Before Marily Monroe there was Jean Harlow. A glamorous screen star, famous for her blonde locks and sexy way of dressing, she was the talk of 1930s Hollywood. She became the first “blonde bombshell” and although the actress became famous for her looks, she soon won over critics with her quick wit and wit in the comedies she was making.
Sadly, the star passed away at the height of her career, aged just 26. Her all-too-short life was marked by professional success and behind-the-scenes tragedies, including several unhappy marriages and the suicide of her second husband. And as you’ll discover, the blonde locks came at a price, too.
But why exactly did the life of this beautiful blonde end so tragically and abruptly? Click through this gallery and find out more about Hollywood’s first blonde bombshell.
1/32 photos
© Getty Images
Jean Harlow: The tragic life of the first ‘blonde bombshell’
Before Marily Monroe there was Jean Harlow. A glamorous screen star, famous for her blonde locks and sexy way of dressing, she was the talk of 1930s Hollywood. She became the first “blonde bombshell” and although the actress became famous for her looks, she soon won over critics with her quick wit and wit in the comedies she was making.
Sadly, the star passed away at the height of her career, aged just 26. Her all-too-short life was marked by professional success and behind-the-scenes tragedies, including several unhappy marriages and the suicide of her second husband. And as you’ll discover, the blonde locks came at a price, too.
But why exactly did the life of this beautiful blonde end so tragically and abruptly? Click through this gallery and find out more about Hollywood’s first blonde bombshell.
2/32 photos
© Getty Images
A true siren
Born Harlean Harlow Carpenter in 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri, Jean Harlow was the most glamorous star of the early 1930s. The star of films such as ‘Beware of Blondes’ (1931) and ‘Bombshell’ (1933) was best known for her stunning looks.
3/32 photos
© Getty Images
A premature death
But the star died prematurely of acute kidney failure in 1937 at the age of just 26. At that time she was in the middle of filming the movie “Saratoga” with Clark Gable. Gable, who visited her at her bedside, reportedly said as he bent to greet her, “it was like kissing a dead person, a rotting person.”
4/32 photos
© Getty Images
A sad fate
Harlow’s kidney failure was reportedly so bad that she couldn’t pass urine and excreted it in the air. She’d also lost most of her famous hair and was bloated from water retention. It was a sad ending for a star so well known for her beauty.
5/32 photos
© Getty Images
speculation
After her death, the Hollywood rumor mill simmered. It was rumored that the real cause of death was alcohol poisoning or attempting to terminate a pregnancy. There has been much speculation lately that the chemical cocktail she used on her hair might have been a major factor.
6/32 photos
© Getty Images
naturally blonde?
Known as Jean Harlow, the star has been blonde since she was a child. Despite claiming that her adult hair color is natural, Hollywood hairstylist Alfred Pagano once stated that he would bleach her hair with “peroxide, ammonia, Clorox and Lux Flakes”!
7/32 photos
© Getty Images
The birth of “platinum blonde”
Before Jean Harlow, the terms “blonde bombshell” and “platinum blonde” didn’t exist. The sensual screen siren wore those titles in the early 1930s – years before other blonde stars like Marilyn Monroe.
8/32 photos
© Getty Images
Howard Hughes
Hollywood film magnate and director Howard Hughes loved to give his stars nicknames to increase their marketability. Just as Clara Bow was known as “The ‘It’ Girl” and Mary Pickford as “America’s Sweetheart”, his advertising team gave Harlow the nickname “Platinum Blonde”.
9/32 photos
© Getty Images
No comparison with the blonde bombshell
Although women had lightened their hair for years, Harlow’s white-blonde locks were something new. Women everywhere rushed to hairstylists to try to replicate the look, and Hughes even offered a $10,000 prize to the stylist who could replicate the star’s color. No one could claim the prize for themselves.
10/32 photos
© Getty Images
drama and tragedy
Despite her fame, Harlow’s personal life was one of drama and tragedy. At the time of her death, she was engaged to actor William Powell. She had already been married three times, with her second husband, film manager Paul Bern, apparently taking his own life in 1932. Her third marriage, to cinematographer Harold Rosson, lasted less than a year.
11/32 photos
© Getty Images
A young bride
Harlow was born the daughter of a wealthy Kansas City dentist and moved to Los Angeles with her mother as a child after her parents divorced. At the age of 16 she eloped and married stockbroker Charles McGrew, but the marriage fell apart when, against her husband’s wishes, she decided to pursue an acting career in Hollywood.
12/32 photos
© Getty Images
Early Career Years
Harlow began her career as an extra before making a brief but memorable appearance in the 1929 Laurel and Hardy silent comedy The Prince in the Elevator Shaft (pictured).
13/32 photos
© Getty Images
The big breakthrough
After making her talkie debut with a small role opposite Clara Bow in The Saturday Night Kid (1929), Harlow had her big break in the Howard Hughes film Inferno (1930).
14/32 photos
© Getty Images
Hot Hollywood
Harlow’s super blonde hair and movie star face and physique made her an instant hit. In 1931, she acted in a number of films, including “Beware of Blondes” (pictured).
15/32 photos
© Getty Images
comedic talent
Her early films focused more on her looks than her acting skills, but in 1932 Harlow showed off her comedic skills and played on her reputation as a blonde bombshell by starring in the film Firehead.
16/32 photos
© Getty Images
second wedding
In June 1932, Harlow announced her engagement to Hollywood writer, director and producer Paul Bern (right), and the couple married a month later.
17/32 photos
© Getty Images
Tragedy strikes
Just two months later, Bern was found with a gunshot wound at the couple’s Beverly Hills home, apparently having committed suicide.
18/32 photos
© Getty Images
The note at the crime scene
A note found at the scene read: “Sadly dear, this is the only way to right the terrible wrong I have done to you and erase my wretched humiliation, I love you Paul. You understand that the last one night was just a comedy.”
19/32 photos
© Getty Images
shock rigidity
Newspaper photographers gathered at the crime scene (pictured) to snap pictures as the story made waves in Hollywood and around the world. A few days later, Bern’s former partner Dorothy Millette jumped to her death from a ferry, leading to wild speculation about her involvement in the crime. However, the official verdict was that he was self-inflicted.
20/32 photos
© Getty Images
high point of her career
At the time of her husband’s death, Harlow was filming Jungle Storm, one of many successful films in which she starred opposite Hollywood star Clark Gable (photo). She was a star at the peak of her powers and had a string of box office hits under her belt.
21/32 photos
© Getty Images
third marriage
The following year, Harlow remarried, this time to cinematographer Harold Rosson. However, their marriage fell apart and they divorced within a year.
22/32 photos
© Getty Images
studio success
In contrast to her personal life, Harlow’s film career has been on the upswing. With films such as “The Public Opinion” (1935) she celebrated successes at the box office and with critics.
23/32 photos
© Getty Images
Your film partner from “Public Opinion”
It seemed like happier times were ahead for Harlow as she got engaged to her ‘Public Opinion’ co-star William Powell.
24/32 photos
© Getty Images
“Funny Sinners”
The two also co-starred with Spencer Tracy in the 1936 film Funny Sinners.
25/32 photos
© Getty Images
Health problems
However, despite her youth, Harlow had a slew of health problems. Before she was 16, she is said to have suffered from polio, meningitis and scarlet fever. In adulthood, pneumonia, appendectomy and rumors of drinking problems also took their toll.
26/32 photos
© Getty Images
hair loss
At the height of her platinum blonde fame, Harlow was reportedly having her hairline touched up with chemicals every week. When she made the film “Public Opinion” in 1935, the damage was already so great that she lost large parts of her famous curls.
27/32 photos
© Getty Images
brunette bombshell?
After wearing wigs in a number of films, Harlow was recast as “Brown-ette” in 1936. What was left of her natural hair was dyed a darker shade to match the blonde-brown wigs
28/32 photos
© Getty Images
The beginning of the end
Though Harlow is said to have loved her new image, she didn’t have too long to enjoy it. In late May 1937, while filming the movie “Saratoga” starring Clark Gable, she fell ill and was hospitalized.
29/32 photos
© Getty Images
The Death of Jean Harlow
Although she appeared to be recovering quickly and was expected back on set, Jean Harlow fell into a coma on June 6 and died the following day. Her fiancé, William Powell, was by her side. A large crowd gathered outside the Los Angeles morgue where her body was held, but were kept away at her mother’s request.
30/32 photos
© Getty Images
Crowds at the funeral
Despite family attempts to keep the funeral private, a crowd gathered at the California cemetery where the actress was buried on June 10, 1937 at the age of 26.
31/32 photos
© Getty Images
An icon
Though she died tragically early, Harlow left a lasting legacy in Hollywood. Famous for provocative statements like “I’m uncomfortable in underwear, and besides, my parts need to breathe,” she was one of the first mainstream stars to be so bluntly seductive.
32/32 photos
© Getty Images
Posthumous Success
After filming with substitute actors was completed, “Saratoga” became the highest grossing film of Harlow’s career. It was the sixth and final collaboration between the star and Clark Gable and could have taken her career to new heights after ‘Bombshell’.
Quellen: (Britannica) (The Atlantic) (History)
Also interesting: Power Women: The Best Feminist Films
2023-08-14 17:07:06
#Jean #Harlow #tragic #life #blonde #bombshell
