Grace Kelly Goes To The Oscars (PHOTOS)

Charlize Theron and Halle Berry weren't the first actresses to score Oscar nominations by stripping away their glam personas and digging into ugly roles: In 1954's The Country Girl, the stunningly beautiful Grace Kelly played the bitter, older-than-her-years wife of a washed-up alcoholic actor (Bing Crosby), and greatly impressed the Academy. The following year, the 25-year-old was on the ballot for Best Actress, alongside heavy favorite Judy Garland (A Star Is Born), Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina), and Jane Wyman (Magnificent Obsession).

Photos by Ed Clark/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images from LIFE.com.

More vintage photos: See LIFE's best, most intimate shots from the Oscars.

Comments

[Isabella85]

01:30 PM on 02/25/2011

Grace Kelly was not as classy as people assume she is. People just assume she was because of the way she looked and dressed. This is a woman who was breaking up families and demanded her lover leave his wife who was suffering from cancer.

[pompous]

11:56 PM on 02/26/2011

Who really knows if what you say is true. The only people that break up families are family members, i.e. men leave because they don't want to stay no one forces them to leave. The other woman often times is just their temporary excuse until leave them to.

[Jced]

08:25 AM on 02/27/2011

Sleeping with a married man is never classy...even if he's willing. Never.

[Jced]

08:24 AM on 02/27/2011

People don't want to know these things....at one time Grace...got around!

[americancolonyinhell]

11:27 AM on 02/25/2011

Major caption omission: that's William Holden following Grace in.

[kandem]

08:09 PM on 02/24/2011

I wish Hollywood was still glamorous, elegant, and stunningly beautiful.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

07:48 PM on 02/24/2011

Edith Head's genius is so underrated these days. Her creations were inspired.

[NevaforLeadership]

06:44 AM on 02/25/2011

Personally, I never understood the adulation of Edith Head. When one goes through her designs, there simply isn't anything extraordinary or outstandingly beautiful about them. In my view, she rode a wave of not fully deserved publicity -- maybe because she was one of only a few at that time.

Now, Helen Rose, she's a different story. She designed Grace Kelly's wedding dress, on of the most beautiful ever.

It's like ballet. Margot Fonteyn was revered as an incredible dancer; however, when one watches Svetlana Zakharova (in my view the best ballet dancer ever), then watches Margot Fonteyn, it is unbelievable that Fonteyn was ever revered for her dancing the way she was.

[veritas88]

07:11 PM on 02/24/2011

Dandridge, Audrey Hepbrun or Judy Garland should've won the Oscar over Grace Kelly that night.

[Knothare1230]

02:54 PM on 02/25/2011

So true-Any of the three was better deserving. And I like Grace Kelly This was only a couple years after the birth of Academy Campaigning- At the end of the day there is a reason why people still watch the performances of those three

[Jced]

06:24 PM on 02/24/2011

As much as I love, adore Grace Kelly... It should have been Judy's night...her performance was an absolute Tour de Force...

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

09:07 PM on 02/24/2011

As much as I love Grace, I have to agree. A Star Is Born with Judy is still a classic motion picture. SO much better than Janet Gaynor's version or even Barbra Streisand's.

[Skiwee]

06:21 PM on 02/24/2011

Grace Kelly - her first name says it all!

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

06:21 PM on 02/24/2011

Grace was never more lovely than in Rear Window and then To Catch a Thief. Two of my all-time faves.

[Kellybelle22]

06:52 PM on 02/24/2011

I agree! Those were her most beautiful movies, although she looked amazing almost no matter what she did. My father adored her in her heyday. He said the shot in "Rear Window" when the camera had her move forward as she was about to kiss James Stewart awake was his all-time favorite. He was broken-hearted when she married Prince Ranier.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

07:46 PM on 02/24/2011

Your dear dad is SO correct. She was just stunning in Rear Window.

The beauty of the costume ball scene from To Catch a Thief was breathtaking.

There are a few movies that, every time they're on TV, I stop to watch. Those two films top the list.

[NevaforLeadership]

06:45 AM on 02/25/2011

Dial M for Murder.

[Hardyman1966]

05:24 PM on 02/24/2011

The current incarnation of Hollywood will NEVER be able to touch this!

[LMPE]

05:05 PM on 02/24/2011

When "sight for sore eyes" gets defined in the dictionary, they need to use these pictures.