Grace Kelly
1929 - 1982Kelly was born into a prominent Catholic family in Philadelphia. After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1949, Kelly began appearing in New York City theatrical productions and television broadcasts. She gained stardom from her performance in John Ford's adventure-romance Mogambo (1953), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the drama The Country Girl (1954). Other notable works include the western High Noon (1952), the romantic comedy High Society (1956), and three consecutive Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers: Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), and To Catch a Thief (1955).
Kelly retired from acting at age 26 to marry Rainier and began her duties as Princess of Monaco. The couple had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Her charity work focused on young children and the arts. In 1964, she established the Princess Grace Foundation to support local artisans. Her organization for children's rights, AMADE Mondiale, gained consultive status within UNICEF and UNESCO. Grace's final film contribution was to the documentary The Children of Theatre Street (1977) directed by Robert Dornhelm, where she served as the narrator. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Kelly died at the age of 52 at Monaco Hospital on September 14, 1982, from injuries sustained in a car crash the previous day. She is listed 13th among the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Her son, Prince Albert, helped establish the Princess Grace Awards in 1984 to recognize emerging performers in film, theatre, and dance.
Dial M for Murder
Alfred Hitchcock
Ray Milland, Grace Kelly
An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to have his wife murdered after discovering she is having an affair, and assumes she will soon leave him for the other man anyway. When things go wrong, he improvises a new plan—to frame her for murder instead.
Dial M for Murder
Frank Sinatra: In Concert at Royal Festival Hall
Bill Miller
Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly
Frank Sinatra: In Concert at the Royal Festival Hall was an CBS musical television special starring Frank Sinatra broadcast on February 4, 1971, of a concert given by Sinatra at London's Royal Festival Hall on November 16, 1970. The special was directed by Bill Miller, and produced by Harold Davison. Sinatra was introduced on stage by Grace Kelly. Kelly had starred alongside Sinatra in the 1956 film High Society, the last film she made before her marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. Sinatra had been follicularly challenged for many years, hence all the hats in publicity stills, album covers etc. TV directors were forbidden to photograph him from the back because of this. However, at this concert, Sinatra had completed a very successful hair transplant and deliberately turned his back on the main audience a couple of times to acknowledge the audience sitting backstage, along with running his hand over the back of his head to draw attention to his new coiffure.
Frank Sinatra: In Concert at Royal Festival Hall
High Noon
Fred Zinnemann
Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.
High Noon
That's Entertainment! III
Bud Friedgen, Michael J. Sheridan
June Allyson, Cyd Charisse
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
That's Entertainment! III
Callas Assoluta
Philippe Kohly
María Callas, Jean Cocteau
This revealing documentary from director Philippe Kohly examines the storied life of renowned soprano Maria Callas, from her troubled childhood in New York City to her scandal-laden but triumphant international career in opera. Featuring archival interviews with Callas herself and footage of contemporaries such as her lover Aristotle Onassis, this celebration of "La Divina" pays tribute to her enduring legacy some three decades after her death.
Callas Assoluta
And the Oscar Goes To...
Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
And the Oscar Goes To...
Fourteen Hours
Henry Hathaway
Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart
A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of a building with the intention of committing suicide. A policeman makes every effort to argue him out of it.
Fourteen Hours
Night of 100 Stars
Clark Jones
Jane Alexander, Peter Allen
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers payed up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and costume changes, tape rewinding, and the like. Executive producer Alexander Cohen estimated that the 5,800 Radio City Music Hall seats sold out at prices ranging from $25 to $1,000. The show itself cost about $4 million to produce and was expected to yield around $2 million for the new addition to the Actors Fund retirement home in Englewood, N. J. ABC is reputed to have paid more than $5 million for the television rights.
Night of 100 Stars
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Ford
John Ford, Peter Bogdanovich
Shortly before his death in 1973, John Ford was given the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award by the AFI while friends and co-workers shared reminiscences.
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Ford
High Society
Charles Walters
Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly
Childhood friends Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven got married and quickly divorced. Now Tracy is about to marry again, this time to a shrewd social-climbing businessman. C.K. still loves her. Spy magazine blackmails Tracy's family by threatening to reveal her playboy father's exploits if not allowed to cover the wedding. A remake of the 1940 rom com The Philadelphia Story.
High Society
