Grace Kelly

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Princess Grace of Monaco

You know that fantasy young girls have about becoming princesses? She actually went out and did it.

Grace 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 - Betty Draper's appearance in Mad Men, for example, was inspired by her.

Grace Kelly provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Academy Award: Won for The Country Girl.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Hitchcock called her a "snow-covered volcano".
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Became one.
  • Fairytale Wedding Dress: Her wedding dress was designed by Oscar-winning costume designer Helen Rose, and 36 seamstresses worked on it for six weeks. Parts of the dress were made of nineteenth-century Brussels needle lace. Today, it's displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
  • 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.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: She was myopic, but never wore her glasses in her movies (except The Country Girl) or on publicity shots.
  • Hot Chick with a Sword: She is a princess who falls in love with her fencing instructor in The Swan. And yes she looks hot with a sword.
  • Hot Consort: Was one, to Prince Ranier.
  • May-December Romance: All of the male co-stars who played her love interests were considerably older than her; the age difference ranged from ten years (Louis Jordan, The Swan) to twenty-eight (Gary Cooper, High Noon).
  • Meaningful Name: Yes, her name is Grace.
  • Non-Singing Voice: Averted in High Society, where she sang her own (small) part in the song "True Love", which became a gold record.
  • Opera Gloves: She was famous for wearing them, both onscreen and offsreen.
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Philadelphia: This is Grace's hometown.
  • Pretty in Mink
  • Rags to Royalty: Well, not rags, as her father was a millionaire. Still, she was a descendant of Irish bricklayers, and became a princess by marriage.
    • The Kellys are of an older royal dynasty (kings of Uí Maine) than those parvenus the Grimaldis.
      • So Royalty to Rags to Royalty. Can't forget the years of not being kings.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: At least in Rear Window.
References to Grace Kelly in fiction:

Film

  • 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.

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • 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!

Music

  • 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".

Western Animation


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