- Born
- Birth nameKarolyn Kay Grimes
- Height5′ 5¾″ (1.67 m)
- At age 6, Karolyn Grimes played the role of Zuzu Bailey in the holiday film It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Her childhood film career spanned 16 movies, but she is best remembered for playing the daughter of George and Mary Bailey (James Stewart and Donna Reed). The petals from her rose symbolize the values of family, friends and life itself in the 1946 classic, and it is Zuzu who speaks the movie's most memorable line, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." In recent years, Karolyn has carried on the spirit of It's a Wonderful Life (1946), serving as the film's most active and appealing ambassador.
- IMDb mini biography by: Clay Eals <ceals@cclink.fhcrc.org>
- SpousesMichael T Wilkerson(July 22, 1969 - 1993) (his death, 2 children)Chris Brunell(? - present)Hal Barnes (divorced, 2 children)
- ParentsLa Van Grimes
- She still has an angel ornament from the Christmas tree in the movie It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
- Her Hollywood career ended with her parents' deaths when she was a teen. She was sent to live with her aunt. She eventually became a medical technician.
- According to Grimes, the name "Zuzu" came from a cookie, similar to a gingersnap, that was sold in the early 1900s.
- In 1999, she went to Philadelphia to take part in special extravaganza. One-hundred 4th of July babies were present from 1900-1999 and she represented 1940.
- Karolyn also plays the gabby chatterbox of a little girl in John Ford - John Wayne's Rio Grande (1950), and fittingly gets to ring another bell.
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