Grace KellyHerbert Dorfman/Getty Images
It is easy to describe Grace Kelly’s life as a fairytale: she was a one of the great beauties—and talents—of the Golden Age of Hollywood before leaving California behind to marry the dashing Prince Rainier of Monaco. Yet it’s a notion that Princess Grace herself dismissed: “The idea of my life as a fairy tale is itself a fairy tale,” she once said.
Born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Kelly moved to New York City in 1947 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. To pay her tuition, she modeled. It was a worthwhile investment: two years later, she made her Broadway debut.
Her breakout role on the silver screen was as Gary Cooper’s wife in High Noon in 1951. In 1954, she won her first Oscar for The Country Girl. Yet the films that made her a true icon were those of Alfred Hitchcock: Kelly, a muse for the horror director, starred in Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief.
On April 18, 1956, she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a royal wedding watched around the world. Costume designer Helen Rose created her dress using 300 yards of antique lace and 150 yards of taffeta along with tulle and silk. It took 30 seamstresses and three weeks to make. She dedicated the rest of her life to civil service and charity work as Princess Grace of Monaco. Although, she never could kick the acting bug: rumor has it she almost agreed to star in the 1964 Hitchcock film, Marnie.
This September marks the 40th anniversary of her tragic death in a car crash after suffering a stroke at the wheel. Below, we revisit 32 iconic pictures of Grace Kelly, from her days as a MGM movie star to a Monegasque royal.
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