She was born in a prospers
Philadelphia family.
Though she was a shy child,
she will live her life in the public eye.
"Don't try to be a hero!
You don't have to be a hero, not for me!"
"I'm not trying to be a hero..."
At the age of 23, her beauty and talent
took her to Hollywood.
She made eleven films in three and a half years
and became one of the most sought-after stars of her time.
She worked with Hollywood's most important directors,
played opposite its top leading men.
"There's nothing quite so mysterious
and silent as a dark theater..."
Then, at 26, she turned her back on make-believe.
But make-believe came true,
in a fairy tale shared by the entire world.
Her name was Grace Kelly.
It became Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco.
I don't think Grace really believed that
she was going to give up acting when
she became Princess Grace of Monaco.
I think that the reallity of that probably
struck her some place in the middle of
the Mediterranean after the honeymoon began.
She took everything so much in her stride,
nothing seemed to be too much for her.
Of any name, Grace, could not have been
more fitting,
and even her death, her tragic early death
made her enter even more into legend.
Monaco, a principality of less than
five hundred acres on the French Riviera.
For centuries, the Monégasques had held on
to their distinctive character, and their pride.
But, to this world, this place was known
as a "playground for the wealthy"
and came to enjoy its beauty and its gambling.
Monaco became a home of young American actress
who arrived in 1956 to be its Princess.
She brought it fame, her cool beauty,
her intelligence, and she brought war
a sense of purpose.
Well, this story about the Princess was firmly anchored in reality.
Reality had its origins
back in Philadelphia.
Competition came easily to the Kellys.
Here along Kelly Drive
named after Grace's father, John B. Kelly,
they still race in the sport for which
Jack Kelly won an Olympic medal.
A statue elected by the citizens of Philadelphia
commemorates that achievement.
Jack Kelly's father was a bricklayer from
Ireland who went on to make a fortune.
Young Jack soon joined the family business:
construction and brick making.
He started his own business
and made his own fortune.
But he always professed pride in
his family's humble origins.
Jack Kelly belived that the world
was what you made of.
Margaret Majer, who married Jack, had been
a model as well as a champion swimmer athlete.
Margaret and Jack were determined
to raise their children in their own way.
If you are good enough, you're sure to reach the top.
It was drilled into Kelly children from their earliest years.
As a family, we were always very close,
four of us, Peggy, my sister, the oldest,
our brother Jack, Grace and then myself.
She was the baby for three and a half years
and loved every minute of it.
Grace, when she was young, she was very shy
and a mama's baby.
There were many times were we had pictures taken
that our mother had to lean back
away from the camera so Grace would not cry
and taken away from her mother,
she was very sweet and soft, and loved to held
and cuddled and kissed, and loved.
I, on the other hand, and I think my
brother and older sister, were more
"don't let me," "don't get around me,"
we wanted to do our own things.
We always had a place at the shore when we were young,
and, at that time, I think we had our best times together,
we just had a marvelous time,
and Grace, all her life, loved being by the ocean and the sea.
Grace and all the family were a competitive family.
I think we got that, I know we got
that from our mother and our father.
They stilled into us a deep sense of competition
and the love of sports,
the will of winning,
but also taught us how to lose gracefully.
But the Kellys didn't intend to lose and there never was a better
drillmaster than Jack Kelly.
It was fun, family fun, and it left a special kind of determination.
This determination didn't manifest itself in Grace
as much in the sporting field.
But her determination sooner took another turn.
She loved sit by the hours and pretend
and create situations and say:
"Lizzie, you do this, and I'll be this,"
and, "I'll be the mother and you'll be the baby,"
of course, I gave her a hard time a lot of times because I did not
want to play her games.
For Grace, growing up wealthy
meant winter sports in Lake Placid.
It also meant the best private schools.
Working for causes you believed in started young.
With modeling, it's society fashion benefits.
But for Grace, these shows meant more than fundraising;
They were theater.
She got most of her love from the theater my uncle George.
He was a play writer and he directed plays.
Very gracious, highly educated person, well-read, and very witty.
And she just was fascinated with
all the tales of the stage and the theater.
Her uncle George Kelly was a great example to her.
He was sensitive and kind, and talented,
and I think of all the men she ever knew
rather than going for the "athletic macho type,"
I think her ideal man was her uncle George.
My recollections with her, father Jack Kelly,
were of an enormous man with
a tremendous amount of gusto, everything up front,
everything in the open, moved ahead.
A nice man, but not a tremendous amount of internal sensitivity.
Her father believed absolutely to Peggy,
the elder sister was going to be
like the big star of the family and succeed,
and he never payed any attention
to basically the middle of the family and his four children,
and she was quiet, observant of
the others and adored her older brother Kell,
John B. Kelly Jr., an also athletic star, great racer,
her father thought he was great,
but Gracie just accepted, and I don't think
he understood her at all,
but she adored him.
And yet, one wonders what you don't
get from a parent, what it is
perhaps what you need, if that isn't what
creates a great deal of the drive in you
you to go out and become the fullest part of yourself.
She decided to go to New York, and my
mother and father especially surprised
because she was a shy and retiring girl.
My mother and father were a little wary of New York and on her own,
but mother said: "Jack, it's not as if
she is going to Hollywood or to California."
Grace knew that her father didn't think much of an acting career.
They allowed her to go, to get it out of her system,
"Let her go, it won't mount to anything."
Grace was accepted into the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts,
then housed in Manhattan's Carnegie Hall.
It was 1947 and Grace Kelly was 18 years old.