If you ask movie lovers (or just about anybody with a pulse) to name the most beautiful person to have ever graced the silver screen, most will have a single, definitive answer: Grace Kelly. Her looks always appear effortless and her visage remains timeless.
Kelly seemingly lived two lives: one as an actress, starring in such films as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 classics “Rear Window” and “Dial M for Murder“; then there’s her second life, in which she became the Princess of Monaco after retiring from acting at the age of 26 to marry Prince Rainier III in 1956.
While her formative years certainly seemed like they were ripped straight from a Hollywood script, sadly Princess Grace’s later years weren’t happily ever after. She died tragically at the age of 52 on September 14, 1982, succumbing to injuries sustained in a traffic collision the day prior. According to a CAT scan, she suffered a brain hemorrhage that likely led to the crash, and another hemorrhage while in the hospital.
Though Kelley’s life was cut far too short, her legacy is forever preserved in some of the most celebrated films of all time, along with countless candid photos such as the one featured above, captured by her longtime photographer Howell Conant.
