Harlean Harlow Carpenter
10 min read
Reading time
1,956
Words
Published
83
Film credits
1
Award
After her role in Hell’s Angels 1930, Jean Harlow, born Harlean Carpenter, became known as Hollywood’s first platinum blonde sex symbol. She made six films with Clark Gable, including Red Dust 1932 and Saratoga 1937, which became the highest-grossing film of 1937 after her sudden death at 26 from uremic poisoning.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Jean Harlow — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Jean Harlow by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Jean Harlow — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Harlean Harlow Carpenter was born on March 3, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. She later took her stage name from her mother, Jean Poe Harlow. At 16, she ran away from home to marry 23-year-old Charles McGrew in 1927, moving to Los Angeles where she began working as an extra in films like Moran of the Marines 1928.
In 1930 she landed a role in Howard Hughes’ World War I epic Hell’s Angels, and the film became a hit. Hughes sold her contract to MGM for $60,000. After Platinum Blonde 1931, she became America’s new sex symbol. She paired with Clark Gable in Red Dust 1932, the second of six films they made together. During filming, her husband Paul Bern committed suicide, but she continued working. She also starred in Dinner at Eight 1933 and Bombshell 1933.
Harlow was married three times: to Charles McGrew 1927-1931, Paul Bern 1932, and Harold Rosson 1933-1936. After her third marriage ended, she became engaged to actor William Powell, but she died before they could marry. She dated mobster Abner Zwillman and was close friends with Clark Gable, who called her Sis.
Harlow’s platinum blonde image influenced Marilyn Monroe, who idolized her. She was the first actress on the cover of Life magazine in May 1937. Posthumously, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Her final film Saratoga was the highest-grossing film of 1937. She set the standard for the blonde bombshell in Hollywood.
The complete filmography of Jean Harlow — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Jean Harlow — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Jean Harlow — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Was Not a Born Actress. No One Knows It Better Than I. If I Had Any Latent Talent, I Have Had to Work Hard, Listen Carefully, Do Things Over and Over and Then Over Again in Order to Bring It Out.
Men Like Me Because I Don’t Wear a Brassiere. Women Like Me Because I Don’t Look Like a Girl Who Would Steal a Husband. at Least Not for Long.
To Me, Love Has Always Meant Friendship.
No One Ever Expects a Great Lay to Pay All the Bills.
There Is a God, Even in Hollywood.
Little-known facts about Jean Harlow — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
In May 1937 she became the first motion picture actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
After her third marriage ended she met actor William Powell. They were engaged for two years, but she fell ill and died before they could marry, partly because she feared MGM would not approve.
In 1934 she went on a salary strike from MGM and wrote a novel, Today is Tonight, which was not published until 1965.
When Rin Tin Tin died at age 16, Harlow lived across the street from his owner Lee Duncan and cradled the dog’s head in her lap as he died.
Her autograph is rare because her mother signed all her fan mail.
She owned a 152-carat star sapphire ring, the largest worn by any Hollywood star, a gift from William Powell. She wore it prominently in Personal Property 1937.
Marilyn Monroe idolized Harlow and backed out of a biographical film about her, reportedly saying she hoped the same wouldn’t happen to her after she died. Both actresses co-starred in their final films with Clark Gable: Harlow in Saratoga 1937 and Monroe in The Misfits 1961.
She is interred at Glendale’s Forest Lawn Cemetery in a private crypt bought by William Powell for $25,000, featuring marble from France, Italy, and Spain.
She and Hedy Lamarr inspired Bob Kane’s Catwoman character in Batman.
Before shooting scenes she would apply ice to her nipples to appear sexier.
At the 1936 Oscars she attended with William Powell, Clark Gable, and Carole Lombard. She was so ill that Lombard helped her to the powder room.
Everyone at MGM called her The Baby except Clark Gable, who called her Sis.
During her final film Saratoga 1937, Clark Gable noticed she was heavier due to kidney failure swelling her limbs, making it harder for him to lift her in a scene.
The premiere of Hell’s Angels on May 27, 1930, drew 50,000 people to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The film contains the only color footage of her, an eight-minute two-color Technicolor sequence.
On April 6, 1933, she spent the night at the Los Angeles Brewing Co. with Walter Huston, helping to christen the first truck of legal beer when Prohibition ended at midnight.
Critic Graham Greene wrote of her final performance in Saratoga: she toted a breast like a man totes a gun.
She had two superstitions: a lucky ankle chain on her left leg visible in some films, and a lucky mirror she always looked into before leaving her dressing room.
She was buried in the gown she wore in Libeled Lady 1936.
Her final film Saratoga became the highest-grossing film of 1937 due to her untimely death.
One of the last photos of her shows her carrying a copy of Gone with the Wind. She intended to read it but could not get past the first few pages due to illness, and died that week.
Her stand-in Mary Dees completed Saratoga after her death, shown only from behind.
In Bombshell 1933 she is called the If girl, a spoof of Clara Bow’s It girl image.
The day after her death MGM employees observed a moment of silence, and legend says no word was spoken in the commissary all day.
She never wore underwear and slept in the nude.
She was godmother to Millicent Siegel, daughter of mobster Bugsy Siegel.
At her death her estate was valued at over $1 million and left entirely to her mother.
She turned down the lead in King Kong 1933 and Freaks 1932.
She maintained a strict diet of vegetables and salads to stay thin.
She received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.
Louis B. Mayer organized a lavish funeral with a performance by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
A myth persists that her Christian Scientist mother refused surgery, but this has been repeatedly disproven.
She dated mobster Abner Zwillman, who secured a two-picture deal for her by loaning $500,000 to Columbia Pictures.
At age 17 she was photographed nude by Edwin Bower Hesser in Griffith Park.
Lee Remick was once slated to play her, and in 1965 two biopics titled Harlow were released starring Carol Lynley and Carroll Baker.
Her birth name Harlean Carpenter combined her mother’s maiden name. The studio later released it as Harlean Carpentier, with an extra i she added for exotic effect.
She once lived at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.
A portrait of her on a bearskin rug appeared in the set of Night Court 1984.
Louis B. Mayer denigrated her as a tramp but arranged an extravagant funeral against her wishes for a simple send-off.
She appeared with Clark Gable in six films: The Secret 6 1931, Red Dust 1932, Hold Your Man 1933, China Seas 1935, Wife vs. Secretary 1936, and Saratoga 1937.
Entertainment Weekly voted her the 49th Greatest Movie Star of all time.
A devoted Democrat, she visited President Franklin D. Roosevelt on his birthday at the White House in 1937, a clip of which exists on YouTube.
She has been portrayed by Gwen Stefani in The Aviator 2004, Carroll Baker and Carol Lynley in two Harlow biopics, and others.
Five of her films are in the National Film Registry: City Lights, The Public Enemy, Scarface, Red Dust, and Dinner at Eight.
MGM originally cast her as the female lead in the Maisie franchise, but she was replaced by Ann Sothern after her death.
She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale’s Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction.
MGM planned to star her and Clark Gable in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, but the project stalled after her death and was eventually made with Jane Fonda.
In 1999 she ranked #22 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Legends list.
Her husband Paul Bern was found shot dead in 1932 with a suicide note.
She was considered for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, a role that went to Vivien Leigh.
She is name-checked in Madonna’s 1990 song Vogue.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Jean Harlow.
Celebrities similar to Jean Harlow — same craft, ranked by reach.
🌍 Hong Kong
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇦 Ukraine
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇦 Ukraine
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
