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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess_grace_kelly_of_monaco.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:"Hollywood Royalty" in the most literal sense.]]
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4You know [[PrincessPhase that fantasy young girls have about becoming princesses]]? She actually went out and did it.
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6Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress and later, the Princess of Monaco. Born into a prominent family in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}'s tight-knit Catholic community, Kelly decided to pursue an acting career in New York after getting rejected from exclusive Bennington College. After quickly working her way up through Broadway and early live television, she made her film debut in a small role in the 1951 FilmNoir ''Film/FourteenHours''.
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8Kelly's on-screen acting career lasted only six years, but in that time she established herself as one of the legendary actresses of Hollywood. Her first important role was in the classic {{Western}} ''Film/HighNoon'' in 1952. In 1953, she appeared in ''Film/{{Mogambo}}'' with Creator/ClarkGable. Her next film was ''Film/DialMForMurder'' (1954), a thriller directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock; she became one of his favorite actors. After that, she worked with Hitchcock again in ''Film/RearWindow'', where she played Creator/JimmyStewart's fashion model girlfriend - probably her most famous role. Then she [[PlayingAgainstType went against her type]] of glamorous, high-class women, and played the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic actor (Music/BingCrosby) in ''Film/TheCountryGirl''. She won the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] for that role. She also had a minor part in the war film ''Film/TheBridgesAtTokoRi.'' In 1955, she appeared again in a Hitchcock movie, ''Film/ToCatchAThief'' with Creator/CaryGrant. Her next movie was ''Film/TheSwan'' in 1956, where she coincidentally portrayed a princess. In the same year, she played her last role in ''Film/HighSociety'', a musical version of ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'' with Bing Crosby and Music/FrankSinatra.
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10In 1955, while ''To Catch a Thief'' was being filmed in and around UsefulNotes/{{Monaco}}, she met [[UsefulNotes/TheMonegasqueRoyalFamily Prince Rainier]], and she married him in 1956, becoming Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco. Their wedding was turned into a huge media circus, and the family continues to be a media fixture to this day (only rivaled by the coverage of UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily). They had three children together (their only son, Albert, is now the prince of Monaco). She died in a car crash in Monaco in 1982.
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12She was an icon of style and fashion, and her influence extends to this day.
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14!!Associated Tropes with her roles:
15* PrettyInMink: She wore some furs in her films when playing a {{socialite}}. And in a film about her, the actress playing her was likely going to wear a fur coat or wrap.
16* ProperLady: Her "typical" on-screen persona, in a nutshell, [[ZigZaggedTrope though she often crosses over into]] SpiritedYoungLady.
17* UnlimitedWardrobe: In ''Film/RearWindow'' she had a number of dresses created by Edith Head, which was commented on in her first scene in the film.
18* WhatCouldHaveBeen: She nearly made a return to acting with ''Film/{{Marnie}}'', but the people of Monaco protested against the casting of their princess as a mentally unstable thief, and allegedly the Pope himself also expressed his concern about the role.

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