Grace Kelly — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Grace Patricia Kelly was born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a wealthy family. Her father, John B. Kelly Sr., was an Olympic gold medalist in sculling, and her uncle was playwright George Kelly. She decided at an early age to become an actress. She graduated from Stevens School in 1947 and moved to New York City. She briefly modeled and made her Broadway debut in 1949 before switching to television and film.
Kelly made her film debut in 1951 with a small part in Fourteen Hours. A year later she played Amy Kane in High Noon 1952 opposite Gary Cooper. Her breakthrough came with Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder 1954, and she solidified her stardom with Rear Window 1954 starring James Stewart. In 1954 she also starred in The Country Girl, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She worked with Hitchcock again in To Catch a Thief 1955 alongside Cary Grant. Her final film was High Society in 1956, after which she retired upon marrying Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco on April 19, 1956 at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco. The wedding was filmed by MGM and became the documentary The Wedding in Monaco. They had three children: Princess Caroline born 1957, Prince Albert born 1958, and Princess Stéphanie born 1965. Before marrying the prince, she had been engaged to fashion designer Oleg Cassini. After her death in 1982, she was interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, with her tomb bearing the Latin inscription uxor principis prince’s wife.
Grace Kelly made only 11 films from 1951 to 1956, but she won an Academy Award for The Country Girl and starred in three Hitchcock pictures. Her work with Hitchcock is frequently studied, and Rear Window remains a classic. She was the first actress on a postage stamp; the US and Monaco both issued a stamp in her honor in 1993. The Hermès Kelly bag was named after her after she used it to hide her pregnancy. Empire magazine ranked her fifth on its 1995 list of the 100 Sexiest Stars. The American Film Institute ranked her the 13th greatest female screen legend. She is remembered for her elegance and her shift from actress to princess.
Browse the complete filmography of Grace Kelly — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Grace Kelly — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Grace Kelly's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Grace Kelly — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Hollywood Amuses Me. Holier Than Thou for the Public and Unholier Than the Devil in Reality.
I’ll Tell You One of the Reasons I’m Ready to Leave. When I First Came to Hollywood Five Years Ago, My Makeup Call Was at Eight in the Morning. on This Movie, It’s Been Put Back to Seven Thirty. Every Day, I See Joan Crawford, Who’s Been in Makeup Since Five, and Loretta Young, Who’s Been There Since Four in the Morning. I’ll Be Goddamned If I’m Going to Stay in a Business Where I Have to Get up Earlier and Earlier and It Takes Longer and Longer for Me to Get in Front of a Camera.
I Hated Hollywood. It’s a Town Without Pity. I Know of No Other Place in the World Where so Many People Suffer from Nervous Breakdowns, Where There Are so Many Alcoholics, Neurotics, and so Much Unhappiness.
At Times, I Think I Actually Hate Hollywood. I Have Many Acquaintances There, but Few Friends.
I Came to Success Very Quickly. Perhaps Too Quickly to Value Its Importance.
I Would Like to Be Remembered as Someone Who Accomplished Useful Deeds, and Who Was a Kind and Loving Person. I Would Like to Leave the Memory of a Human Being with a Correct Attitude and Who Did Her Best to Help Others.
My Father Had a Very Simple View of Life: You Don’t Get Anything for Nothing. Everything Has to Be Earned, Through Work, Persistence and Honesty. My Father Also Had a Deep Charm, the Gift of Winning Our Trust. He Was the Kind of Man with Whom Many People Dream of Spending an Evening.
My Real Difficulty Was to Become a Normal Person Again, After Having Been a Movie Actress for so Long. for Me, at the Time I Was Living in New York and Hollywood, a Normal Person Was Someone Who Made Movies.
Mr. Hitchcock Taught Me Everything About Cinema. It Was Thanks to Him That I Understood That Murder Scenes Should Be Shot Like Love Scenes and Love Scenes Like Murder Scenes.
Of Course, I Think About Marriage, but My Career Is Still the Most Important Thing for Me. If I Interrupt It Now to Get Married, Because I Don’t Believe in a Part Time Family Life, I Would Risk Passing the Rest of My Existence Wondering Whether or Not I Would Have Been Able to Become a Great Actress.
My Parents, Despite Their Serious Attitude Toward Life in General, and That of Their Children in Particular, Were Very Broadminded People. There Was No Such Thing as a Bad Profession for Them. as I Was Their Daughter, They Knew That, Whatever Profession I Chose, I Would Do It Well. That Was Enough for Them. There Was Always Trust Among the Kellys.
I’ve Always Treated My Children as Beings in Their Own Right. I Respect Their Feelings and Aspirations Entirely.
When I Married Prince Rainier, I Married the Man and Not What He Represented or What He Was. I Fell in Love with Him Without Giving a Thought to Anything Else.
I Would Like to Say to My Future Fellow Citizens That the Prince, My Fiance, Has Taught Me to Love Them. I Already Know a Lot About Them from the Way He Has Described Them to Me, and My Dearest Desire Today Is to Find a Little Place in Their Hearts.
My Love of Flowers Opened a Lot of Doors for Me. I’ve Made Many Friends Because of Their Passion of Flowers and Their Vast Knowledge in This Field.
Although, I’ve Played a Wide Variety of Roles, I’ve Never Had the Chance to Act in a Story Written Specially for Me. It’s a Pity as They Are the Only Stories That Really Let You Reveal Your Personality.
When Ava Gardner Gets in a Taxi, the Driver Knows at Once She’s Ava Gardner. It’s the Same for Lana Turner or Elizabeth Taylor, but Not for Me. I’m Never Grace Kelly. I’m Always Someone Who Looks Like Grace Kelly.
Fairy Tales Tell Imaginary Stories. Me, I’m a Living Person. I Exist. If the Story of My Life as a Real Woman Were to Be Told One Day, People Would at Last Discover the Real Being That I Am.
If There Is One Thing That Is Foreign to Me It Is Shopping for Pleasure. on the Other Hand, I Believe That It Is Right to Honour All Those Who Create Beautiful Things and Give Satisfaction to Those Who See Me Wearing Them.
It Would Be Very Sad If Children Had No Memories Before Those of School. What They Need Most Is the Love and Attention of Their Mother.
I Avoid Looking Back. I Prefer Good Memories to Regrets.
I’m Basically a Feminist. I Think That Women Can Do Anything They Decide to Do.
The Studios Are Tenacious. When They Want Someone or Something, They Always Get It in the End. I Ended up Signing a Contract with MGM. I Signed Because They Offered Me the Chance of Shooting in Africa, but I Signed It at the Desk of the Airport, When the Engines of the Plane Were Already Turning.
Before My Marriage, I Didn’t Think About All the Obligations There Were Awaiting Me. My Experience Has Proved Useful and I Think That I Have a Natural Propensity to Feel Compassion for People and Their Problems.
What Else Is There to Do If You’re Alone in a Tent in Africa with Clark Gable?
Little-known facts about Grace Kelly — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
The United States and Monaco each released a commemorative postage stamp honoring her in 1993, but because US law bans stamps depicting foreign heads of state, the American stamp shows her name as Grace Kelly while the Monaco stamp says Princess Grace.
Cary Grant called Grace Kelly his favorite co-star, and those close to him noted that her death affected him more deeply than the passings of Louis Mountbatten, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ingrid Bergman.
She had three children with Prince Rainier: Princess Caroline 1957, Prince Albert 1958, and Princess Stéphanie 1965.
Grace Kelly was the first actress to be featured on a postage stamp.
At her graduation from Stevens School on June 5, 1947, her classmates wrote in the yearbook that she was sure to become a stage and screen star.
Roses were her favorite flower, and following her death, Prince Rainier established a public rose garden in Monaco in her memory.
The car accident that took her life was believed to be caused by a stroke she suffered while driving.
She contributed to the pre-production of the 1983 television film Grace Kelly, which starred Cheryl Ladd as her.
MGM costume designer Helen Rose created the most expensive gown of her career for Kelly’s wedding; it required 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of silk net, 125-year-old rose point lace from a museum, and thousands of tiny pearls stitched onto the veil.
She wished to return to film in Hitchcock’s Marnie 1964, but Monaco’s populace objected to their princess portraying a thief and romancing Sean Connery.
According to Hedda Hopper, Judy Garland lost the Best Actress Oscar to Kelly for The Country Girl by only six votes, the narrowest non-tie margin at that time, a loss from which Garland never fully recovered.
Prince Rainier saw marriage to a movie star as a way to boost tourism in Monaco, and his request for a $2 million dowry initially upset the Kellys; the sum was taken from Grace’s inheritance to ensure her siblings received equal shares.
She rejected the lead in On the Waterfront 1954 to star in Rear Window 1954, and the part went to Eva Marie Saint.
She ended her engagement to fashion designer Oleg Cassini to wed Prince Rainier.
Prince Rainier banned her films from being shown in Monaco.
During her pregnancy with Princess Caroline, Kelly frequently used her Hermès handbag to protect her belly from photographers, leading the company to call it the Kelly bag.
She purchased a silver frame as a wedding present for Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
In 1959, Austria awarded her a medal of merit for assisting Hungarian refugees through the Monaco Red Cross during the Hungarian Revolution.
While living in New York, she resided at the Barbizon Hotel for Women, along with future stars such as Kim Basinger, Candice Bergen, and Liza Minnelli.
Empire magazine ranked her number five on its 1995 list of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
Her fatal car crash on September 14, 1982, occurred on the Moyenne Corniche road in Monaco, the same location where her character drove in a chase scene in To Catch a Thief 1955.
The epitaph on her tomb in Monaco’s Cathedral of St. Nicholas reads uxor principis wife of the prince, not princess, following Grimaldi tradition.
Her father built a beach house in Ocean City, New Jersey in 1929, which became a family retreat visited by Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and other stars; her sister Lizanne lived there until 2001.
She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, graduating before starting her career.
Empire magazine rated her fifty-first on its 1997 list of the Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time.
She is buried at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Monaco.
Cheryl Ladd and Christina Applegate each portrayed her in the 1983 biographical film Grace Kelly.
She worked with Alfred Hitchcock on three films: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window both 1954, and To Catch a Thief 1955.
She was a registered Democrat, and her family counted President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a close friend.
Her first boyfriend, Harper Davis, died of multiple sclerosis in 1953, and she attended his funeral.
Three of her films have been inducted into the National Film Registry: High Noon, Rear Window, and High Society.
After her retirement, roles intended for Kelly went to Lauren Bacall in Designing Woman and The Cobweb, and George Stevens had wanted her for Giant.
The American Film Institute ranked her the thirteenth greatest female screen legend.
Though often described as wealthy, her family was of immigrant Irish bricklayers who had recently achieved success. Her father and brother both won Olympic gold in sculling. Her cousin John Lehman Jr., former US Secretary of the Navy, now chairs the Princess Grace Foundation.
Her 1956 wedding at Saint Nicholas Cathedral was filmed exclusively by MGM and released as The Wedding in Monaco, with 600 guests including David Niven and Ava Gardner.
The Country Girl, which earned her an Oscar, was initially offered to Jennifer Jones, who declined due to pregnancy.
She was offered a role in the 1977 film The Turning Point, but declined.
MGM considered her for Guys and Dolls 1955, but the role went to Jean Simmons.
Her father John B. Kelly Sr. was the son of Irish immigrants, and her mother Margaret Majer had German ancestry. She had siblings Peggy, John Jr., and Lizzane.
For her wedding, she brought in MGM’s chief hairstylist Sydney Guilaroff to style her hair.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6329 Hollywood Boulevard.
DeMille wanted her for The Ten Commandments 1956, but MGM refused to loan her, so the part went to Yvonne De Carlo; she did visit the set and posed with Anne Baxter.
In her eleven films, six of her leading men were over 20 years older, including Gary Cooper 28 years, Clark Gable 28, Bing Crosby 26, Cary Grant 25, Ray Milland 22, and James Stewart 21.
She was up for the role of Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which Elizabeth Taylor played.
Artists including Mika, Die Ärzte, Eels, and Piebald have written songs about her.
Premiere magazine ranked her the 12th greatest movie star of all time.
The car she was driving at the time of her fatal accident was reportedly a British Rover 3500.
Entertainment Weekly named her the 27th greatest movie star ever.
Her professional acting debut came in July 1949 with The Torch Bearers at the Bucks County Playhouse, co-starring Mary Wickes.
She was the niece of playwright George Kelly.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Grace Kelly.
Celebrities similar to Grace Kelly — same craft, ranked by reach.
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