Still, the look inspired thousands of women to purchase peroxide and attempt (often unsuccessfully) to re-create it themselves—including, eventually, the future Marilyn Monroe, who even hired Harlow's same stylist to color her hair. The studio sent over its top fixers, who combed through the scene for two hours before police were summoned. Then, something went wrong. She complained that she wasn't feeling and missed several days of work to have her wisdom teeth removed. Harlow was interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale in a private room of multicolored marble, which William Powell bought for $25,000. Home of MGM executive Paul Bern, who committed suicide. Locals danced in the streets, poured champagne, and cheered in joy. This marriage, her third, ended in divorce 12 months later. 8 June 1937: Jean Harlow was the first of Hollywood’s platinum blondes, and appeared in film after film as the tough, wise-cracking, tempestuous young woman, Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 14.21 GMT. William Powell paid $25,000 for a large crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Two nurses also visited her house, and various equipment was brought from a nearby hospital. Bern was plain and serious, but he did have connections. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Harlow, Turner Classic Movies - Biography of Jean Harlow, Jean Harlow - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The union lasted only eight months. While Bern built up his career at MGM, he continued to support his wife back in New York. Often nicknamed the “Blonde Bombshell” and the “Platinum Blonde”, she was popular for her “Laughing Vamp” screen persona. Found in the home was what some believe to have been a suicide note. In the ensuing years, Harlow’s film career remained strong, but her health did not. A waiter remembered her at dinner, a pretty but exhausted woman who barely ate. Jean Harlow, the stage name of Harlean Carpentier, the American leading lady who died in her prime, in a publicity still for the film 'Born To Be Kissed' from 1936. Instead, she was buried in a private vault, paid for by then-boyfriend William Powell, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. Some claimed that her mother had refused to call a doctor because she was a Christian Scientist or that Harlow had declined hospital treatment or surgery.[. There, he saw Millette, crying and gazing into the inky water. Far right is as the home looks today: Mother Jean's Apartment Mother Jean was renting a small apartment here in 1946, down the road from the white mansion she used to live in with her daughter over a decade before. Unfortunately, the doctor was not aware that Harlow had been ill during the previous year with a severe sunburn and influenza. When the riverboat docked in the morning, Millette didn’t disembark. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). “The Blond Bombshell” died on the morning of June 7, only 8 days after pleading with Gable to return her to her dressing room. In 1932 Jean married MGM executive Paul Bern. Press reports were contradictory, with headlines reading “Jean Harlow seriously ill” and “Harlow recovers from illness crisis.” Clark Gable, who visited Harlow during this time, later remarked that she was severely bloated and that he smelled urine on her breath when he kissed her — both signs of kidney failure. Not even ten years into her career, Jean was looking less and less like her blonde bombshell self. Myth: Jean Harlow died from bleaching her hair. So when Jean Harlow stepped into the limelight with her hair a shiny, white-blonde, it was new and exciting. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. While another beautiful blonde actress, Thelma Todd, had already paved the way for the bubbly curvaceous blonde persona, Jean took it in a new direction. Her platinum blonde hair and salacious curves catapulted her to fame in the 1930 Howard Hughes classic “Hell’s Angels.” Around that time, Harlow met Bern, a 40-year-old German film executive with MGM. Hospital records mention uremia. Draymond to Bron: 'Y’all can go to the White House and... How the Bay Area is celebrating the historic Biden/Harris victory, These SF neighborhoods had the highest turnout for Trump. Her second marriage, to MGM executive Paul Bern, was terminated by his apparent suicide in 1932. Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor in Personal Property, 1937. In the very last weeks of Marilyn Monroe's life, she was planning to star in a biopic about her childhood idol, Jean Harlow. Harlow’s professional success was in marked contrast to her private life, which was plagued by disappointment and tragedy. “Dinner at Eight,” “Hundred-Per-Cent Pure,” “China Seas” were among those early examples. One of the letters was written a few months before Bern and Harlow’s wedding. As a result of her acting in this film her future success was assured, but she followed it with a performance in “Blonde Bombshell” which gave her a monopoly of a character part which is best summed up in the title of the film itself. W. W. Norton & Company. Jean Harlow is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA – The Great Mausoleum. Of course, the hue wasn't natural: Jean's hairstylist dyed it weekly with an incredibly harsh and dangerous combination of peroxide, ammonia, Clorox, and Lux flakes. Jean Harlow Death Jean passed away on June 7, 1937 at the age of 26 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She had suffered from scarlet fever at age 15. Saratoga was released on July 23, 1937, less than two months after Harlow’s death and it was a hit with audiences. Speculation that Harlow suffered a poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis following the scarlet fever incident, which may have caused high blood pressure and ultimately kidney failure, has been suggested. She was about to marry her longtime fiancé and frequent costar, William Powell, when she became seriously ill. Harlow’s husband, MGM studio exec Paul Bern, was dead in the bathroom, a bullet in his head. Jean Harlow, the stage name of Harlean Carpentier, the American leading lady who died in her prime, in a publicity still for the film 'Born To Be Kissed' from 1936. Jean Harlow Death Dead – Jean Harlow Obituary: Cause of Death. The timeline alone seems to rule it out: Millette would have had to go to Beverly Hills, kill Bern in the wee hours of the morning and return to San Francisco before noon in order to be seen checking out of the Plaza Hotel. She began dating a separated but still married boxer, Max Baer. When Bern’s body was discovered by the household staff, the first call was not to the police — it was to MGM. Though she had just a small part in the 1929 film The Saturday Night Kid, Jean all but stole the show from the lead, Clara Bow, the "It Girl" starlet of the time. A lawyer in New York confirmed Bern’s secret marriage. Jean insisted she didn't know what the note was about. However, alternative theories circulated about Jean's untimely death, just as they would in 1962, when a 36-year-old Marilyn Monroe unexpectedly died. Harlean was 16 when she married 20-year-old Charles McGrew—the same ages as Norma Jean and her first of three husbands, James Dougherty. In it, Bern responded to Millette’s plan to vacation in San Francisco. The best Instant Pot deals available for Black Friday, The best Black Friday tool deals at Home Depot, The 'Grime Fighter' pressure washer is $79 for Black Friday, New CDC study: Masks protect wearers from contracting COVID-19. The trip was physically taxing for Harlow, and she contracted influenza. Apparently, she wasn't all that interested in becoming a star, even giving them a fake name: her mom's. (Similarly, Norma Jean would borrow her mother's maiden name of Monroe.) A portrait of Dorothy Millette, the first wife of MGM producer Paul Bern, who later married Jean Harlow. Sadly, Marilyn did follow in her favorite actress's footsteps, and not just in terms of fame: The two starlets' untimely and controversial deaths were as similar as their successes in life. After she died wild rumors started spreading about what had … But, according to an episode of You Must Remember This, a podcast by Karina Longworth, Harlean was soon healthy enough to marry the first of her three husbands. Harlow was in the film industry for only nine years, but she became one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, whose image in the public eye has endured. Grand gal.” MGM closed on the day of her funeral, June 9, 1937. Now, 80 years after her death, a look back at Jean Harlow's tragic story—and the eerily parallel lives of the two Hollywood legends. After her health recovered, she moved into the Algonquin Hotel. Her movies included Hell’s Angels, Red Dust, Dinner at Eight, and Bombshell. In January 1937, Harlow and Robert Taylor traveled to Washington, D.C., to take part in fundraising activities associated with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birthday, for the organization later known as the March of Dimes. He was married to film actress Jean Harlow. Millette’s health took a turn and, according to newspaper accounts, she moved into a sanitarium. She died the next morning, June 7, at 11:37AM. Stomach pain and vomiting believed to be the flu kept Jean home in bed and was later misdiagnosed and treated as a swollen gallbladder. Because Harlow’s previous illnesses had delayed the shooting of three movies (Wife vs. Secretary, Suzy, and Libeled Lady), initially there was no great concern regarding Harlow’s latest bout with a recurring illness. Mama Jean (as she came to be known) doted on, spoiled, and coddled her darling daughter to the point of smothering. Harlow and Powell were dating at the time of her death. “I heard somewhere that Mrs. Bern had died in a sanitarium. ISBN 0-393-07513-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) However happy she may have been personally with William, Jean continued to drink heavily, which as Longworth notes, "may have obscured other health problems," including headaches mistaken for hangovers and a puffy face and swollen belly that Jean likely believed to be alcohol-related weight gain (her mother's solution was apparently to put her on a strict diet). To help get the word get out, please consider sharing this link with your friends and on your social media! When Harlean was a child, Mother Jean aspired to be an actress. In the week since Millette disappeared from the Delta King, the press had taken to calling her the “ghost wife.” Many speculated she had faked her death. Harlean's mother's name was actually Jean Harlow, but after her daughter took on the screen name, she began going by "Mother Jean". For years, rumors circulated about Harlow’s death. She was taken ill only ten days ago with internal inflammation, and later she was stated to have almost recovered. (The first successful kidney dialysis was not until 1945, and the first successful kidney transplant in 1954.) Hughes's publicity director is credited for coining the moniker "Platinum Blonde", says The Atlantic (just as Mary Pickford was designated "America's Sweetheart"). She was married twice. MGM planned to replace Harlow in Saratoga with either Jean Arthur or Virginia Bruce, but due to public objections the film was finished using three doubles (one for close-ups, one for long shots, and one for dubbing Harlow’s lines) and rewriting some scenes without her. At the inquest, Bern's personal doctor, Howard P. Jones, said he knew "exactly" what was at the root of his friend's suicidal ideations. A publicist came up with the term ‘Platinum Blonde’ to describe it. Jean Harlow and new husband Paul Bern, German-born writer and studio executive.
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