JEAN HARLOW THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL    1911 - 1937

Jean Harlow was  born March 3 1911 as Harleen Carpenter , Kansas City, Missouri. The daughter of a dentist, She eloped at 16 with a young business man. The newlyweds settled in Los Angles, where the bride found work as an extra in films. She took her mothers maiden name as her stage name.

Harlow's early career was far from spectacular. She was the target of tart press notices and was frequently singled out for poor performances. But he pun began responding to her vulgar platnum-blonde glamour in such Warner films as The Public Enemy and Columbia's Platinum Blonde. The turning point in her career was provided by a contractual switch to MGM Now she worked for a permanent studio with a vested interest in developing her career and star image. In just a few months the whorish sextet under went a transformation into a subtle actress with a flair for natural comedy. Cast opposite of such re-blooded male counter part as Clark Cable and Spencer Tracy. She quickly developed into a superstar. Film critics reversed their opinions of her acting, praising her vitality and and comic talent in such highlight as Red Dust,  Bombshell, Dinner At Eight, China Seas, Riffraff and Libeled Lady
 

However, in contrast the private life of America's sex symbol of the 30s was unhappy. In July of 1932 she married Paul Bern, a former director and by then right-hand man of Irving Thalbeerg, MGM's production genius. Several months later Bern committed suicide. His suicide note, was widely interrupted as impotence on his part, caused Miss Harlow much adverse publicity, which somehow failed to affect her career. In 1933 she married Harold Rosson, the director of photography on several of her films, the union lasted only one year. She became engaged to her sometime co-star William Powell. They ran away but never got married.
 
 

She became quite ill during the filming of Saratoga in 1937. She was hospitalized and treated for ademic posonising . She died on June 7 of that year, She was 26.