Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the pre-Code era of American cinema.[1] Often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde", Harlow was popular for her "Laughing Vamp" screen persona. Harlow was in the film industry for only nine years, but she became one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars, whose image in the public eye has endured. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Harlow number 22 on its greatest female screen legends list.[2]
Harlow was first signed by business magnate Howard Hughes, who directed her first major role in Hell's Angels (1930). After a series of critically failed films, and Hughes' loss of interest in her career, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought out Harlow's contract in 1932[3] and cast her in leading roles in a string of hits built on her comedic talent: Red-Headed Woman (1932), Red Dust (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Reckless (1935) and Suzy (1936). Harlow's popularity rivaled and then surpassed that of MGM's top leading ladies Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. She died at the age of 26 of kidney failure while filming Saratoga. MGM completed the film with the use of body doubles and released it less than two months after her death; it became MGM's most successful film of 1937, as well as the highest-grossing film of her career.
^Mashon, Mike; Bell, James (April 30, 2014). "Pre-Code: Hollywood before the censors". Sight & Sound. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
^McDonald, Paul (2012). Hollywood Stardom. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118321669.
^Vieira, Mark A. (2009). Irving Thalberg: boy wonder to producer prince. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-520-26048-1.
JeanHarlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she...
JeanHarlow (March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress who made her uncredited debut in two 1928 films: Honor Bound for Fox Film; and Moran...
their time. He frequently acted alongside Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, JeanHarlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner. Gable died of a heart attack...
became the assistant to Irving Thalberg. He helped launch the career of JeanHarlow, whom he married in July 1932; two months later, he was found dead of...
for the comedy My Man Godfrey. In 1935, he starred with JeanHarlow in Reckless. In 1936, Harlow and Powell appeared in Libeled Lady, and they became romantically...
another well-known blonde, 1930s film star JeanHarlow. The comparison was prompted partly by Monroe, who named Harlow as her childhood idol, wanted to play...
cinema. Many showbiz stars have used it to their advantage, including JeanHarlow, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot and...
Eve Harlow is a Soviet-born actor in Canadian and US media. Eve Harlow is of Jewish descent, and was born in Soviet Moscow. She moved to Canada at age...
student convinced studio head Louis B. Mayer that Turner could be the next JeanHarlow, a sex symbol who had died six months before Turner's arrival at MGM...
The film was directed by William A. Wellman and stars James Cagney, JeanHarlow, Edward Woods, Donald Cook and Joan Blondell. The film relates the story...
Sylvia before giving her the role of JeanHarlow in the biopic Harlow (1965). Despite significant prepublicity, Harlow was a critical failure, and Baker...
often credited as the first true screwball, though Bombshell starring JeanHarlow followed it in the same year. Although many film scholars agree that...
directed thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). Lynley played JeanHarlow in the biopic Harlow (1965), co-starring Ginger Rogers, but the film failed at the...
and the musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), as well as his marriage to JeanHarlow. Born in New York City, Rosson came from a film-making family. His older...
also had roles in Cover Girl Models (1975), Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell (playing JeanHarlow) (1978), French Quarter (1978), The Main Event (1979)...
Bombshell (album), a 1961 album by Trisha Noble Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell a 1993 documentary about JeanHarlow hosted by Sharon Stone The Blonde Bombshell...
American screwball comedy film directed by Jack Conway and starring JeanHarlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy. It was written by George...
for films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She made her film debut playing JeanHarlow in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. Scorsese, whose daughter was...
He often acted alongside re-occurring leading ladies: six films with JeanHarlow, seven with Myrna Loy, and eight with Joan Crawford, among many others...
Angels starred JeanHarlow, but it was not her debut; she was an established actress with seventeen earlier screen credits. JeanHarlow was famous as (in...
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