Random Fascinating Facts About Grace Kelly, The Movie Star Who Became A Princess (14 items)

(#9) She Almost Starred In On The Waterfront

Kelly once said no to a surprising role: Edie Doyle in Elia Kazan's 1954 classic On the Waterfront. (She opted out so she could play the enigmatic Lisa Carol Freemont in Rear Window instead). The choice ended up working out for everyone: the Waterfront role went to Eva Marie Saint, who of course knocked it out of the park, and Window became one of Kelly's most celebrated films.
(#8) She Loved Dirty Jokes

Rumor has it that Kelly wasn't quite so regal and composed behind closed doors. According to Louisette Levy-Soussan Azzoaglio, who served as her personal assistant for years, the Princess had a decidedly bawdy streak:

"She wasn't stuffy. She had a mischievous sense of humor, a glint of naughtiness in her eye and a great passion for limericks – even saucy ones. The actor David Niven shared her love of banter. There were gales of laughter every time he visited the palace."
Azzoaglio says that Kelly also favored a more casual look at home, swapping out her glamorous gowns for simple trousers.
(#7) Her Father Thought Acting Was Barely Better Than Prostitution

Kelly's dreams of becoming an actress were met with disapproval by her father, who had decidedly old-fashioned views about the "vulgarity" of the stage and screen. When she decided to enroll in New York's academy of Dramatic Arts, her father hit the roof, declaring that being an actress was merely "a cut above being a streetwalker."
Even Kelly's eventual success never quite brought Jack Kelly around. After Grace won an Oscar for The Country Girl, her father supposedly said, "I though it would be [eldest daughter] Peggy. Anything Grace could do, Peggy could always do better. I simply can’t believe Grace won. Of my four children, she’s the last one I’d expect to support me in my old age."
(#14) She Died In A Tragic Accident

On September 13, 1982, 52-year-old Kelly suffered a stroke while driving on the cliffside roads of Monaco. She plunged over a 120 foot mountainside with her 17-year-old daughter, Stephanie, beside her. Her injuries proved to be grave, and Prince Rainier chose to take her off life support the following day. Stephanie suffered comparatively minor injuries and made a full recovery.
Kelly was interred in the royal family crypt. Sources say her car was crushed into a small cube and taken out into the Mediterranean, where it was sunk beneath the waves.
(#11) She Was Supposed To Be Marnie

Though the terms of her marriage to Prince Rainier had already essentially ended her film career, Alfred Hitchcock nonetheless offered Kelly the lead role in Marnie, the story of a beautiful kleptomaniac with a troubled past. Though Rainier himself apparently had no problem with his wife taking the role, the citizens of Monaco protested the idea of their princess playing a "compulsive thief," and the role went to Tippi Hedren.
Marnie wasn't the only film Kelly had to turn down. Hitchcock also wanted her for 1963's The Birds – another gig that went to Hedren.
(#3) She Wasn't Considered Beautiful In Her Younger Years

Throughout her adult life, Kelly was frequently cited as one of the most beautiful women in the world – but she wasn't considered particularly attractive in her younger years, even after landing some work as a model. According to an A&E biography, her family and friends, who had never thought of her as being anywhere near movie star material, were stunned when they saw her on the big screen for the first time.

As one of her childhood friends recalled, "We had no idea she was as beautiful as she was. Grace always a bandana on, and had the glasses, and the sweater, nothing glamorous. And when she went to New York and we started to see her on television, and in magazines, it was, 'My heavens! That's our Grace?'"