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IMDbPro

Jean Harlow(1911-1937)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
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Jean Harlow circa 1933
A compilation of scenes from classic MGM comedies from the silent era up to 1948's "A Southern Yankee." Among the films showcased are "The Thin Man," "A Night at the Opera," "Dinner at Eight" and "Bonnie Scotland."
Play trailer2:26
The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
9 Videos
99+ Photos
Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1911. She was the daughter of a successful dentist and his wife. In 1927, at the age of 16, she ran away from home to marry a young businessman named Charles McGrew, who was 23. The couple pulled up stakes and moved to Los Angeles, not long after they were married, and it was there Jean found work as an extra in films, landing a bit part in Moran of the Marines (1928). From that point on she would go to casting calls whenever she could. In 1929 she had bit parts in no less than 11 movies, playing everything from a passing woman on the street to a winged ballerina. Her marriage to McGrew turned out to be a disaster--it lasted barely two years--and they divorced. The divorce enabled her to put more of her efforts into finding roles in the movie business. Although she was having trouble finding roles in feature movies, she had more luck in film shorts. She had a fairly prominent role in Hal Roach's Double Whoopee (1929). Her big break came in 1930, when she landed a role in Howard Hughes' World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930), which turned out to be a smash hit. Not long after the film's debut, Hughes sold her contract to MGM for $60,000, and it was there where her career shot to unprecedented heights. Her appearance in Platinum Blonde (1931) cemented her role as America's new sex symbol. The next year saw her paired with Clark Gable in John Ford's Red Dust (1932), the second of six films she would make with Gable. It was while filming this picture (which took 44 days to complete at a cost of $408,000) that she received word that her new husband, MGM producer Paul Bern, had committed suicide. His death threatened to halt production of the film, and MGM chief Louis B. Mayer had even contacted Tallulah Bankhead to replace Harlow if she were unable to continue, a step that proved to be unnecessary. The film was released late in 1932 and was an instant hit. She was becoming a superstar. In MGM's glittering all-star Dinner at Eight (1933) Jean was at her comedic best as the wife of a ruthless tycoon (Wallace Beery) trying to take over another man's (Lionel Barrymore) failing business. Later that year she played the part of Lola Burns in director Victor Fleming's hit Bombshell (1933). It was a Hollywood parody loosely based on Clara Bow's and Harlow's real-life experiences, right down to the latter's greedy stepfather, nine-room Georgian-style home with mostly-white interiors, her numerous pet dogs - right down to having her re-shoot scenes from the Gable and Harlow hit, Red Dust (1932) here! In 1933 Jean married cinematographer Harold Rosson, a union that would only last eight months. In 1935 she was again teamed with Gable in another rugged adventure, China Seas (1935) (her remaining two pictures with Gable would be Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and Saratoga (1937)). It was her films with Gable that created her lasting legacy in the film world. Unfortunately, during the filming of Saratoga (1937), she was hospitalized with uremic poisoning. On June 7, 1937, she died from the ailment. She was only 26. The film had to be finished by long angle shots using a double. Gable said he felt like he was in the arms of a ghost during the final touches of the film. Because of her death, the film was a hit. Record numbers of fans poured into America's movie theaters to see the film. Other sex symbols/blonde bombshells have followed, but it is Jean Harlow who all others are measured against.
BornMarch 3, 1911
DiedJune 7, 1937(26)
BornMarch 3, 1911
DiedJune 7, 1937(26)
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  • Awards

Photos1007

Jean Harlow in Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
Jean Harlow in Three Wise Girls (1931)
Jean Harlow in The Secret 6 (1931)
Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932)
Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932)
Jean Harlow in Reckless (1935)
Jean Harlow in Reckless (1935)
Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight (1933)
Jean Harlow in Bombshell (1933)
Jean Harlow in Hold Your Man (1933)
Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight (1933)
Jean Harlow in China Seas (1935)

Known for

Cary Grant and Jean Harlow in Suzy (1936)
Suzy
6.4
  • Suzy Trent
  • 1936
Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, and William Powell in Libeled Lady (1936)
Libeled Lady
7.8
  • Gladys Benton
  • 1936
Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932)
Red Dust
7.2
  • Vantine
  • 1932
John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Billie Burke, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Madge Evans, Jean Hersholt, Phillips Holmes, Edmund Lowe, Karen Morley, and Lee Tracy in Dinner at Eight (1933)
Dinner at Eight
7.5
  • Kitty Packard
  • 1933

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Saratoga (1937)
    Saratoga
  • Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor in Personal Property (1937)
    Personal Property
  • Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, and William Powell in Libeled Lady (1936)
    Libeled Lady
  • Cary Grant and Jean Harlow in Suzy (1936)
    Suzy
  • Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Myrna Loy in Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
    Wife vs. Secretary
  • Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow in Riffraff (1936)
    Riffraff
  • Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, and Jean Harlow in China Seas (1935)
    China Seas
  • Jean Harlow and William Powell in Reckless (1935)
    Reckless
  • Jean Harlow in The Girl from Missouri (1934)
    The Girl from Missouri
  • Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy in Bombshell (1933)
    Bombshell
  • John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Billie Burke, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Madge Evans, Jean Hersholt, Phillips Holmes, Edmund Lowe, Karen Morley, and Lee Tracy in Dinner at Eight (1933)
    Dinner at Eight
  • Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Hold Your Man (1933)
    Hold Your Man
  • Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932)
    Red Dust
  • Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman (1932)
    Red-Headed Woman
  • Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni, and Osgood Perkins in Scarface (1932)
    Scarface
    • (uncredited)

Soundtrack

  • Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell (1993)
    Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
  • That's Entertainment! (1974)
    That's Entertainment!
    • (uncredited)
  • Cary Grant and Jean Harlow in Suzy (1936)
    Suzy
    • ("Did I Remember (To Tell You I Adore You)?" (1936))
  • Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow in Riffraff (1936)
    Riffraff
    • (uncredited)
  • Jean Harlow and William Powell in Reckless (1935)
    Reckless
    • ("Reckless" (1935))
  • Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Hold Your Man (1933)
    Hold Your Man
    • ("Hold Your Man" (1933), uncredited)
  • Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932)
    Red Dust
    • ("There's No Place Like Home (Home, Sweet Home)" (1823), uncredited)

Videos9

Official Trailer
Trailer 2:31
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:26
Official Trailer
Original Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 2:39
Original Theatrical Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 0:46
Official Trailer
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 1:37
Theatrical Trailer
Warner Archive Trailer
Trailer 1:01
Warner Archive Trailer
Libeled Lady
Trailer 2:46
Libeled Lady
Dinner At Eight
Trailer 3:01
Dinner At Eight
China Seas
Trailer 1:58
China Seas

Personal details

Edit
    • March 3, 1911
    • Kansas City, Missouri, USA
    • June 7, 1937
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(uremic poisoning brought on by acute nephritis)
    • Harold RossonSeptember 18, 1933 - March 14, 1936 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Novel: "Today is Tonight". NOTE: She wrote the novel while on a salary strike from MGM. It wasn't published until 1965 (paperback by Dell Publishing). She claimed that the story came to her almost complete in a dream, and that she felt compelled to write it. Yet, after completing the manuscript, she didn't publish it (it's possible that MGM quashed her efforts to publish it to preserve her screen image as a dumb, sexy blonde). After the death of Harlow's mother, the manuscript passed into the possession of Jean's friend, Ruth Hamp, who published it as a counterpoint to the two exploitive "Harlow" films released that year.
  • Publicity listings
    • 5 Biographical Movies
    • 10 Print Biographies
    • 9 Portrayals
    • 1 Interview
    • 14 Articles
    • 20 Pictorials
    • 50 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Following the end of her third marriage she met actor William Powell. They were engaged for two years (due to minor differences and Jean's belief that MGM would not approve), but she became sick and died before they could marry.
  • Quotes
    [on Hell's Angels (1930)] When I was making a personal appearance, I'd always sneak in the back of the house to watch the zeppelin airplane attack. I never failed to get a tremendous thrill out of it. I probably saw that scene hundreds of times.
    • Often played the wisecracking platinum blonde
    • Saratoga
      (1937)
      $4,000 /week

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