Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow

Harlan was born as Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother, Jean Poe Carpenter, was the daughter of wealthy real estate broker Skip Harlow and his wife, Ella Harlow. She left Hollywood in 1923 and moved to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming an actress, but was told that she was too old to begin a film career. In 1932, she was cast in Red-Headed Woman, Red Dust, Dinner at Eight, Reckless, and Suzy. In 1933, she starred in Hell’s Angels, directed by Howard Hughes. She appeared in several more films before her death in 1937, aged 26, from kidney failure.

About Jean Harlow in brief

Summary Jean HarlowHarlan was born as Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother, Jean Poe Carpenter, was the daughter of wealthy real estate broker Skip Harlow and his wife, Ella Harlow. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Harlow No. 22 on their greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema list. Harlow’s popularity rivaled and then surpassed that of MGM’s top leading ladies Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. She died at the age of 26, of kidney failure during filming of Saratoga, which became the highest-grossing picture of 1937. She was buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, with her mother and brother. She is survived by her husband, Charles McGrew III, an heir to a large fortune, and her daughter, who was married to a wealthy socialite for two months after her mother’s wedding. She also leaves behind a son and daughter-in-law, both of whom are still alive and living in the U.S. Today, Harlow is remembered as one of the most successful actresses of the 20th century and one of Hollywood’s most successful female actors of the 1930s and 40s. She has a daughter and a son with actor Robert Redford, who starred in several films with her. She had a daughter with actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Harlean was called ‘The Baby’ when she was five years old, a nickname she was accustomed to that endured for the rest of her life.

She never married and had no children of her own; she had no desire to do so. She left Hollywood in 1923 and moved to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming an actress, but was told that she was too old to begin a film career. In 1928, Harlean received part of her father’s inheritance and left Chicago to live in Beverly Hills with her boyfriend, Marino Bello. She later moved back to Kansas City to live with her father and stepmother, Jean Carpenter, and had a son, Charles “Chuck” McGrew, with whom she was married for two years. In 1932, she was cast in Red-Headed Woman, Red Dust, Dinner at Eight, Reckless, and Suzy. In 1933, she starred in Hell’s Angels, which was directed by Howard Hughes. She appeared in several more films before her death in 1937, aged 26, from kidney failure. She starred in the film Saratogia, released less than two months before she died, which made it the highest grossing film of 1937, and the second highest grossed film of the year. Harlen died in Hollywood on November 14, 1937, at age 26. Her funeral was held at the home she shared with her parents, Jean and Mont Clair Carpenter, in Hollywood, California. Her son Chuck McGrew died the following year. She leaves behind two children, Charles, Charles and Charles, Jr., and a daughter, Mary Ann Harlow-McGrew.