Grace, Princess of Monaco née Grace Patricia Kelly was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress who, upon marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956, became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco
Grace Patricia Kelly was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress. Upon marrying Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956, she became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, but was generally known as Princess Grace of Monaco. Princess Grace maintained dual American and Monegasque citizenship after her marriage. The principality's current Sovereign Prince, Albert II, is the son of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. The American Film Institute ranked Kelly #13 amongst the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.
Family
Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John Brendan Kelly, Sr. and Margaret Katherine Majer Kelly. She was named after her father's sister, Grace, who died at a young age. Margaret studied Physical Education at Temple University, and later became the first woman to head the Physical Education Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Jack Kelly was a local hero as a triple Olympic-gold-medal-winning sculler. Kelly's brick business was the largest on the East Coast and he was a self-made millionaire. He ran for mayor of Philadelphia as a Democrat in 1935 and lost by the closest margin for any Democrat in Philadelphia. He later served on the Fairmount Park Commission. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him National Director of Physical Fitness during World War II.
Kelly's siblings, in order of age, were Peggy, John Jr. and Lizanne. John Jr. won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1947 as the top amateur athlete in the country. As a wedding gift, he gave his sister his bronze medal from the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. He was a Philadelphia city councilman, and Kelly Drive there is named for him.
Two of Kelly's uncles were prominent in the arts: vaudevillian Walter Kelly and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright George Kelly, who was looked down upon by the family, apart from Grace, because of his homosexuality.
Acting career
While attending the prestigious Ravenhill Academy, Kelly modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters
