Poised and beautiful former model and stage actress from a wealthy Philadelphia family who came to film prominence with "High Noon" (1952) and her Oscar-nominated supporting role in "Mogambo" (1953). Kelly then starred in "Dial M for Murder" (1953), the first of three consecutive films directed by the blonde-obsessed Alfred Hitchcock, who made brilliant use of her signature combination of elegant, "iceberg" charm and smoldering sensuality. In 1954, after giving one of her best and most appropriate performances in Hitchcock's "Rear Window" (1954), Kelly, playing against type, won an Oscar for her performance as the drab, embittered wife of an alcoholic performer in "The Country Girl" (1954). While filming Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" (1955) on the French Riviera she met and in 1956 married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a lavish fairytale wedding, becoming Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, and retired from film that year after making the appealing "The Swan" (though she served on the board of directors of 20th Century-Fox from 1976 to 1981). Kelly died in a car accident in 1982.
- Also Credited As:
Grace Grimaldi, Grace Patricia Kelly
- Born:
November 12, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died:
September 14, 1982.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Model
Family
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Brother: Jack Kelly. won the Sullivan Award in 1947 as the top amateur athlete in the country; won the bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics; was a city councilman in in Philadelphia; died 1985
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Daughter: Caroline Grimaldi. Princess of Monaco
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Daughter: Stephanie Grimaldi. Princess of Monaco
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Father: John Brendan Kelly, Sr. aka: Jack Kelly; self-made millionaire and a triple gold-medal-winning Olympic sculler; during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed the senior Kelly as his National Director of Physical Fitness
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Mother: Margaret Katherine Kelly. German American Catholic convert from Lutheranism
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Sister: Lizanne LeVine.
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Sister: Margaret Conlan. died November 30, 1991 at age 65; oldest of four siblings
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Son: Albert Grimaldi. Prince of Monaco
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Uncle: George Kelly. Pulitzer Prize winner for "Craig's Wife"
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Uncle: Walter C Kelly. appeared in "McFadden's Flats" and "The Virginia Judge"; died January 6, 1939 from the effects of head injuries several weeks after being hit by a truck
Education
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The Neigborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, New York, New York
Milestones
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1949 First break in Broadway revival of Strindberg's "The Father"
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1950 TV debut, "The Rockingham Tea Sea" on "Studio One"
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1951 Film debut in bit part, "Fourteen Hours"
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1956 Retired from acting career; last film, "The Swan"
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1962 Hosted a TV tour of Monaco
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Achieved star status with roles in "High Noon" (1952) and "Mogambo" (1953)
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Amateur acting debut at age ten in local (Philadelphia) play
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Went to New York to become model and take acting classes in late 1940s