Jean Harlow's Life In Pictures

Harlean Carpenter, later known as Jean Harlow, was born on March 3, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. (classicmoviefavorites.com)

She was the daughter of a successful dentist and her mother was the daughter of a very wealthy stockbroker. (classicmoviefavorites.com)

As a young child she attended the Miss Barstow's Finishing School for Girls in Kansas City. Her mother then moved her to Hollywood in hopes of becoming an actress. 

For a few years to come they moved around and before her big break in 1929, she met and married her first husband, Charles "Chuck" McGrew. They lived life as socialites living on a huge inheritance that was left for McGrew. They were known to have a volatile marriage that included heavy drinking. They divorced in 1929. 

Harlow started her acting career in small parts in movies like Moran of the Marines (1928), This Thing Called Love (1929), Close Harmony (1929), and The Love Parade (1929), 

She landed her first speaking role in 1929's The Saturday Night Kid, starring Clara Bow.

(Clara Bow (left) Jean Harlow (middle) Jean Arthur (right)

It wasn't until 1929 she was discovered to appear in Howard Hughes "Hell's Angels" Hell's Angels premiered in Hollywood on May 27, 1930, at Grauman's Chinese Theater, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1930 and making Harlow an International Star. 

Harlow at the premiere of Hell's Angels

Director, Howard Hughes was quite taken with Harlow. 

In her 10 short years being a Hollywood starlet, Harlow did 36 movies. she gained more attention when she appeared in The Secret Six, with Wallace Beery and Clark Gable; Iron Man, with Lew Ayres and Robert Armstrong; and The Public Enemy, with James Cagney. 

Harlow and her mother in 1934

In 1932 Harlow starred in "Red headed Woman" wearing a red wig, hiding her blonde hair for the first time since being bleached. 

By the mid-1930s, Harlow was one of the biggest stars in the United States. Her movies continued to make a profit, even in the depression. After her third marriage ended in 1934, Harlow met William Powell, another MGM star, and quickly fell in love. The couple was reportedly engaged for two years, but differences kept them from formalizing their relationship. 

 In Suzy (1936),  she played the title role,  which gave her top billing over Franchot Tone and Cary Grant.  She then starred in Riffraff (1936) with Spencer Tracy and Una Merkel, and the worldwide hit Libeled Lady (1936), in which she was top billed over Powell, Myrna Loy, and Tracy. She then filmed W.S. Van Dyke's comedy Personal Property (1937), co-starring Robert Taylor. It was Harlow's final fully completed motion picture appearance.

Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy and William Powell in Libeled Lady (1936)

Harlow on the set of Suzy

Harlow and Cary Grant , 1936

Libeled Lady, William Powell, Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, 1936 

Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor in Personal Property, 1937

While filming Saratoga in 1937, Jean was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure. She died on June 7th, 1937. 

Jean Harlow in an ironic scene from her last film, Saratoga, wearing the negligee she was buried in

"Always, she is so straightforward and human and pleasant to observe that she is of inordinate value to a film that certainly does require her gifts."
-- Richard Watts, Jr. from the New York Herald Tribune

"In the first sitting I fell in love with Jean Harlow. She had the most beautiful and seductive body I ever photographed." 
-- Charles Sinclair Bull (portrait photographer)

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