Grace Kelly's Most Glamorous Photos
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11950s
Grace Kelly was born in 1929 to John B. Kelly, Sr. and Margaret Katherine Majer, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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21950s
Her father was an Olympic gold medalist for rowing and her mother taught physical-education at the University of Pennsylvania. Later, her father became a self-made millionaire in the brick business.
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31950s
The names of Grace's three siblings are the equally classic Margaret, John, and Elizabeth.
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41953
Grace Kelly's nickname amongst family and close friends was "Graciebird."
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51953
Grace began her acting career in plays and participated in fashion events while attending Ravenhill Academy and Stevens School as a young girl.
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61954
In 1947, Kelly made the fateful trek from Philadelphia to New York City, a move not common for upper class girls like herself, expected to graduate and find husbands.
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71954
There, she enrolled at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
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81954
Fellow students include Spencer Tracy and Kirk Douglas.
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91955
For her final performance at the Academy, Kelly took on the role of Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.
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She would later play this role once again in the 1956 film adaptation, High Society.
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111955
While in school, Kelly worked as a model, booking work for Old Gold cigarettes and appearing on magazine covers including Cosmopolitan and Redbook.
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121955
Grace Kelly earned an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in The Country Girl, a decidedly unglamorous role for the beautiful actress. She beat out Judy Garland for her role in A Star is Born.
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131955
Prior to her win, Grace Kelly was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the 1953 film Mogambo. That year, she lost to Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity.
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141955
Before any Academy Awards, Kelly tried her hand at stage acting on Broadway before turning her sites on Hollywood.
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151955
In 1952, she starred with Gary Cooper in High Noon, a seminal moment that helped land her a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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161955
In the total of her acting career, Grace Kelly would appear in 11 films and star in over forty television broadcasts—a relatively small number in light of her immense and enduring fame.
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171956
Inarguably, her most successful and famed film relationship was with director Alfred Hitchcock.
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181956
Here, Kelly waits backstage with Audrey Hepburn to present an award at the 28th Annual Academy Awards.
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191956
In a fateful decision, Kelly said no to the the role of Edie Doyle in the award-winning On the Waterfront in favor of working with the famed auteur.
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In total, Kelly appeared in three suspenseful films for Hitchcock, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and her final, in 1955, To Catch a Thief.
Jennifer Algoo is the Visuals Director at Harper's BAZAAR. She is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts and has previously worked at Patrick McMullan Co. as well as completing internships at Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue and CosmoGirl! Magazine. Jennifer covers royal, celeb and art content as well as overseeing all visual assets on BAZAAR.com. When she's not obsessing over the royals you can find her attempting to solve cold cases as an armchair detective, traveling and experimenting with new recipes.
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