Grace, Princess of Monaco, born Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an Academy Award-winning American film actress who, upon marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco on April 19, 1956, became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco. She is the mother of the principality's current Sovereign Prince, Albert II.
Grace Kelly was born in the East Falls section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the third of four children to John Brendan Kelly, Sr., also known as Jack Kelly, and Margaret Katherine Majer Kelly. Grace's siblings, in order of age, were Peggy, John Jr., and Lizzane.
Grace's father was one of ten children in an Irish American Catholic family (originally from Kidney Lake, Newport, County Mayo, Ireland). Already a local hero as a triple gold-medal-winning Olympic sculler at a time that the sport of rowing was at its zenith, John Kelly’s brick business grew to become the largest on the East Coast. The self-made millionaire and his family were introduced to Philadelphia society. Mr. Kelly's large family included two uncles prominent in the arts: Walter Kelly, a vaudevillian, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, George Kelly.
In 1935, John Kelly ran for mayor in Philadelphia as a Democrat, losing by the closest margin for any Democrat in Philadelphia. He later served on the Fairmount Park commission. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed the senior Kelly as his National Director of Physical Fitness, a public relations post which allowed Kelly to use his fame to extol the virtues of physical fitness.
Grace's mother, born to Lutheran German parents (Carl Majer and Margaretha Berg), converted to Catholicism upon marrying Mr. Kelly. Like her husband, Margaret Kelly was also a proponent of health and fitness, studying Physical Education at Temple and later becoming the first female to head the Physical Education Department at the University of Pennsylvania.
John B. Kelly, Jr., Grace’s brother, followed in the tradition. He won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1947 as the top amateur athlete in the country. His rowing exploits were well-chronicled. John, Jr., gave his sister the bronze medal he won at the 1956 Summer Olympics as a wedding present. Kelly Drive in Philadelphia is named for John, Jr., who was a city councilman there.
 Grace Kelly’s future career could be forecast from as early as childhood. While attending the prestigious Ravenhill Academy as a youth, Grace modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters. Her first acting experience occurred at the age of 12, when she played a lead role in Don't Feed the Animals, a play produced by the Old Academy Players in East Falls.[citation needed] During high school, she acted and danced, and her yearbook predicted that she would be a “famous star of screen and radio.”
Upon graduation in June 1947, Grace decided to pursue acting. Using a scene from her uncle's play, Torchbearers, for an audition, she was admitted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York (which had trained notable talents Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, and Spencer Tracy), working as a model to support her studies. A diligent student, she would use a recorder to practice and perfect her speech. Her early acting pursuits led her to the stage, most notably a Broadway debut in Strindberg’s The Father. At 19, her graduation performance was in The Philadelphia Story, a role with which she would also end her film career.
She soon caught the eye of television producer Dilbert Mann, who cast her for Bethel Maraday in her first of nearly 60 live television programs. Success on television eventually led her to her first role in a major motion picture. Kelly appeared in a small role in Fourteen Hours (1951) when she was 22, which led to many offers, all of which she turned down for independence and another chance at the theater. She was performing in Colorado’s notable Elitch Gardens when she received a telegram from Hollywood producer Stanley Kramer, offering her the starring role opposite Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952).
The film won two Academy Awards, but Grace was dissatisfied with her own performance. She enrolled with acting coach Sanford Meisner and was soon tapped for a supporting role in the Clark Gable/Ava Gardner adventure romance, Mogambo (1953), set in the Kenyan jungle. The additional training paid off, as Kelly earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and catapulted herself into stardom.
Legendary filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock, cast her in his 1954 Dial M for Murder and again in Rear Window (also 1954) opposite Jimmy Stewart, thus defining the young actress as the elegant, blonde ideal and making Kelly a sensation across the country. She also starred in Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955) which brought Cary Grant out of retirement and was set in Kelly's eventual home of the European Riviera.
In 1955, Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Country Girl. Her character's modest appearance and demanding scenarios were seen as a departure from the actress' already famed persona of the graceful heiress, which she perfected and embodied through her last role in High Society (1956), the musical remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940).
Though her film career spanned just five years and produced only eleven films, Grace Kelly's beauty and charm left an impression on the hearts of Americans and all moviegoers that persists to this day.
In April 1955, Grace Kelly was asked to head the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainier III, the ruling sovereign of the principality. After a series of delays and complications, Kelly was finally able to make it to Monaco, where she met the prince.
Upon returning to America, Grace began work on her next feature film, The Swan (1956), in which she coincidentally portrayed a princess, privately beginning a correspondence with Rainier. In December, Rainier came to America on a trip officially designated as a tour though it was speculated that Rainier was actively seeking a wife. A 1918 treaty with France had stated that if Rainier did not produce an heir, Monaco would revert to France.
At a press conference in the United States, Rainier was asked if he was pursuing a wife, to which he answered "no." A second question was asked: "if you were pursuing a wife, what kind would you like?" Rainier smiled and answered, "I don't know--the best." Rainier met with Grace and her family, and after three days, the prince proposed. Grace accepted and the families began preparing for what would be the "wedding of the century".
News of the engagement was a sensation even though it meant the possible end to Grace's film career. Industry professionals realized that it would have been an impracticality to continue acting and wished her well. Alfred Hitchcock had quipped that he was “very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part.”
Preparation for the wedding was elaborate. The Palace of Monaco was painted and redecorated throughout and the transatlantic voyage that brought the American contingent to Monaco was an ordeal. On April 4, 1956, leaving from Pier 84 in New York Harbor, Grace, with her family, bridesmaids, poodle, and over 80 pieces of luggage boarded the ocean liner for the Riviera. Some 400 reporters applied to sail though most were turned away. Thousands of fans were there to send the party off for the eight-day voyage. In Monaco, more than twenty thousand people lined the streets to greet the future princess.
The wedding consisted in two ceremonies. On April 18, in the Palace Throne Room, the bride and groom underwent the 40-minute civil ceremony, which was broadcast across Europe. To cap the ceremony, Grace was recited the 142 official titles (counterparts of Rainier's) that she acquired in the union.
The following day, the grand event proceeded with the church ceremony at Monaco's Saint Nicholas Cathedral. Grace's wedding dress was designed by MGM's Academy Award-winning Helen Rose, and was worked on by three dozen seamstresses for six weeks. The 600 guests at the wedding included dignitaries from around the world and it was estimated that 30 million people watched the wedding on television. The prince and princess left that night for their 7-week Mediterranean cruise honeymoon on Rainier's yacht, Deo Juvante II.
Nine months, four days after their wedding, the royal family introduced their first child, Princess Caroline. 21 cannon blasts announced the event, a national holiday was offered, gambling ceased, and free champagne flowed throughout the principality. A little over a year later, 101 cannon blasts announced the birth of their second child, Prince Albert.
 Princess Grace never returned to act in motion pictures, choosing rather to fulfill her responsibilities as Monaco's royal leader. In 1962, when Hitchcock offered Grace the lead in his film, Marnie, she was eager to take the opportunity to return to the screen. Rainier consented, but public outcry against her involvement made her reconsider and ultimately reject the project.
In September 1982, the 52-year-old Princess Grace, driving with Princess Stephanie to Monaco from their country home, suffered a stroke, causing her Rover P6 to cascade down the mountainside. It had been rumored that she was driving on the same stretch of highway that had been featured in To Catch a Thief, although her son claims that it was not. Princess Grace died the next day without regaining consciousness. Princess Stephanie suffered only minor injuries.
Princess Grace is interred in Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco; Prince Rainier was buried alongside her following his death in 2005. Nearly 100 million people worldwide watched the Princess' funeral.
Jimmy Stewart delivered the eulogy, summing up well what all fans felt about her: "You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you Princess Grace."
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