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Grace Kelly was an Oscar-winning American film and TV actress of the early 1950s, known for her stately beauty and reserve. After starring in 11 motion pictures, she retired from her Hollywood career in 1956 to marry Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and become Princess Grace of Monaco.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Grace Patricia Kelly was born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Growing up in a wealthy Irish Catholic family, she was educated in private schools before enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1947, aged 18.

EARLY CAREER

After graduating, Kelly made her Broadway debut in November 1949 in August Strindberg’s, The Father and was cast in a number of television dramas through the early 1950s.

ACHIEVEMENTS

She made her big-screen debut in 1951 and gained stardom from her performance in John Ford's adventure-romance Mogambo (1953), which earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Further acclaim arrived with her performance in The Country Girl (1954), winning the Oscar for Best Actress. Other notable works include High Noon (1952), High Society (1956), and three consecutive Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers: Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), and To Catch a Thief (1955). Kelly retired from acting aged just 26, to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco, becoming Princess Grace of Monaco on April 18, 1956. The couple had three children—Caroline, Albert, and Stéphanie. Kelly dedicated the rest of her life to her family and her royal duties, including much charitable and cultural work. Amongst other influential philanthropic activities, she founded AMADE Mondiale, a Monaco-based non-profit organization recognized by the UN, which “promotes and protects the moral and physical integrity and the spiritual well-being of children throughout the world, without distinction of race, nationality or religion and in a spirit of complete political independence.” Tragically, Kelly died aged 52 at Monaco Hospital on September 14, 1982, from injuries sustained in a car crash the previous day. Her daughter Stéphanie, who was also in the automobile, suffered only minor injuries.

RECOGNITION

In a film career that lasted barely six years, Kelly won two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, among other awards and nominations. Her star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

• Kelly worked with some of the most prominent leading men of the era, including Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra. She is listed 13th in the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood Cinema.
• In 1976 Kelly purchased her family's ancestral homestead in County Mayo, Ireland. In 2016, Kelly’s son Prince Albert purchased her old childhood home in Philadelphia, which is also a Pennsylvania Historic Landmark.
• In 1982, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA was established to continue the work she had done anonymously during her lifetime, providing scholarships to emerging talents in theater, dance and film.
• Prince Rainier, who did not remarry, was buried alongside her after his death in 2005.