Grace Kelly: The life story you may not know

Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 12, 1929. She was the third of four children. The eldest sibling was Peggy, followed by John Jr., and sister Lizanne was the youngest.

Grace Kelly's father, Jack, was a champion athlete, winning three Olympic gold medals in 1920 and 1924 for sculling. He also ran a successful construction company, Kelly for Brickwork, and once made a bid for Philadelphia mayor. The family lived in a house overlooking the Schuylkill River, where the actor's father liked to row.

The Kelly family did not fall short of success. Grace Kelly's mother, Margaret Majer Kelly, was a former cover-girl model and competitive swimmer, and she was also the first woman to teach physical education at the University of Pennsylvania. One of Grace Kelly's uncles was Walter Kelly, a vaudevillian entertainer, and another was George Kelly, a playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for "Craig's Wife." Her cousin John Lehman Jr. served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

Kelly graduated in 1947 from the Stevens School in Germantown, Philadelphia. Classmates wrote in her yearbook that she would become a star of the stage and screen.

When she was 18, Kelly moved to New York City, where she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She stayed in the Barbizon Hotel for Women and worked as a commercial model, appearing in print advertisements. In the early 1950s, she acted in live "playhouse" television dramas and made more than 30 television appearances.

Kelly landed her first big Broadway role in 1949, playing the daughter in "The Father." The play starred Raymond Massey. She was criticized for having a high voice that did not project well, and she trained her voice to be deeper.

Kelly picked up her first movie role when she was 22, playing Mrs. Louise Ann Fuller the 1951 movie "Fourteen Hours." Her role, that lasted just over two minutes, was that of a bystander. The following year, she played Gary Cooper's wife in "High Noon." The Western won four Oscars.

The actor signed a seven-year contract with MGM in 1952. It paid her $750 a week, and it stipulated she could live in New York every other year to pursue her stage ambitions. She made nine movies under the contract, five of them with studios where MGM lent her out.

In her third movie role, 1953's "Mogambo," Kelly co-starred in the jungle drama with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. In casting Mogambo, director John Ford noticed Kelly in a screen test she had done three years earlier for a role she did not land.

Director Alfred Hitchcock gave Kelly three leading roles—in "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window," and "To Catch a Thief"—that made her a Hollywood star. He needed a lead actor for "Dial M for Murder" after his previous choice, Ingrid Bergman, was caught up in a scandalous affair with married director Roberto Rossellini.

Kelly's most critically acclaimed performance in her movies by Alfred Hitchcock was in 1954's "Rear Window." The male lead was played by actor James Stewart, whose character is using a wheelchair due to a broken leg. He suspects he has witnessed a murder in a neighboring apartment. To investigate, he enlists the help of his girlfriend, played by Kelly. To make "Rear Window," Kelly turned down the female lead in "On the Waterfront," that was taken instead by Eva Marie Saint.

Kelly dated Russian fashion designer Oleg Cassini, who wooed her with bouquets of roses until she agreed to go out with him. The couple was engaged briefly in 1954. He was credited with helping curate Kelly's trademark elegant style and later helped create the distinctive style of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Kelly was voted onto the International Best-Dressed List in 1954 and again for several years thereafter. In 1955, her image was the model for a line of mannequins that were used in department store windows.

Kelly was the highest-earning female actor in Hollywood in 1955, the year she won an Oscar for best actress for her role in "The Country Girl." She played the wife of a washed-up alcoholic actor and singer played by Bing Crosby. Judy Garland, who played in "A Star Is Born," had been the expected winner. Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper reported the Academy's vote on the category winner was one of the closest ever, with just six votes' difference.

Kelly met Prince Rainier of Monaco in May of 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival, where her Oscar-winning film "The Country Girl" was being shown. The announcement of their engagement in January 1956 took many of those who knew her by surprise since the couple had known each other for a relatively short time. The Jan. 6, 1956 engagement announcement ran on the front page of The New York Times.

Kelly and Prince Rainier married on April 19, 1956 in what was widely called "The Wedding of the Century" at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco. Kelly and an entourage of 66 travelled by ship to Monaco, and almost 2,000 reporters covered the gala ceremony. The wedding was filmed by MGM and aired live in Europe.

Kelly's wedding gown was created by MGM costume designer Helen Rose. It consisted of 25 yards of silk taffeta and 100 yards of silk net. The rose point lace was 125 years old and purchased from a museum, and thousands of tiny pearls were sewn onto the veil. The dress went on to inspire the choices of myriad brides, including the dress made by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen for Kate Middleton's 2011 wedding.

As part of the celebration in Monaco to mark the marriage of the prince and the actor, bartenders began serving a specially concocted drink for the occasion. The Princesse Cocktail was made of equal parts bourbon, grenadine, and fresh cream.

While pregnant in 1956 with her first child, Caroline, Kelly created the now-coveted Kelly bag. She was using her large, square Hermès purse to protect her belly, and the purse became hugely popular. Still highly desired, Kelly bags, especially vintage ones, can be very expensive.

The couple had their first child, Caroline, who was conceived during their honeymoon and whose birth assured a Grimaldi succession for Monaco, allowing it to become independent from France. Caroline has been married three times, and she has four children. Her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, was killed in 1990 in a high-speed boating accident.

Kelly and Rainier had their son, Albert, in 1958. He ascended to the throne in 2005 when his father died. As a young man, Albert competed in the Olympics games of 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, and 2002 on Monaco's bobsledding team. He is the father of twins Jacques and Gabriella, born in 2014, with his wife Princess Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer from Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Albert also has a son, born in 2003, with a former Air France flight attendant, and a daughter, born in 1992, with a woman from California.

Kelly wanted to return to acting and appear in Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 film "Marnie." Apparently the idea was not popular in Monaco, with the country against its princess in the role of a compulsive thief across from heartthrob Sean Connery. Kelly withdrew from the production, and he role went to Tippi Hedren.

Kelly and Rainier's third child, Stephanie, was born in 1965. Stephanie grew up to become a model, singer, and fashion designer. Her first husband, Adans Lopez Peres, whom she divorced, was a circus acrobat. She had two children with her second husband, Daniel Ducruet, whom she also divorced. She had a third child with a former royal bodyguard.

On Sept. 13, 1982, Kelly was driving with her daughter Princess Stephanie on a roadway in Monaco when she lost control of the car. The car ran off the road and down a steep mountainside, and Kelly was killed in the horrific crash. Stephanie suffered a cervical fracture. It is believed Kelly had a small stroke while at the wheel. She was 52.

Kelly was laid to rest in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Monaco. The inscription uses the words "uxor principis," meaning prince's wife. Her favorite flowers were roses, and Prince Rainier opened up a public rose garden in Monaco following her death.