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. 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 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 said to be the same spot where the picnic scene from To Catch a Thief was filmed in 1954.



Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#5). [1995] 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. Her movies were banned in Monaco by order of Prince Rainier of Monaco. Interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Monaco. Actress Rita Gam was among her bridesmaids. 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". 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. She was voted the 12th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. The road accident which led to her death was apparently caused by a stroke she suffered while driving. Is portrayed by Christina Applegate and Cheryl Ladd in Grace Kelly (1983) (TV). Broke off her engagement to Oleg Cassini to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco. 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.". Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 447-450. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. Was offered to do a role in 11-time Oscar-nominated The Turning Point (1977). 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). On the day she perished in a car accident, she was allegedly driving a British Rover 3500. She and her husband Prince Rainier of Monaco, were at the opening of Expo '58 in Brussels. Was considered for the role of Sarah in Guys and Dolls (1955/I), however Jean Simmons was cast instead. Her father built a beach house at the corner of 26th and Wesley in Ocean City NJ 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.