You know
that fantasy young girls have about becoming princesses? She actually went out and did it.
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress and later, the Princess of Monaco. She was born in 1929 in Philadelphia. Kelly'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 High Noon in 1952. In 1953, she appeared in
Mogambo with
Clark Gable. Her next film was
Dial M For Murder (1954), a thriller directed by
Alfred Hitchcock; she became his favorite actress. After that, she worked with Hitchcock again in
Rear Window, where she played
Jimmy Stewart's fashion model girlfriend - probably her most famous role. Then she
went against her type of glamorous, high-class women, and played the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic actor (
Bing Crosby) in
The Country Girl. She won the Oscar for that role. In 1955, she appeared again in a Hitchcock movie,
To Catch a Thief with
Cary Grant. Her next movie was
The Swan in 1956, where she coincidentally portrayed a princess. In the same year, she played her last role in
High Society, a musical version of
The Philadelphia Story with Bing Crosby and
Frank Sinatra.
In 1955, she met Prince Rainier of Monaco, and she married him in 1956. Their wedding was turned into a huge media circus. They had three children together (their only son, Albert, is now the prince of Monaco). Kelly died in a car crash in 1982.
She was an icon of style and fashion, and her influence extends to this day.
This actress provided examples of:- Academy Award: Won for The Country Girl.
- Fake Brit: She originally spoke with Philadelphia dialect, but for her film career, she developed a somewhat British-sounding, high-class accent. She played English women in Mogambo and Dial M for Murder.
- Opera Gloves: She was famous for wearing them, both onscreen and offsreen.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: At least in Rear Window.
- What Could Have Been: Nearly made a return to acting with Marnie, but the people of Monaco protested against the casting of their princess as a mentally unstable thief.
References in fiction:- Mika's most famous song is called "Grace Kelly". It also includes a quote from The Country Girl.
- She's mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".
- In The Simpsons episode "Threehouse of Horror II", the Simpsons visit Morocco. Homer remarks: "What a dump! Why would Princess Grace live in a place like this?"
- In Stephen King's novel Bag of Bones, Mattie Devore is said to look like a young Grace Kelly.
- In The Honeymooners episode "Head of the House", when Ralph tells to Norton that they have to cook a meal:
Norton: After all, men are the best chefs, aren't they? Oscar of the Waldorf, Pierre of the Ritz, Grace Kelly's father...
Ralph: What does Grace Kelly's father got to do with it?
Norton: He cooked up a pretty sweet dish!
- In Die Hard, Hans Gruber mentions her, when he makes an (incorrect) reference to High Noon:
Gruber: This time
John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly.
McClane: That was Gary Cooper, asshole.
- Monty Python's Flying Circus had a sketch called "Mr. Dibley's Films", where the titular character makes very short and low-cost versions of famous films, and claims that they are original. One of them is a fifteen-second long version of Rear Window. Dibley says that Hitchcock's version was padded out, and was only more successful than his because "he had bloody Grace Kelly".
- Skulduggery Pleasant has a bit of a crush on her.
- In Mad Men, Betty Draper is said to look like Kelly. The show's stylists intentionally modeled Betty's general look on her.
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