Grace's father was one of ten children of John Henry Kelly (1847-1897) and Mary Costello in an Irish American Catholic family (originally from Kidney Lake, Newport, County Mayo, Ireland). Already a local hero as a triple Olympic-gold-medal-winning sculler at a time when the sport of rowing was most popular, John Kelly's brick business made him a millionaire on the US East Coast.

In 1935, John Kelly attempted to win the seat of the mayor of Philadelphia, but lost. He later served on the Fairmount Park Commission. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed him National Director of Physical Fitness.

Grace's mother, born to Lutheran German parents (Carl Majer and Margaretha Berg), converted to Catholicism upon marrying Mr. Kelly. Similar to her husband, Margaret Kelly was also fascinated with health and fitness, studying Physical Education at Temple University and later becoming the first woman to head the Physical Education Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Grace Kelly's acting career did not come as a surprise to those who knew her from early childhood on. While attending the prestigious Ravenhill Academy as a youth, Grace modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters. Her first acting experience goes back to age 12, when she played a lead role in Don't Feed the Animals, a play produced by the Old Academy Players in East Falls. During high school, she acted and danced, and her yearbook described her as candidate to become a "famous star of screen and radio."

Upon graduation in June 1947, Grace decided to pursue acting as a career. Using a scene from Torchbearers (a screenplay written by her uncle) for an audition into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, she got an interview with Emile Diestel, the school's admission officer. Many famous actors / actresses, including Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Gene Tierney and Spencer Tracy had studied there. Grace then moved in at Manhattan's Barbizon Hotel for Women at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue, a prestigious establishment which did not welcome male visitors after 10 p.m. Grace working as a model to support her studies, and began her first term at the Academy the following October. A hard working, agile student, she would use a recorder to practice and perfect her speech. Her early roles were on the stage, for example, a Broadway debut in Strindberg's The Father alongside Raymond Massey. At 19, her graduation performance was in The Philadelphia Story. Interestingly, her film career many years later, also ended with the filmed version of the same story.
She played roles in nearly 60 live television programs. Success on television eventually brought her a role in Fourteen Hours (1951) when she was 20, which led to many offers, but she rejected these chances as she really believed in acting on stage at the time. She was performing in Colorado's notable Elitch Gardens when she received a telegram from Hollywood producer Stanley Kramer, offering her the starring role opposite Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952), a man said to have fallen in love with her on the spot.

In September 1952 Grace flew to Los Angeles to audition for the role of Linda Nordley in the MGM studio's production of Mogambo. A seven-year contract with the studio followed.

In April 1955, Grace Kelly headed the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival. While there, she was invited to participate in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainier III, the ruling sovereign of the principality. After a series of delays and complications, Kelly was finally able to make it to Monaco, where she met the prince.

Upon returning to America, Grace began work on her next movie, The Swan (1956), in which she played the role of a princess. After some correspondence with Rainier de Monaco, Rainier came to America on a trip officially designated as a tour, although it was speculated that Rainier was actually looking for a bride. A 1918 treaty with France had stated that if Rainier did not produce an heir, Monaco would revert to France.

Rainier met with Grace, and was introduced to Grace's family. Three days later the prince proposed. Grace accepted and the families began preparing for what the press called "The Wedding of the Century", held April 19th of 1956.

Preparations for the wedding were elaborate. The Palace of Monaco was painted and redecorated entirely to reflect Grace's taste. The voyage of the American contingent to Monaco was described as follows: on April 4, 1956, leaving from Pier 84 in New York Harbor, Grace, with her family, bridesmaids, poodle, and over 80 pieces of luggage boarded the ocean liner for the Riviera. Some 400 reporters applied to sail, though most were turned away. Thousands of fans sent the party off for the eight-day voyage. In Monaco, more than twenty-thousand people lined the streets to greet the future princess.

The wedding consisted of two ceremonies. On April 18, in the Palace Throne Room, was the 40-minute civil ceremony, which was broadcast across Europe. The next day, the event concluded with the church wedding.

The prince and princess enjoyed a 7-week Mediterranean cruise honeymoon on Rainier's yacht, Deo Juvante II.

Exactly 9 months and 4 days later, Princess Grace gave birth to the royal couple's first child, Princess Caroline. Twenty-one guns announced the event, a national holiday was called, gambling was prohibited for the day (a big thing for Monaco, which obtains a major portion of its national income from the Casinos it harbors); and free champagne was offered to all residents of Monaco. Approximately 1 year later, 101 guns announced the birth of their second child, Prince Albert.

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace had altogether three children:

* Hereditary Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite, born January 23, 1957, and now heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco
* Albert II, Prince of Monaco, born March 14, 1958; and
* Princess Stephanie Marie Elisabeth, born February 1, 1965.

Princess Grace never resumed her acting career. In 1962, however, when Alfred Hitchcock offered Grace the lead in his film Marnie, she was briefly considering to take the opportunity. Although Prince Rainier agreed, due to objection from the public against her involvement with film making again, she ultimately rejected the offer.

On September 13, 1982, while driving with her daughter Stephanie to Monaco from their countryside retreat, Princess Grace, then 52, suffered a stroke, causing her Rover to plunge down the mountainside. Princess Grace died the next day without ever regaining consciousness. She was 52 years old. Princess Stephanie survived the accident, sustaining only minor injuries. Princess Grace is laid to rest in Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco; nearly 100 million people worldwide watched her funeral. Prince Rainier was buried alongside her following his death in 2005.

In his eulogy, James Stewart said, "You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace." Looking at Grace's photos, I think it is easy to understand what James Stewart meant. Her beauty and grace, her generosity, her understanding and nurturing of Arts, her personal charm made her one of the most popular European royalty of all times.