Vintage photo. Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1934).

American film actress Jean Harlow (1911–1937) was with her come-hither body, platinum blonde hair, and keen sense of humour, one of Hollywood's sex symbols of the 1930s. She had her breakthrough in Howard Hughes' World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930). Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (1931) cemented her role as America's new sex symbol. In 1932, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and became the leading lady in a string of hit films. These included Red Dust (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Reckless (1935) and Suzy (1936). Among her frequent co-stars were William Powell, Spencer Tracy and, in six films, Clark Gable.

Jean Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. The name is sometimes incorrectly spelt Carpentier, following later studio press releases. Her father, Mont Clair Carpenter was a dentist from a working-class background who attended dental school in Kansas City. Her mother, Jean Poe Carpenter née Harlow was the daughter of a wealthy real estate broker, Skip Harlow. Jean's father arranged the marriage for their underage daughter in 1908. Jean was resentful and became very unhappy in the marriage. The couple lived in Kansas City in a house owned by Jean's father. Harlean was nicknamed 'The Baby', a name that would stick with her for the rest of her life. Harlean and 'Mother Jean', as she became known when Harlean became a film star, remained very close. Harlean's mother was extremely protective and coddling, reportedly instilling a sense that her daughter owed everything she had to her. "She was always all mine", she said of her daughter. When Harlean was at school, her mother filed for a divorce that was finalised in 1922. She was granted sole custody of Harlean, who loved her father who would survive her by thirty-seven years. However, Harlean would rarely see him again. Mother Jean moved with Harlean to Hollywood in 1923 with hopes of becoming an actress but was too old at 34 to begin a film career. Young Harlean attended the Hollywood School for Girls but dropped out at age 14 in the spring of 1925. Finances dwindling, she and her mother moved back to Kansas City after Skip Harlow issued an ultimatum that he would disinherit Jean if she did not return. Several weeks later, Skip sent his granddaughter to a summer camp, Camp Cha-Ton-Ka, in Michigamme, Michigan, where she became ill with scarlet fever. Her mother travelled to Michigan to care for her, rowing herself across the lake to the camp but was told she could not see her daughter. Harlow attended the Ferry Hall School (now Lake Forest Academy) in Lake Forest, Illinois. Her mother had an ulterior motive for Harlean's attendance there, as it was close to the Chicago home of her boyfriend, Marino Bello. Each freshman was paired with a 'big sister' from the senior class, and Harlean's big sister introduced her to 19-year-old Charles 'Chuck' Fremont McGrew, heir to a large fortune, in the fall of 1926. Soon the two began to date and then married. In early 1927, Jean Carpenter also married Bello; Harlean was not present. Shortly after the wedding, the McGrews left Chicago and moved to Beverly Hills. McGrew turned 21 two months after the marriage and received part of his large inheritance. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1928, settling into a home in Beverly Hills, where Harlean thrived as a wealthy socialite. McGrew hoped to distance Harlean from her mother with the move. Neither McGrew nor Harlean worked, and both, especially McGrew, were thought to drink heavily. In Los Angeles, Harlean befriended Rosalie Roy, a young aspiring actress. Lacking a car, Roy asked Harlean to drive her to Fox Studios for an appointment. Reputedly, Harlean was noticed and approached by Fox executives while waiting for her friend but stated that she was not interested. Nevertheless, she was given dictated letters of introduction to Central Casting. A few days later, Rosalie Roy bet Harlean that she did not have the nerve to go and audition. Unwilling to lose a wager and pressed by her enthusiastic mother, now back in Los Angeles, Harlean drove to Central Casting and signed in under her mother's maiden name, Jean Harlow. After several calls from Central Casting and several rejected job offers, Harlean was pressed into accepting work by her mother. She appeared in her first film, Honor Bound (Alfred E. Green, 1928), as an unbilled extra. This led to small parts in feature films such as Moran of the Marines (Frank R. Strayer, 1928) with Richard Dix, This Thing Called Love (Paul L. Stein, 1929), Close Harmony (John Cromwell, 1929), and The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929), starring Maurice Chevalier. In December 1928, she signed a five-year contract with Hal Roach Studios for $100 per week. She had a co-starring role in Laurel and Hardy's short Double Whoopee (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and went on to appear in two more of their films: Liberty (Leo McCarey, 1929) and Bacon Grabbers (Lewis R. Foster, 1929). In March 1929, however, she parted with Hal Roach, who tore up her contract after Harlow told him, "It's breaking up my marriage, what can I do?" In June 1929, Harlow separated from her husband and moved in with her mother and Bello. After her separation from McGrew, Harlow worked as an extra in several films. She landed her first speaking role in The Saturday Night Kid (A. Edward Sutherland, 1929), starring Clara Bow. The couple divorced in 1929. In late 1929, Jean was spotted by actor James Hall, who was filming Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930). Hughes revamped most of his originally silent film of 1927 with sound, and he needed an actress to replace Greta Nissen, who had a Norwegian accent that was considered to be undesirable for her character. Harlow made a test and got the part. In this film she uttered the immortal words "Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?" Hughes signed Harlow to a five-year, $100-per-week contract in 1929. Hell's Angels premiered in Hollywood on 27 May 1930, at Grauman's Chinese Theater, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1930, besting even Greta Garbo's talkie debut in Anna Christie (Clarence Brown, 1930). Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes, Edmund Goulding, James Whale, 1930) made Harlow an international star. Although she was popular with audiences, critics were less than enthusiastic. The New Yorker called her performance "plain awful", though Variety magazine conceded, "It doesn't matter what degree of talent she possesses ... nobody ever starved possessing what she's got." During the shooting, Harlow met MGM executive Paul Bern. She was again an uncredited extra in the Charlie Chaplin film City Lights (1931), though her appearance did not make the final cut. With no projects planned for Harlow, Hughes sent her to New York, Seattle, and Kansas City for Hell's Angels premieres. In 1931, loaned out by Hughes to other studios, she gained more attention when she appeared in The Secret Six (George W. Hill, 1931), with Wallace Beery and Clark Gable; Iron Man (Tod Browning, 1931), with Lew Ayres and Robert Armstrong; and The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931), with James Cagney. Though the successes of the films ranged from moderate to hit, Harlow's acting was mocked by critics. Concerned, Hughes sent her on a brief publicity tour, which was not a success, as Harlow dreaded such personal appearances. Jean Harlow dated notorious New Jersey mobster Abner Zwillman (aka 'Longy"), who secured a two-picture deal for her with Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures by loaning Cohn $500,000 in cash. He also purchased her a jewelled charm bracelet and a red Cadillac. Columbia Pictures cast her in Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra, 1931), with Loretta Young. The film, originally titled Gallagher, was renamed to promote Harlow, capitalising on her hair colour, called 'platinum' by Hughes' publicists. Though Harlow denied her hair was dyed, the platinum blonde colour was reportedly achieved by bleaching with a weekly application of ammonia, Clorox bleach, and Lux soap flakes. This process weakened and damaged Harlow's naturally ash-blonde hair. Many female fans began dyeing their hair to match hers. Howard Hughes' team organised a series of 'Platinum Blonde' clubs across the nation, with a prize of $10,000 to any beautician who could match Harlow's shade. No one could, the prize went unclaimed but Hughes' publicity worked and the nickname stuck with Harlow. Harlow next filmed Three Wise Girls (William Beaudine, 1932), for Columbia Pictures, with Mae Clark and Walter Byron. Paul Bern then arranged to borrow her for The Beast of the City (1932), co-starring Walter Huston. After filming, Bern booked a 10-week personal appearance tour on the East Coast. To the surprise of many, especially Harlow herself, she packed every theatre in which she appeared, often appearing in a single venue for several nights. Despite critical disparagement and poor roles, Harlow's popularity and following were large and growing and, in February 1932, the tour was extended by six weeks.

Jean Harlow was now romantically involved with MGM producer Paul Bern and he spoke to Louis B. Mayer about buying out her contract with Hughes and signing her to MGM, but Mayer declined. MGM's leading ladies were presented as elegant, while Harlow's 'floozy' screen persona was abhorrent to Mayer. Bern then began urging close friend Irving Thalberg, production head of MGM, to sign Harlow, noting her popularity and established image. After initial reluctance, Thalberg agreed and, on 3 March 1932, Harlow's 21st birthday, Bern called her with the news that MGM had purchased her contract from Hughes for $30,000. At MGM, Harlow was given superior movie roles to show off her looks and nascent comedic talent. Though Harlow's screen persona changed dramatically during her career, one constant was her apparent sense of humour. In 1932, she starred in the comedy Red-Headed Woman (Jack Conway, 1932), for which she received $1,250 a week. The film is often noted as being one of the few films in which Harlow did not appear with platinum blonde hair; she wore a red wig for the role. She next starred in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932), her second film with Clark Gable. Harlow and Gable worked well together and co-starred in a total of six films. She was also paired multiple times with Spencer Tracy and William Powell. At this point, MGM began trying to distinguish Harlow's public persona from that of her screen characters, changing her childhood surname from common 'Carpenter' to chic 'Carpentier', claiming that writer Edgar Allan Poe was one of her ancestors and publishing photographs of Harlow doing charity work to change her image from that of a tramp to an all-American girl. This transformation proved difficult; once, Harlow was heard muttering, "My God, must I always wear a low-cut dress to be important?" During the making of Red Dust, Bern—her husband of two months—was found dead at their home. His death created a lasting scandal. Initially, Harlow was speculated to have killed Bern, but Bern's death was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Reportedly, the day after Bern's former common-law wife met Harlow, Bern shot himself. A few days later former Mrs. Bern was found floating in the Sacramento River, after allegedly committing suicide. Louis B. Mayer feared negative publicity from the incident and intended to replace Harlow in the film, offering the role to Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead was appalled by the offer and wrote in her autobiography, "To damn the radiant Jean for the misfortune of another would be one of the shabbiest acts of all time. I told Mr. Mayer as much." Harlow kept silent, survived the ordeal, and became more popular than ever. A 2009 biography of Bern asserted that Bern was murdered by a former lover and the crime scene re-arranged by MGM executives to make it appear Bern had killed himself. After Bern's death, Harlow began an indiscreet affair with boxer Max Baer who, though separated from his wife Dorothy Dunbar, was threatened with divorce proceedings naming Harlow as a co-respondent for "alienation of affection", a legal term for adultery. After Bern's mysterious death, the studio did not want another scandal and defused the situation by arranging a marriage between Harlow and cinematographer Harold Rosson. Rosson and Harlow were friends and Rosson went along with the plan. They quietly divorced eight months later. By 1933, MGM realised the value of the Harlow-Gable team and paired them again in Hold Your Man (Sam Wood, 1933), which was also a box-office success. The same year, she played the adulterous wife of a ruthless tycoon (Wallace Beery) in the glittering all-star comedy-drama Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933), and played a pressured Hollywood film star in the screwball comedy Bombshell (Victor Fleming, 1933) with Lee Tracy. The film has often been cited as being based on Harlow's own life or that of the 1920s 'It Girl', Clara Bow. The film included Harlow's greedy stepfather, her nine-room Georgian-style home with mostly-white interiors, and her numerous pet dogs. The following year, she was teamed with Lionel Barrymore and Franchot Tone in The Girl from Missouri (Jack Conway, 1934). The film was the studio's attempt at softening Harlow's image, but suffered with censorship problems, so much so that its original title, Born to Be Kissed, had to be changed. In 1934, Jean Harlow went on a salary strike from MGM, during which she wrote a novel, 'Today is Tonight'. The book was not published until 1965. After the financial success of Red Dust and Hold Your Man, MGM cast Harlow with Clark Gable in two more successful films: China Seas (Tay Garnett, 1935), with Wallace Beery and Rosalind Russell; and Wife vs. Secretary (Clarence Brown, 1936), with Myrna Loy and James Stewart. Jean Harlow's popularity rivalled and soon surpassed that of her MGM colleagues Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. Reckless (Victor Fleming, 1935) was her first film musical. It co-starred her then-boyfriend William Powell and Franchot Tone. Suzy (George Fitzmaurice, 1936), in which she played the title role, gave her top billing over Franchot Tone and Cary Grant. While critics noted that Harlow dominated the film, they added that her performance was imperfect, and the film was a reasonable box-office success. She then starred in Riffraff (J. Walter Ruben, 1936) with Spencer Tracy and Una Merkel, a financial disappointment, and the worldwide hit Libeled Lady (Jack Conway, 1936), in which she was top billed over Powell, Myrna Loy, and Tracy. By the late 1930s, Jean Harlow had become one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, often nicknamed the 'Blonde Bombshell' and the 'Platinum Blonde'. She filmed W.S. Van Dyke's comedy Personal Property (1937), co-starring Robert Taylor. It was Harlow's final fully completed film appearance. During the filming of Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937), she died in a hospital of renal failure at the age of 26. The official cause of death was 'uremic poisoning brought on by acute nephritis'. For many years it was a widely held belief that she died because her mother, a Christian Scientist, refused to let doctors operate on her after she became sick. This story has been repeatedly shown to be completely untrue. MGM closed on the day of her funeral, 9 June 1937. Saratoga was completed using doubles and released a little over a month after Jean Harlow's death. It became MGM's second-highest-grossing picture of 1937. In 1965, two films about Jean Harlow were released, both called Harlow. The first, Harlow (Alex Segal, 1965), was released by Magna in May 1965 and stars Carol Lynley with Ginger Rogers as Mama Jean. The second, Harlow (Gordon Douglas, 1965), was released in June by Paramount Pictures and stars Carroll Baker with Angela Lansbury as her mother. Both were poorly received and did not perform well at the box office.

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Denny Jackson (IMDb), Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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Dutch postcard by N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel, Baarn, no. 1902. Photo: Warner Bros. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in Ixelles/Elsene, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium, in 1929. She was the only child of Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, a Briton, and his second wife, the former Baroness Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch aristocrat, who was the daughter of a former governor of Dutch Guiana. Her father later used the surname of his maternal grandmother, Kathleen Hepburn, to the family and her surname became Hepburn-Ruston. Hepburn's father's job with a British insurance company meant the family travelled often between Brussels, England, and The Netherlands. In 1935, her parents divorced and her father, a Nazi sympathiser, left the family. In 1939, her mother moved her and her two half-brothers to their grandfather's home in Arnhem in the Netherlands, believing the Netherlands would be safe from a German attack. Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945, where she trained in ballet along with the standard school curriculum. In 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. During the German occupation, Hepburn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra, modifying her mother's documents because an 'English-sounding' name was considered dangerous. By 1944, Audrey had become a proficient ballerina. She secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. During the Dutch famine that followed, over the winter of 1944, people starved and froze to death in the streets. Hepburn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits. Hepburn's wartime experiences later led her to become involved with UNICEF. In 1945, after the war, Hepburn left the Arnhem Conservatory and moved to Amsterdam, where she took ballet lessons with Lithuanian-Dutch-Jewish dancer and choreographer Sonia Gaskell. Hepburn made her first film appearance in Nederlands in 7 lessen/Dutch in Seven Lessons (Charles Huguenot van der Linden, Heinz Josephson, 1948), a Dutch film made for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. It had a film-within-the-film scenario involving a cameraman who's given a week to photograph the aerial highlights of Holland for a travelogue. Hepburn played the stewardess. She then travelled with her mother to London. Gaskell provided an introduction to Marie Rambert, and Hepburn studied ballet at the Ballet Rambert, supporting herself with part-time work as a model. Rambert warned her that she could not become a prima ballerina, because she was relatively tall (1.7m). Audrey decided to pursue an acting career instead.

In London, Audrey Hepburn played in musical theatre in productions such as High Button Shoes and Sauce Piquante. Her theatre work revealed that her voice was not strong and needed to be developed, and during this time she took elocution lessons with the actor Felix Aylmer. Part-time modelling work was not always available and Hepburn registered with the casting officers of Britain's film studios in the hope of getting work as an extra. Hepburn's first British film role was in the farce One Wild Oat (Charles Saunders, 1951) in which she played a hotel receptionist. She played several more small roles in Young Wives' Tale (Henry Cass, 1951), Laughter in Paradise (Mario Zampi, 1951), the classic crime comedy The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951), and the comedy Monte Carlo Baby (Jean Boyer, Lester Fuller, 1951). Monte Carlo Baby was shot at the same time as the French-language version, Nous irons à Monte Carlo (Jean Boyer, 1952). During the filming, Hepburn met the famous author Colette, who recommended her for the lead character of a stage version of her novel Gigi on Broadway. Colette reportedly said when she first saw Hepburn: "Voilà! There's our Gigi!" The play opened on 24 November 1951 and ran for 219 performances. Audrey won a Theatre World Award for her performance. Hepburn's first significant film performance was in the British crime drama Secret People (Thorold Dickinson, 1952), starring Valentina Cortese. Audrey played a prodigious ballerina and did all of her dancing scenes. Her first starring role was opposite Gregory Peck in the Italian-set Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). Producers initially wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role of Princess Ann, but director William Wyler was so impressed by Hepburn's screen test (the camera was left on and candid footage of Hepburn relaxing and answering questions, unaware that she was still being filmed, displayed her talents), that he cast her in the lead. For her enchanting role in Roman Holiday, she would win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Paramount signed her to a seven-picture contract with twelve months in between films to allow her time for stage work.

After Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn filmed Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954) with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. Hepburn was sent to a then-young and upcoming fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy to decide on her wardrobe. Their creative partnership endured for the remainder of Hepburn’s life. Audrey Hepburn wore De Givenchy creations in some of her most renowned films, such as How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961). In 1954, she returned to the stage to play the water sprite in Ondine in a performance with Mel Ferrer, who she would marry later in the year. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Ondine (1954). Hepburn is one of only three actresses to receive a Best Actress Oscar and Best Actress Tony in the same year - the others were Shirley Booth and Ellen Burstyn. Audrey Hepburn was now one of the most successful film actresses in the world, but also a major fashion influence. Her gamine and elfin appearance and widely recognised sense of chic were both admired and imitated. She co-starred with such notable leading men as Henry Fonda in War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956), Fred Astaire in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957), Maurice Chevalier and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, 1957), Anthony Perkins in Green Mansions (Mel Ferrer, 1959), and Burt Lancaster in The Unforgiven (John Huston, 1960). According to Denny Jackson at IMDb, "Audrey reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the delightful film Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). For this, she received another Oscar nomination." Opposite Shirley MacLaine, she starred in The Children's Hour (William Wyler, 1961). She scored another box office hit with the espionage caper Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) with Cary Grant. One of her most radiant roles was as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), opposite Rex Harrison. She became only the third actor to receive $1,000,000 for a film role. She followed it with roles opposite Peter O'Toole in How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) and Albert Finney in Two for the Road (Stanley Donen, 1967). She received Academy Award nominations for Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967), and won BAFTA Awards for her performances in The Nun's Story (1959) and Charade (1963). After Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967) and 15 years of continuous success, she took a break from film-making from 1968 to 1975, mostly to spend more time with her two sons.

In 1976 Audrey Hepburn returned to the screen with Sean Connery in the period piece Robin and Marian (Richard Lester, 1976), which was moderately successful. Three years later she took the leading role in the international production Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) based on a novel by Sidney Sheldon. The film, an international intrigue amid the jet set, was a critical and box office failure. Another commercial failure was the mad cap private-eye caper They All Laughed (Peter Bogdanovich, 1981). In 1989 she made her last film appearance as an angel in the romantic comedy Always (Steven Spielberg, 1989) starring Richard Dreyfuss. Her wartime experiences inspired her passion for humanitarian work, and although she had worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) since the 1950s, during her later life, she dedicated much of her time and energy to the organisation. From 1988 until 1992, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia. In 1992, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. After her divorce from American actor Mel Ferrer, Hepburn married Italian psychiatrist Dr. Andrea Dotti. She had a son with each – Sean (1960) by Ferrer, and Luca (1970) by Dotti. From 1980 until her death, she lived with the Dutch actor Robert Wolders. In 1993, Audrey Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Tolochenaz, Switzerland at the age of 63. She was posthumously awarded The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian work. She received a posthumous Grammy Award for her spoken word recording, Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales in 1994, and in the same year, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn, thereby becoming one of a few people to receive an Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award. In 1999, she was ranked as the third greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Sources: Denny Jackson and Volker Boehm (IMDb), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Wikipedia and IMDb.

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Tags:   Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn British Actress European Film Star Hollywood Movie Star Film Cinema Cine Kino Picture Screen Movie Movies Filmster Star Vintage Postcard 'My Fair Lady' 1964 George Cukor Musical Warner Bros N.V. v.h. Weenenk & Snel Weenenk & Snel Rex Harrison Rex Harrison

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French postcard in the Collection 'Portraits de Cinema (2nd Series, no. 23) by Editions Admira & Hollywood Photographers Archives. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933).

American film actress Jean Harlow (1911–1937) was with her come-hither body, platinum blonde hair, and keen sense of humour, one of Hollywood's sex symbols of the 1930s. She had her breakthrough in Howard Hughes' World War I epic Hell's Angels (1930). Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (1931) cemented her role as America's new sex symbol. In 1932, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and became the leading lady in a string of hit films. These included Red Dust (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Reckless (1935) and Suzy (1936). Among her frequent co-stars were William Powell, Spencer Tracy and, in six films, Clark Gable.

Jean Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. The name is sometimes incorrectly spelt Carpentier, following later studio press releases. Her father, Mont Clair Carpenter was a dentist from a working-class background who attended dental school in Kansas City. Her mother, Jean Poe Carpenter née Harlow was the daughter of a wealthy real estate broker, Skip Harlow. Jean's father arranged the marriage for their underage daughter in 1908. Jean was resentful and became very unhappy in the marriage. The couple lived in Kansas City in a house owned by Jean's father. Harlean was nicknamed 'The Baby', a name that would stick with her for the rest of her life. Harlean and 'Mother Jean', as she became known when Harlean became a film star, remained very close. Harlean's mother was extremely protective and coddling, reportedly instilling a sense that her daughter owed everything she had to her. "She was always all mine", she said of her daughter. When Harlean was at school, her mother filed for a divorce that was finalised in 1922. She was granted sole custody of Harlean, who loved her father who would survive her by thirty-seven years. However, Harlean would rarely see him again. Mother Jean moved with Harlean to Hollywood in 1923 with hopes of becoming an actress but was too old at 34 to begin a film career. Young Harlean attended the Hollywood School for Girls but dropped out at age 14 in the spring of 1925. Finances dwindling, she and her mother moved back to Kansas City after Skip Harlow issued an ultimatum that he would disinherit Jean if she did not return. Several weeks later, Skip sent his granddaughter to a summer camp, Camp Cha-Ton-Ka, in Michigamme, Michigan, where she became ill with scarlet fever. Her mother travelled to Michigan to care for her, rowing herself across the lake to the camp but was told she could not see her daughter. Harlow attended the Ferry Hall School (now Lake Forest Academy) in Lake Forest, Illinois. Her mother had an ulterior motive for Harlean's attendance there, as it was close to the Chicago home of her boyfriend, Marino Bello. Each freshman was paired with a 'big sister' from the senior class, and Harlean's big sister introduced her to 19-year-old Charles 'Chuck' Fremont McGrew, heir to a large fortune, in the fall of 1926. Soon the two began to date and then married. In early 1927, Jean Carpenter also married Bello; Harlean was not present. Shortly after the wedding, the McGrews left Chicago and moved to Beverly Hills. McGrew turned 21 two months after the marriage and received part of his large inheritance. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1928, settling into a home in Beverly Hills, where Harlean thrived as a wealthy socialite. McGrew hoped to distance Harlean from her mother with the move. Neither McGrew nor Harlean worked, and both, especially McGrew, were thought to drink heavily. In Los Angeles, Harlean befriended Rosalie Roy, a young aspiring actress. Lacking a car, Roy asked Harlean to drive her to Fox Studios for an appointment. Reputedly, Harlean was noticed and approached by Fox executives while waiting for her friend but stated that she was not interested. Nevertheless, she was given dictated letters of introduction to Central Casting. A few days later, Rosalie Roy bet Harlean that she did not have the nerve to go and audition. Unwilling to lose a wager and pressed by her enthusiastic mother, now back in Los Angeles, Harlean drove to Central Casting and signed in under her mother's maiden name, Jean Harlow. After several calls from Central Casting and several rejected job offers, Harlean was pressed into accepting work by her mother. She appeared in her first film, Honor Bound (Alfred E. Green, 1928), as an unbilled extra. This led to small parts in feature films such as Moran of the Marines (Frank R. Strayer, 1928) with Richard Dix, This Thing Called Love (Paul L. Stein, 1929), Close Harmony (John Cromwell, 1929), and The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929), starring Maurice Chevalier. In December 1928, she signed a five-year contract with Hal Roach Studios for $100 per week. She had a co-starring role in Laurel and Hardy's short Double Whoopee (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and went on to appear in two more of their films: Liberty (Leo McCarey, 1929) and Bacon Grabbers (Lewis R. Foster, 1929). In March 1929, however, she parted with Hal Roach, who tore up her contract after Harlow told him, "It's breaking up my marriage, what can I do?" In June 1929, Harlow separated from her husband and moved in with her mother and Bello. After her separation from McGrew, Harlow worked as an extra in several films. She landed her first speaking role in The Saturday Night Kid (A. Edward Sutherland, 1929), starring Clara Bow. The couple divorced in 1929. In late 1929, Jean was spotted by actor James Hall, who was filming Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930). Hughes revamped most of his originally silent film of 1927 with sound, and he needed an actress to replace Greta Nissen, who had a Norwegian accent that was considered to be undesirable for her character. Harlow made a test and got the part. In this film she uttered the immortal words "Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?" Hughes signed Harlow to a five-year, $100-per-week contract in 1929. Hell's Angels premiered in Hollywood on 27 May 1930, at Grauman's Chinese Theater, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1930, besting even Greta Garbo's talkie debut in Anna Christie (Clarence Brown, 1930). Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes, Edmund Goulding, James Whale, 1930) made Harlow an international star. Although she was popular with audiences, critics were less than enthusiastic. The New Yorker called her performance "plain awful", though Variety magazine conceded, "It doesn't matter what degree of talent she possesses ... nobody ever starved possessing what she's got." During the shooting, Harlow met MGM executive Paul Bern. She was again an uncredited extra in the Charlie Chaplin film City Lights (1931), though her appearance did not make the final cut. With no projects planned for Harlow, Hughes sent her to New York, Seattle, and Kansas City for Hell's Angels premieres. In 1931, loaned out by Hughes to other studios, she gained more attention when she appeared in The Secret Six (George W. Hill, 1931), with Wallace Beery and Clark Gable; Iron Man (Tod Browning, 1931), with Lew Ayres and Robert Armstrong; and The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931), with James Cagney. Though the successes of the films ranged from moderate to hit, Harlow's acting was mocked by critics. Concerned, Hughes sent her on a brief publicity tour, which was not a success, as Harlow dreaded such personal appearances. Jean Harlow dated notorious New Jersey mobster Abner Zwillman (aka 'Longy"), who secured a two-picture deal for her with Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures by loaning Cohn $500,000 in cash. He also purchased her a jewelled charm bracelet and a red Cadillac. Columbia Pictures cast her in Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra, 1931), with Loretta Young. The film, originally titled Gallagher, was renamed to promote Harlow, capitalising on her hair colour, called 'platinum' by Hughes' publicists. Though Harlow denied her hair was dyed, the platinum blonde colour was reportedly achieved by bleaching with a weekly application of ammonia, Clorox bleach, and Lux soap flakes. This process weakened and damaged Harlow's naturally ash-blonde hair. Many female fans began dyeing their hair to match hers. Howard Hughes' team organised a series of 'Platinum Blonde' clubs across the nation, with a prize of $10,000 to any beautician who could match Harlow's shade. No one could, the prize went unclaimed but Hughes' publicity worked and the nickname stuck with Harlow. Harlow next filmed Three Wise Girls (William Beaudine, 1932), for Columbia Pictures, with Mae Clark and Walter Byron. Paul Bern then arranged to borrow her for The Beast of the City (1932), co-starring Walter Huston. After filming, Bern booked a 10-week personal appearance tour on the East Coast. To the surprise of many, especially Harlow herself, she packed every theatre in which she appeared, often appearing in a single venue for several nights. Despite critical disparagement and poor roles, Harlow's popularity and following were large and growing and, in February 1932, the tour was extended by six weeks.

Jean Harlow was now romantically involved with MGM producer Paul Bern and he spoke to Louis B. Mayer about buying out her contract with Hughes and signing her to MGM, but Mayer declined. MGM's leading ladies were presented as elegant, while Harlow's 'floozy' screen persona was abhorrent to Mayer. Bern then began urging close friend Irving Thalberg, production head of MGM, to sign Harlow, noting her popularity and established image. After initial reluctance, Thalberg agreed and, on 3 March 1932, Harlow's 21st birthday, Bern called her with the news that MGM had purchased her contract from Hughes for $30,000. At MGM, Harlow was given superior movie roles to show off her looks and nascent comedic talent. Though Harlow's screen persona changed dramatically during her career, one constant was her apparent sense of humour. In 1932, she starred in the comedy Red-Headed Woman (Jack Conway, 1932), for which she received $1,250 a week. The film is often noted as being one of the few films in which Harlow did not appear with platinum blonde hair; she wore a red wig for the role. She next starred in Red Dust (Victor Fleming, 1932), her second film with Clark Gable. Harlow and Gable worked well together and co-starred in a total of six films. She was also paired multiple times with Spencer Tracy and William Powell. At this point, MGM began trying to distinguish Harlow's public persona from that of her screen characters, changing her childhood surname from common 'Carpenter' to chic 'Carpentier', claiming that writer Edgar Allan Poe was one of her ancestors and publishing photographs of Harlow doing charity work to change her image from that of a tramp to an all-American girl. This transformation proved difficult; once, Harlow was heard muttering, "My God, must I always wear a low-cut dress to be important?" During the making of Red Dust, Bern—her husband of two months—was found dead at their home. His death created a lasting scandal. Initially, Harlow was speculated to have killed Bern, but Bern's death was officially ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Reportedly, the day after Bern's former common-law wife met Harlow, Bern shot himself. A few days later former Mrs. Bern was found floating in the Sacramento River, after allegedly committing suicide. Louis B. Mayer feared negative publicity from the incident and intended to replace Harlow in the film, offering the role to Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead was appalled by the offer and wrote in her autobiography, "To damn the radiant Jean for the misfortune of another would be one of the shabbiest acts of all time. I told Mr. Mayer as much." Harlow kept silent, survived the ordeal, and became more popular than ever. A 2009 biography of Bern asserted that Bern was murdered by a former lover and the crime scene re-arranged by MGM executives to make it appear Bern had killed himself. After Bern's death, Harlow began an indiscreet affair with boxer Max Baer who, though separated from his wife Dorothy Dunbar, was threatened with divorce proceedings naming Harlow as a co-respondent for "alienation of affection", a legal term for adultery. After Bern's mysterious death, the studio did not want another scandal and defused the situation by arranging a marriage between Harlow and cinematographer Harold Rosson. Rosson and Harlow were friends and Rosson went along with the plan. They quietly divorced eight months later. By 1933, MGM realised the value of the Harlow-Gable team and paired them again in Hold Your Man (Sam Wood, 1933), which was also a box-office success. The same year, she played the adulterous wife of a ruthless tycoon (Wallace Beery) in the glittering all-star comedy-drama Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933), and played a pressured Hollywood film star in the screwball comedy Bombshell (Victor Fleming, 1933) with Lee Tracy. The film has often been cited as being based on Harlow's own life or that of the 1920s 'It Girl', Clara Bow. The film included Harlow's greedy stepfather, her nine-room Georgian-style home with mostly-white interiors, and her numerous pet dogs. The following year, she was teamed with Lionel Barrymore and Franchot Tone in The Girl from Missouri (Jack Conway, 1934). The film was the studio's attempt at softening Harlow's image, but suffered with censorship problems, so much so that its original title, Born to Be Kissed, had to be changed. In 1934, Jean Harlow went on a salary strike from MGM, during which she wrote a novel, 'Today is Tonight'. The book was not published until 1965. After the financial success of Red Dust and Hold Your Man, MGM cast Harlow with Clark Gable in two more successful films: China Seas (Tay Garnett, 1935), with Wallace Beery and Rosalind Russell; and Wife vs. Secretary (Clarence Brown, 1936), with Myrna Loy and James Stewart. Jean Harlow's popularity rivalled and soon surpassed that of her MGM colleagues Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. Reckless (Victor Fleming, 1935) was her first film musical. It co-starred her then-boyfriend William Powell and Franchot Tone. Suzy (George Fitzmaurice, 1936), in which she played the title role, gave her top billing over Franchot Tone and Cary Grant. While critics noted that Harlow dominated the film, they added that her performance was imperfect, and the film was a reasonable box-office success. She then starred in Riffraff (J. Walter Ruben, 1936) with Spencer Tracy and Una Merkel, a financial disappointment, and the worldwide hit Libeled Lady (Jack Conway, 1936), in which she was top billed over Powell, Myrna Loy, and Tracy. By the late 1930s, Jean Harlow had become one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, often nicknamed the 'Blonde Bombshell' and the 'Platinum Blonde'. She filmed W.S. Van Dyke's comedy Personal Property (1937), co-starring Robert Taylor. It was Harlow's final fully completed film appearance. During the filming of Saratoga (Jack Conway, 1937), she died in a hospital of renal failure at the age of 26. The official cause of death was 'uremic poisoning brought on by acute nephritis'. For many years it was a widely held belief that she died because her mother, a Christian Scientist, refused to let doctors operate on her after she became sick. This story has been repeatedly shown to be completely untrue. MGM closed on the day of her funeral, 9 June 1937. Saratoga was completed using doubles and released a little over a month after Jean Harlow's death. It became MGM's second-highest-grossing picture of 1937. In 1965, two films about Jean Harlow were released, both called Harlow. The first, Harlow (Alex Segal, 1965), was released by Magna in May 1965 and stars Carol Lynley with Ginger Rogers as Mama Jean. The second, Harlow (Gordon Douglas, 1965), was released in June by Paramount Pictures and stars Carroll Baker with Angela Lansbury as her mother. Both were poorly received and did not perform well at the box office.

Sources: Sandra Brennan (AllMovie), Denny Jackson (IMDb), Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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Dutch postcard by Rembrandt N.V., Amsterdam, no. 1301. Photo: Warner Bros. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

Elegant, talented and funny Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was a Belgian-born, British-Dutch actress and humanitarian. After a start in European cinema, she became one of the most successful Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 1960s.

As a young boy in Lancashire, England, Reginald Carey Harrison changed his name to Rex knowing it was the Latin word for King. No one could do better that particular thing Rex Harrison (1908-1990) did: the quizzical, elegant, sexually predatory man-about-town.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

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East-German postcard by VEB Filmverleih Progress Starfoto, no. 2990. Photo: Warner Bros. Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964).

As a young boy in Lancashire, England, Reginald Carey Harrison changed his name to Rex knowing it was the Latin word for King. No one could do better that particular thing Rex Harrison (1908-1990) did: the quizzical, elegant, sexually predatory man-about-town.

Rex Harrison started his theatre career at age 18 and soon landed roles in the West End. He wore a lot of dinner jackets in 1930s British theatre. ‘French Without Tears’, a play by Terence Rattigan, proved to be his breakthrough role and Noel Coward said "Rex Harrison is the greatest interpreter of high comedy in the world ... next to Me!". Harrison's film debut was in The Great Game (1930, Jack Raymond), and other early films include The Citadel (1938, King Vidor), Night Train to Munich (1940, Carol Reed), Major Barbara (1941, Gabriel Pascal) and Blithe Spirit (1945, David Lean). Harrison married German actress Lilli Palmer in 1943 and they would appear together in many plays and films.

Rex Harrison attained international fame when he portrayed the King in Anna and the King of Siam (1946, John Cromwell), his first American film. From then on he was more likely to be filming in Hollywood (or anywhere, really) than Britain. He became known as "Sexy Rexy" for his philandering ways and magnetic charm. On stage he alternated appearances in London and New York, winning a Tony Award in 1949 for his appearance as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days. He was best known for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in the original production of My Fair Lady. He was in the original production of 1956, won the Tony for the play in 1957 and an Oscar for the 1964 film version by George Cukor. No one could do better that particular thing Rex Harrison did: the quizzical, elegant, sexually predatory man-about-town. The film that enshrines the persona most vividly is The Rake's Progress (1945, Sidney Gilliat), in which he plays the caddish philanderer who redeems himself in World War II (He himself had served in the RAF). Harrison would act in various films and stage productions until his death on 11 May 1990, starring on Broadway in The Circle.

Sources: Screenonline, Wikipedia and IMDb.

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