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Life hasn't always been wonderful for Karolyn Grimes.
The actress was 6 years old when she was offered a role in the 1946 film “It's a Wonderful Life.” The Frank Capra-directed classic stars James Stewart and Donna Reed.
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The film centers on the character George Bailey, played by Stewart, who contemplates suicide. His guardian angel intervenes and shows him all the people whose lives he has touched. One memorable character is Zuzu, played by Grimes, who says, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gains his wings.”
Clockwise from top: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Carol Coombs, Jimmy Hawkins, Larry Simms and Karolyn Grimes. (Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty Images)
While the film has become a holiday staple over the years, Grimes has endured personal tragedies outside of the spotlight.
The now 84-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter that things began to take a terrible turn when she was 11 years old.
“My mother started getting sick,” the former child star recalls. “Unfortunately, it was something that couldn't be cured. It was what we would call today early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Back then, we didn't call it that. We called it that. simply called cerebral atrophy.”
American child actress Karolyn Grimes, circa 1946. (Features Keystone/Getty Images)
Grimes noted that her acting career became a financial impossibility for her father, who initially did not approve of her.
“He should have paid for someone to take me to an audition because you have to have a guardian, and he should have paid for someone, if I got a role, to be on set with me,” Grimes said. “It was a bit too much for him.”
At age 14, Grimes lost her mother, who was only 44 years old. Grimes was orphaned a year later, at the age of 15, when her heartbroken father was killed in a car accident. According to the outlet, Grimes' future was left up to the court.
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Karolyn Grimes appeared in “The Bishop's Wife” (1947) with Cary Grant and “Rio Grande” (1950) with John Wayne. (Features Keystone/Getty Images)
“I had friends’ parents who were willing to take me,” she said. “I asked the judge, 'Do I have any say in who I go or where I live?' And he said, “Your desires are like a drop in the bucket.” I’ll never forget that.”
Grimes was placed in the custody of her uncle and his wife. She left Hollywood, her hometown, and moved with them to Osceola, a small town in Missouri. Grimes claimed that for the next three years she endured “extremely cruel” treatment from her aunt, who suffered from mental illness.
Eager to escape her home life, Grimes married a local boy at 18.
“I had friends' parents who were willing to take me. I asked the judge, 'Do I have any say in who I go or where I live?' And he said, “Your desires are like a drop in the bucket.” I’ll never forget that.”
James Stewart (1908-1997) as George Bailey and Karolyn Grimes as his daughter Zuzu, in a scene from “It's a Wonderful Life”, directed by Frank Capra. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
“I had to escape, and it was the only way I saw to escape,” she admitted.
Grimes and her husband had two daughters before divorcing. He was later killed in a hunting accident.
She said “yes” once again to a man who already had three children from a previous marriage. Together, they welcomed two more children.
While raising a family, Grimes enrolled at the University of Central Missouri. For 25 years, she worked quietly as a medical technologist. Grimes said her children knew little about her Hollywood past.
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“They knew I was in the movies, but it wasn’t important to them because it wasn’t important to me,” she said. “I think in fourth grade they could have taken a picture at school and said, ‘This is my mom, and she did this,’ but that was it.”
The outlet reported that “It's a Wonderful Life” entered the public domain in the 1970s. As a result, it aired every Christmas, attracting a new legion of fans. It wasn't until 1980 that Grimes, who had never seen the film, learned of its resurgence. She was living in Kansas at the time.
“Someone knocked on my door when I was 40 and said, 'Were you in the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life?'” Grimes said. Well, yeah.' And they said, “Can I have an interview?” »…So I dug up all my memorabilia from the basement and we had an interview. »
Karolyn Grimes unveils a wax figure of James Stewart at Madame Tussauds on November 29, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Victor Délongon/Getty Images)
“The next week the same thing happened, and then it happened again,” she recalled. “I thought, 'Maybe I'd better sit down and watch this movie.'”
Tragedy struck Grimes again in 1989. His youngest son, described by the outlet as “a shy, sensitive boy,” committed suicide at age 18.
“What's really sad is the fact that I never let my children see [‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ with its message that every life has great meaning and value]” she said.
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Donna Reed, seen here with James Stewart, died in 1986. She was 64. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Grimes was “deeply grieving” in 1990 when she decided to accept an invitation to attend the Chaplin Prize gala. Stewart was honored. It was there that, for the first time, as adults, the co-stars spoke.
One of the things Stewart and Grimes bonded over was the grief of losing a child. Stewart lost a son in the Vietnam War.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get over it,” Grimes said.
The couple remained in touch until Stewart's death in 1997. He was 89 years old.
As an adult, Karolyn Grimes remained in contact with James Stewart. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
The outlet reported that a few years later, Grimes' second husband died of cancer. They were married for 25 years.
“I think that’s really what sparked it,” Grimes said of their son’s suicide.
“Something about it did something to him,” she said, referring to her late spouse.
It was during this time, at the “lowest emotional point of Grimes' life,” that “It's a Wonderful Life” saved her, the outlet revealed. In 1993, Target contacted her in hopes that she would participate in a Christmas promotional campaign. As she traveled the country, Grimes became friends with several former child artists.
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“It’s a Wonderful Life” has become a holiday staple every year across the country. (CBS via Getty Images)
“After that, we became real brothers and sisters,” she said.
Since then, the retired grandmother has been busy every year. During the holidays, she attended many events to celebrate the film and its contribution to Hollywood.
While touring, Grimes has witnessed the impact of “It's a Wonderful Life” on fans young and old.
“People lined up to get autographs and talked about wanting to kill themselves and how they watched the movie, and it saved them,” she said.
Today, Karolyn Grimes is a retired grandmother living a quiet life outside of Hollywood. (Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
These encounters, she said, inspired her to spread the film's message of hope and “keep it alive.”
“I just said to myself, ‘This is my path and this is what I’m supposed to do,’” she said. “And I’ve been doing it ever since.”
In 2021, Grimes told Fox News Digital that her parents gave her the wisdom to help her overcome any obstacles.
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Karolyn Grimes is proud of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the message it has to offer. (Dr. Billy Ingram/WireImage/Getty Images)
“My parents instilled in me that in the end everything will be okay,” she said at the time. “It might not be right now, but it will be. Life is what you make it. And I wanted it to be good.”
“My parents also gave me a very solid religious education,” she notes. “I have a certain respect for anyone who believes in a higher being and tries to follow a good path in life.
“I think it's something we should all strive to do. It's hard these days, but damn, if only we could try. The world is scary out there. And we have more than never needed a movie like “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I think that’s how I coped.”