Grace Kelly

Actresses

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. She is listed 13th among the American Film Institute’s 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema.

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. She made her film debut in Henry Hathaway‘s Fourteen Hours (1951), with Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Keith, Debra Paget, Howard Da Silva, and Jeffrey Hunter. From 1952 to 1956 she starred in several critically and commercially successful films, usually opposite male romantic leads 25 to 30 years older than she. She gained stardom from her performance in director John Ford‘s African-filmed adventure-romance Mogambo (1953), with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner, which won her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her deglamorized performance in the drama The Country Girl (1954), with Bing Crosby. Other noteworthy films include the Fred Zimmerman western High Noon (1952), with Gary Cooper and Lloyd Bridges; the romance-comedy musical High Society (1956), with 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, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr; and To Catch a Thief (1955), with Cary Grant; Andrew Marton’s Green Fire (1954), with Stewart Granger, Paul Douglas, and John Ericson; Mark Robson’s The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), with William Holden, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney, and Robert Strauss; and Charles Vidor‘s The Swan (1956), with Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Moorehead, Jessie Royce Landis, Brian Aherne, Leo G. Carroll, Estelle Winwood, and Robert Coote.

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. Princess Grace died at Monaco Hospital on September 14, 1982, succumbing to injuries sustained in a traffic collision the previous day. At the time of her death she was 52.

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(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

Film

  • Fourteen Hours (1951) – directed by Henry Hathaway
  • High Noon (1952) – directed by Fred Zinnermann
  • Mogambo (1953) – directed by John Ford
  • Dial M for Murder (1954) – directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • Read Window (1954)** – directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) – directed by Mark Robson
  • The Country Girl (1954) – directed by George Seaton
  • Green Fire (1954) – directed by Andrew Marton
  • To Catch a Thief (1955)** – directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • The Swan (1956) – directed by Charles Vidor
  • High Society (1956) – directed by Charles Walters
  • The Children of Theatre Street (1977) – directed by Robert Dornhelm & Earle Mack – documentary – narrator

TV

  • Kraft Television Theatre (1947-1958) – anthology; 5 episodes
  • The Philco Television Playhouse (1948-1955) – anthology; 5 episodes
  • Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (1949-1950) – documentary series; 1 episode
  • Studio One (1948-1958) – anthology; 2 episodes
  • Actors Studio (1948-1950) – anthology; 3 episodes
  • Cads, Scoundrels and Ladies (1950) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Comedy Theatre (1950) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Lights Out (1950-1952) – anthology; 2 episodes
  • Big Town (1950-1956) – 1 episode
  • The Clock (1949-1952) – anthology; 1 episode
  • The Web (1950-1954) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Somerset Maugham TV Theatre (1950-1951) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Danger (1950-1955) – anthology; 2 episodes
  • Prudential Family Playhouse (1950-1951) – anthology; 1 episode
  • The Nash Airflyte Theater (1950-1951) – anthology series; 1 episode
  • Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950-1963) – anthology; 4 episodes
  • CBS Television Workshop (1952) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951-present) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950-1957) – anthology; 3 episodes
  • Robert Montgomery Presents (1950-1957) – 1 episode
  • Suspense (1949-1954) – anthology; 1 episode
  • Goodyear Television Playhouse (1951-1957) – anthology; 1 episode
  • A Look at Monaco (1963) – TV special
  • The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) – TV movie
  • Monte Carlo: C’est La Rose (1968) – TV documentary