Grace Kelly started 1954 as an emerging actress with three film credits to her name. But by the end of it, she'd be a major star in high demand and with an Oscar on the way.
How did the Philadelphia native, who grew up in a brick colonial-style house in East Falls, manage to supercharge her career in a single year? Her poise and talent probably had something to do with it, but her back-to-back Hitchcock films — including "Rear Window," back in theaters for its 70th anniversary — couldn't have hurt.
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Kelly starred in five films in 1954: "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window," "The Bridges of Toko-Ri," "The Country Girl" and "Green Fire." This was quite the ramp up from her first few years in Hollywood, when she almost exclusively played minor wife roles (though at least one of those, in "Mogambo," involved a tortured onscreen affair with Clark Gable). Life magazine previewed her meteoric rise with an April 26, 1954, cover story, released just weeks before her first new film, "Dial M for Murder," arrived in theaters.
"In Hollywood, 1954 is likely to be known as the year of Grace," the article began. "The reason is ... 24-year-old Grace Kelly, who has suddenly become the most valuable acting property in the movies. With four recently completed top-budget films to be released this year and a fifth already begun, Miss Kelly's cool beauty (see cover) and her unquestionably fine acting ability will soon be movieland bywords. What will not be so publicly evident, however, is the determination — what one convinced producer called 'Miss Kelly's stainless steel inside' — that has brought all this about."
That determination and steel spine likely came from her prominent Philadelphia family. Her father Jack Kelly Sr. and brother Jack Kelly, Jr. were Olympic rowers, and her mother Margaret Kelly was the first director of women's athletics at the University of Pennsylvania. But the Kellys weren't just jocks; they were a city institution. Jack Sr. ran a successful construction company and a less successful campaign for mayor in 1935. Jack Jr. also dabbled in politics, serving 12 years on City Council, and became the namesake for Kelly Drive.
But his sister Grace would eclipse them all when she left Philadelphia, first to study acting in New York and perform on Broadway. (She shared her love of the stage with another Kelly, her playwright uncle George.) She kicked off her Hollywood career with a small part in "Fourteen Hours," a 1951 drama about a man on a ledge, then played Gary Cooper's proper Quaker wife in "High Noon" and a married woman on a steamy safari in "Mogambo."
Her busy 1954, however, looked a little different. She was still playing plenty of wives and girlfriends, but ones with considerably more spunk, inner turmoil and murderous husbands.
Consider Lisa Fremont, the glamorous and resourceful girlfriend of wheelchair-bound photographer L.B. Jefferies in "Rear Window." When L.B. witnesses a possible murder, Lisa becomes a vital part of their citizen investigation, even breaking into the suspected killer's home for evidence. Lisa was the second Hitchcock heroine that Kelly played, following her turn as the two-timing Margot Wendice, whose husband is plotting to kill her for her money in "Dial M for Murder." Kelly's roles in "The Bridges of Toko-Ri" and "Green Fire" are less-remembered, for good reason – her "Green Fire" co-star Stewart Granger once quipped, "I had the misfortune to be in the only really bad movie Grace ever made." But her lead role as Georgie Elgin, the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic actor in "The Country Girl," gave her serious thespian cred, and, at the 1955 Oscar ceremony, a golden statuette over heavy hitters like Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Dandridge.
"The thrill of this moment keeps me from saying what I really feel," she said in her acceptance speech. "I can only say thank you with all my heart to all who made this possible for me."
Kelly's ascent happened almost in spite of the studio that contracted her, MGM. Seemingly unaware what to do with her, the studio frequently loaned Kelly out to competitors for a fee that increased to $50,000 as her fame grew. Only one of her 1954 credits, "Green Fire," was an MGM property, and Kelly only agreed to do it after securing release to make "The Country Girl" for Paramount.
If MGM was confused about her appeal, they were in the minority. Movie magazines pumped out constant articles praising Kelly's elegance, suggesting she had swiped the spotlight from bombshells like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth without even trying. That last part was key to her appeal. Kelly, despite her wealthy family and sophistication, was also seen as somewhat down-to-earth. "Photoplay" emphasized the glasses she wore offscreen, while "Modern Screen" praised her lack of "tantrums." Perhaps she was just the right kind of star for an increasingly conservative 1950s America, where womanly beauty and poise were crucial, but "diva" behavior was unacceptable.
After her banner year, Kelly had considerable clout to pursue dream projects. But in a plot twist even Hitchcock wouldn't have seen coming, 1954 turned out to be one of her last years in Hollywood. At the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, the star met Prince Rainier III of Monaco. That Christmas, he proposed to Kelly at her family's East Falls home. Kelly would live out the rest of her years as Princess Grace, only appearing in films as a dignified narrator or herself, the Philly socialite-turned-Oscar winner-turned European royal who always looked camera-ready.
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