Friday, 25 May 2012

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly Biography

Date of Birth
12 November 1929, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA 
Date of Death
14 September 1982, Monaco (injuries from car accident) 
Birth Name
Grace Patricia Kelly 
Nickname
Graciebird 
Gracie 
Height
5' 7" (1.70 m) 
Mini Biography
On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents. Her girlhood was uneventful for the most part, but one of the things she desired was to become an actress which she had decided on at an early age. After her high school graduation in 1947, Grace struck out on her own, heading to New York's bright lights to try her luck there. Grace worked some as a model and made her debut on Broadway in 1949. She also made a brief foray into the infant medium of television. Not content with the work in New York, Grace moved to Southern California for the more prestigious part of acting -- motion pictures. In 1951, she appeared in her first film entitled Fourteen Hours (1951) when she was 22. It was a small part, but a start nonetheless. The following year she landed the role of Amy Kane in High Noon (1952), a western starring Gary Cooper and Lloyd Bridges which turned out to be very popular. In 1953, Grace appeared in only one film, but it was another popular one. The film was Mogambo (1953) where Grace played Linda Nordley. The film was a jungle drama in which fellow cast members, Clark Gable and Ava Gardner turned in masterful performances. It was also one of the best films ever released by MGM. Although she got noticed with High Noon, her work with director Alfred Hitchcock, which began with Dial M for Murder (1954) made her a star. Her standout performance in Rear Window (1954) brought her to prominence. As Lisa Fremont, she was cast opposite James Stewart, who played a crippled photographer who witnesses a murder in the next apartment from his wheelchair. Grace stayed busy in 1954 appearing in five films. Grace would forever be immortalized by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Georgie Elgin opposite Bing Crosby in The Country Girl (1954). In 1955, Grace once again teamed with Hitchcock in To Catch a Thief (1955) co-starring Cary Grant. In 1956, she played Tracy Lord in the musical comedy High Society (1956) which also starred Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The whimsical tale ended with her re-marrying her former husband, played by Crosby. The film was well received. It also turned out to be her final acting performance. Grace had recently met and married Prince Rainier of Monaco. By becoming a princess, she gave up her career. For the rest of her life, she was to remain in the news with her marriage and her three children. On September 14, 1982, Grace was killed in an automobile accident in her adoptive home country. She was just 52 years old.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson 
Mini Biography
In the summer of 1954, Grace Kelly and Cary Grant were on the French Riviera working on an Alfred Hitchcock movie, To Catch a Thief (1955). It was probably the scene after she speeds along the Moyen Corniche to quickly get to the "picnic grounds", and away from a tailing police car, that she had time to look at the Mediterranean and the countryside along the coast. "Whose gardens are those?" she asked screenwriter John Michael Hayes. "Prince Grimaldi's". She would not meet the prince until the following year. In New York in March 1955, she received a call from Rupert Allan, Look Magazine's west coast editor who had become a friend since writing three cover stories on her. The French government wanted her to attend the Cannes Film Festival that May. She had some good reasons to go. One: The Country Girl (1954) would be shown at the festival. Two: she had really loved working on the Riveria the summer before. She met Prince Rainier of Monaco during the Cannes festival. He needed a wife, because with no heir to the throne, Monaco would again be part of France, after his death, and its citizens would have to pay French taxes. And Kelly thought it was time for her to select a husband, one who would finally meet with her parents' approval. Her biographers show that the life of a princess was not exactly living happily ever after. Old friends from Philadelphia as well as people she had known in Hollywood reported how glad she was to talk about her life in America and to be speaking English. And then on a cliff road she had known so well since her first visit to the Riviera, there was the fatal crash. The spot is often said to be the same spot where the picnic scene from To Catch a Thief (1955) was filmed in 1954. However, Kelly's own son, Prince Albert of Monaco, has categorically denied this on Larry King Live and elsewhere; according to him, the accident did not even happen on the same road, let alone at the same spot.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Dale O'Connor 
Spouse
Prince Rainier of Monaco (18 April 1956 - 14 September 1982) (her death) 3 children
Trade Mark
Her poised, calm, cool and collected demeanor and blond hair often coiffed in a bun
Often cast as the love interest of the leading man who is over 20 years older.
Trivia
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#5). [1995]
Ranked #51 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Hoped to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but the people of Monaco didn't want their princess playing a thief and romancing Sean Connery.
Had three children with Prince Rainier of Monaco: Princess Caroline of Monaco (1957), Prince Albert of Monaco (1958) and Princess Stéphanie of Monaco (1965).
Her movies were banned in Monaco by order of Prince Rainier of Monaco.
The inscription at her burial site in Monaco's cathedral does not refer to her as a princess. It uses the title "uxor principis" (prince's wife), which is traditional in the House of Grimaldi.
Interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Monaco.
Assisted in the pre-production status of Grace Kelly (1983) (TV) starring Cheryl Ladd as Grace Kelly.
Actress Rita Gam was among her bridesmaids.
Born at 5:31 AM EST.
In 1993, the USA and Monaco simultaneously released a commemorative postage stamp honoring her. However, USA federal law forbids postage stamps depicting foreign heads of state, so the USA stamp listed her as "Grace Kelly", while the Monaco stamp listed her as "Princess Grace".
Part of Prince Rainier of Monaco's attraction to marrying a movie star was to increase tourism in his tiny, cash-poor principality, and the Kelly family was turned off by his demands that a substantial dowry accompany Grace to Monaco. A figure of $2,000,000 was finally agreed upon, which was diverted from Grace's inheritance so that her brother and two sisters wouldn't be shortchanged.
Kelly's wedding gown was the most expensive garment that MGM designer Helen Rose had ever made. It used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta and one hundred yards of silk net. Its 125-year-old rose point lace was purchased from a museum and thousands of tiny pearls were sewn on the veil.
Was considered for the role of Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) that was eventually played by Elizabeth Taylor.
The so-called "wealthy" family Grace was born into was actually an immigrant family of bricklayers who had barely a generation of new-found business success. Grace's father and brother were both Olympic gold-medal scullers. Grace's cousin, former US Secy of Navy John Lehman, Jr. now chairs the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports young performing talent.
Attended and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York.
The Country Girl (1954), the film that won Kelly an Oscar, was first offered to Jennifer Jones, who had to turn it down due to pregnancy.
When she left Hollywood, several roles she was slated to play were eventually filled by Lauren Bacall (Designing Woman (1957) and The Cobweb (1955)). Director George Stevens also wanted her for Giant (1956).
Niece of playwright George Kelly.
Born to John Brendan Kelly, Sr. (1889-1960), son of Irish immigrants, and his wife Margaret Katherine Majer, who was of German descent, she had three siblings: Peggy, John Jr. and Lizzane.
On January 1959, the Austrian government awarded her a medal of merit for aid to Hungarian refugees escaping Russian invasion, given through Monaco's Red Cross.
She was one of many famous tenants of the Barbizon Hotel for Women when she lived in New York. Other tenants included Candice Bergen, Liza Minnelli, Cloris Leachman, Ali MacGraw, and Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale.
She was voted the 27th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Referenced in the songs "Grace Kelly", by Die Ärzte; "Grace Kelly Blues" by Eels (Mark Everett),"Grace Kelly with Wings" by Piebald; and "Grace Kelly" by Mika.
The very first actress to appear on a postage stamp, in 1993.
Hedda Hopper reported that Judy Garland's loss of the Academy Award to Grace for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which Judy Garland never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.
Summoned Sydney Guilaroff, the chief hairstylist at MGM Studios, to style her hair for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956.
She was voted the 12th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
Was named #13 Actress on The American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends
The road accident which led to her death was apparently caused by a stroke she suffered while driving.
Was romantically involved with fashion designer Oleg Cassini.
Is portrayed by Christina Applegate and Cheryl Ladd in Grace Kelly (1983) (TV).
Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna's song "Vogue".
Broke off her engagement to Oleg Cassini to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Bought a silver frame as a wedding gift to Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.
While pregnant with Princess Caroline of Monaco, Grace often used her Hermès bag to shield her belly from prying paparazzi. The company nicknamed that purse "the Kelly bag.".
Her favorite flowers were roses. After her death, Prince Rainier of Monaco opened a public rose garden in Monaco.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 447-450. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
In Italy, a vast number of her films were dubbed by Fiorella Betti. She was also dubbed by Miranda Bonansea, Dhia Cristiani and Rina Morelli, respectively in High Noon (1952), Dial M for Murder (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955).
Was offered to do a role in 11-time Oscar-nominated The Turning Point (1977).
In her youth, her favorite actors were Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman.
Her wedding's church ceremony at Monaco's Saint Nicholas Cathedral was exclusively filmed by MGM and made into the documentary The Wedding in Monaco (1956). The 600 guests included David Niven, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner and Conrad Hilton (19 April 1956).
Graduated from Stevens School in Germantown, Philadelphia (1947).
On the day she perished in a car accident, she was allegedly driving a British Rover 3500.
Cary Grant named her as his favorite co-star. His friends and family said Kelly's death hit him much harder than the deaths of Louis Mountbatten, Alfred Hitchcock and even Ingrid Bergman.
She and her husband Prince Rainier of Monaco, were at the opening of Expo '58 in Brussels.
Grandmother of: Andrea, Charlotte, and Pierre Casiraghi, Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Hanover, Louis and Pauline Ducruet,Camille Gottlieb, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi & Alexandre Coste.
Was considered for the role of Sarah in Guys and Dolls (1955), however Jean Simmons was cast instead.
Was allegedly romantically involved with all of her leading men apart from James Stewart.
Her father built a beach house at the corner of 26th and Wesley in Ocean City N.J. in 1929. It became a popular family vacation destination, and hosted celebrity guests such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Grace's sister, Lizanne, lived in the house until it was sold in 2001.
All of her leading men were old enough to be her father (with the exception of William Holden, who was only 11 years older than her).
Former mother-in-law of Stefano Casiraghi (1983-1990) and mother-in-law of Daniel Ducruet (1995-1996). She is also the future mother-in- law of Princess Charlene of Monaco.
Was good friends with Actress Maureen O'Hara.
Became pregnant twice by her husband Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1962; on both occasions she suffered miscarriages.
Ranked #86 in Men's Health 100 Hottest Women of all Time (2011).
Personal Quotes
Hollywood amuses me. Holier-than-thou for the public and unholier-than-the-devil in reality.
I'll tell you one of the reasons I'm ready to leave. When I first came to Hollywood five years ago, my makeup call was at eight in the morning. On this movie it's been put back to seven-thirty. Every day I see Joan Crawford, who's been in makeup since five, and Loretta Young, who's been there since four in the morning. I'll be god-damned if I'm going to stay in a business where I have to get up earlier and earlier and it takes longer and longer for me to get in front of a camera.
I hated Hollywood. It's a town without pity. I know of no other place in the world where so many people suffer from nervous breakdowns, where there are so many alcoholics, neurotics, and so much unhappiness.
Mogambo (1953) had three things that interested me. John Ford, Clark Gable, and a trip to Africa with expenses paid. If Mogambo had been made in Arizona, I wouldn't have done it.
At times I think I actually hate Hollywood. I have many acquaintances there, but few friends.
Where Are They Now
(November 2009) Release of the book, "High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly" by Donald Spoto.
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Grace Kelly-Princesse De Monaco
Grace Kelly's Wedding
Grace Kelly: Uptown Girl
Portrait Of A Princess - Grace Kelly

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