Before the days of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Madonna and Anna Nicole, the original "Blonde Bombshell" made her mark on Hollywood and the world, leaving behind a new image of the Hollywood sex goddess.
Harlean Carpenter, later known as Jean Harlow, was born on March 3, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. Although she would sadly only live to age 26, Jean achieved a great deal of success during her lifetime. In an acting career that lasted 10 short years, Jean made 36 movies and was the first movie actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
Jean displayed talent in both her sensual and comedic performances, but she initially captivated fans with her trendsetting platinum blonde hair. As she gained fame, peroxide sales in the United States skyrocketed. Botched attempts to look like Jean forced thousands of women to cut their hair. Hollywood producers of the past had consistently cast dark-haired women to play the parts of vixens, but Jean emerged as the first star to incorporate the platinum blonde look into her acting.
Jean was born the daughter of a successful dentist. His wife. Jean's mother, known as Mama Jean, had dreams of becoming an actress, which led her to divorce her husband and move to Hollywood with her young daughter. Jean's mother never allowed her to see her father, however Jean would sneak visits with him throughout her life. Mother Jean soon remarried a man named Marino Bello and the family moved to Chicago, where Jean attended high school.
Poor health afflicted Jean throughout her childhood. At age five, she contracted meningitis and suffered from scarlet fever at age 15. Jean left home at age 16 to marry 23-year-old Charles McGrew. Shortly after the wedding the couple left Chicago and moved to Beverly Hills. Jean's true aspiration in life was to be a wife and mother, however she sought work as an extra in films to please Mother Jean. Although at first Jean was not interested in making films, she received her first role in Why is a Plumber? in 1927. She and McGrew divorced after two years, but her big career break was about to occur.
In 1930, movie producer and entrepreneur Howard Hughes became interested in Jean and cast her in Hell's Angels. In Hell's Angels, she spoke the now famous line, "Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?" Jean's appearance in Hell's Angels solidified her role as America's new sex symbol. This victory was followed by another hit, Platinum Blonde, and several films with Clark Gable. In total, she and Gable would star in six movies together including Red Dust, The Secret Six and Wife vs. Secretary. During the filming of Red Dust, Jean's second husband of only two months, producer Paul Bern, committed suicide.
In 1933's Dinner at Eight, Jean was at her comedic best. Later that year she starred in Bombshell, a Hollywood parody based loosely on her real-life experiences with her controlling mother and greedy stepfather. Also in 1933, Jean married cinematographer Harold Rosson in a union that would only last eight months. To accompany her escalating career, in 1935 she legally changed her name to Jean Harlow, her mother's maiden name.
Following the end of her marriage, Jean found the love of her life in actor William Powell. They were together for two years, however before they could wed, Jean's health declined. While filming Saratoga in 1937, Jean was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, a result of the scarlet fever she had suffered during childhood. In the days before dialysis and kidney transplants, nothing could be done and Jean died on June 7, 1937. She was only 26. The film had to be finished using long angle shots and a double, Mary Dees. Clark Gable was reported to have said that he felt as if he was "in the arms of a ghost."
On Wednesday, June 9, MGM closed its doors for Jean's funeral ... the biggest, most spectacular funeral service Hollywood had ever seen. At the Wee Kirk o' the Heather chapel at Glendale's Forest Lawn Cemetary, she lay in a silver and bronze coffin, looking "as though she were asleep. . . " More than 250 invited guests crowded into the small chapel, including Gable, Tracy, Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, William Powell, Lionel Barrymore and the Marx brothers. An estimated $15,000 worth of floral tributes surrounded Harlow's coffin, and MGM studio security guards assisted cemetery staff, Glendale police and state police in keeping fans outside the cemetery gates. Jeanette MacDonald sang "Indian Love Call," (one of Harlow's favorite songs). Nelson Eddy followed with "Ah, Sweed Mystery of Life." Friend and last co-star Clark Gable served as a pallbearer and usher.
The following Saturday, Jean was interred in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetary in Glendale. A single white gardenia with an unsigned note written by Powell, that read "Good night, my dearest darling" were placed in her hands.
At the time of her death, Harlow was engaged to William Powell, who was at her bedside when she died. Powell purchased the alcove where Harlow's body is buried for a reported $30,000, with three available burial spaces. The alcove also contains the body of Harlow's mother, Jean Harlow Carpenter Bello (1889 - 1958), in an unmarked crypt. The third space, originally purchased for Powell himself, is unoccupied. William Powell married Diana Lewis "Mousie" Powell in 1940. He died on March 5, 1984, at the age of 91, and is buried in Palm Springs, California, next to his only child, William David Powell (a television writer and NBC executive), who had committed suicide in 1968, at the age of 43.
Jean Harlow was labeled a "screen siren" for her sensational dialogue and revealing costumes, but audiences, directors and producers alike appreciated her flair for comedy and drama. Had she lived longer, it is likely that she would have stayed on a successful path in Hollywood for years to come. In an acting career that lasted only 10 years, Jean Harlow forever established herself as one of the most captivating actresses of all time. Other sex symbols/blonde bombshells have followed, but it is Jean Harlow who all are measured up to.
1937 Personal Property
1937 Saratoga
1936 Suzy
1936 Wife vs. Secretary
1936 Libeled Lady
1936 Riffraff
1935 China Seas
1935 Reckless
1934 The Girl from Missouri
1933 Hold Your Man
1933 Bombshell
1933 Dinner at Eight
1932 The Beast of the City
1932 Red Dust
1932 Three Wise Girls
1932 Red-Headed Woman
1931 Beau Hunks
1931 Goldie
1931 City Lights
1931 The Secret Six
1931 Iron Man
1931 Platinum Blonde
1931 The Public Enemy
1930 Hell's Angels
1929 Weak But Willing
1929 Liberty
1929 Fugitives
1929 Thundering Toupees
1929 Why Be Good?
1929 New York Nights
1929 The Love Parade
1929 The Unkissed Man
1929 Close Harmony
1929 Double Whoopee
1929 Bacon Grabbers
1929 This Thing Called Love
1929 Why Is a Plumber?
1929 The Saturday Night Kid
1928 Moran of the Marines
Click on each individual picture to see the full-size.
