Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow (March 3, 1911 - June 7, 1937), was an US film actress who became known as the "original blonde bombshell", predating Marilyn Monroe as a blonde sex symbol. Jean was the first blonde to be cast in 'bad girl roles'. Before her, bad girls in movies were always dark-haired and exotic looking. She made over thirty films during a career that lasted only ten years, and had a talent for comedy as well as drama that is still recognized today by record numbers of fans and film critics alike. Her given name (Harlean) was invented from parts of her mother's maiden name, Jean Harlow, which she adopted as a stage name and then, in 1935, legally.

Movie career

Jean wanted only to be a wife and mother, but to please Mother Jean she looked for work as an extra in films. In which she made $7 a day. In the beginning Jean landed bit parts in silent films such as Why is a Plumber? (1927), Moran of the Marines (1928), and The Love Parade (1929). She has a more substantial role in Laurel and Hardy's short Double Whoopee (1929). She got her first major role when producer Howard Hughes cast her in the World War I film Hell's Angels (1930).

Related Topics:
Why is a Plumber? - 1927 - Moran of the Marines - 1928 - The Love Parade - 1929 - Laurel and Hardy - Double Whoopee - Howard Hughes - World War I - Hell's Angels

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In 1931, Harlow began to gain popularity when she appeared in The Public Enemy, Goldie, The Secret Six, with Clark Gable, and Platinum Blonde. In 1932 she had bigger roles in Red-Headed Woman, for which she got a salary of $1,250/week, and Red Dust, her second film with Clark Gable. Harlow and Gable worked well together, and starred in a total of six films together. It was during the making of Red Dust that Harlow's second husband, MGM producer Paul Bern (né Paul Levy) died in an episode that remains mysterious to this day: He was found nude, in his wife's bedroom, shot in the head, and drenched in his wife's perfume. Years later, it was suggested by screenwriter Ben Hecht that Bern was murdered by an unbalanced former lover, Dorothy Millette, who did actually commit suicide the next day. (Years later, the Bern-Harlow house became the home of Jay Sebring and his lover, Sharon Tate, who were both murdered by Charles Manson and his followers.)

Related Topics:
1931 - The Public Enemy - Goldie - The Secret Six - Clark Gable - Platinum Blonde - 1932 - Red-Headed Woman - Red Dust - MGM - Paul Bern - Ben Hecht - Dorothy Millette - Jay Sebring - Sharon Tate - Charles Manson

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By 1933, Jean was becoming a superstar. She had a great comedic part in Dinner at Eight, and later that year she starred in Bombshell. After an affair with boxer Max Baer, she married in 1933 to cinematographer Harold Rosson; they divorced seven months later. Jean then starred in two more films with Clark Gable, China Seas (1935), and Wife vs. Secretary (1936).

Related Topics:
1933 - Dinner at Eight - Bombshell - Max Baer - Cinematographer - Harold Rosson - China Seas - 1935 - Wife vs. Secretary - 1936

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Following the end of her third marriage she met MGM star William Powell. They reportedly were engaged for two years, but differences kept them from marrying swiftly (she wanted children, he did not). Harlow also said that studio head Louis B. Mayer would never allow them to wed. While filming Saratoga (1937) with Clark Gable, she was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, a result from scarlet fever she suffered from during childhood. She died shortly afterward at the age of 26, and is buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California. Powell paid for her tomb.

Related Topics:
William Powell - Louis B. Mayer - Saratoga - 1937 - Kidney - Scarlet fever - Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, California

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