Happy Birthday, Jean Harlow!
Jean Harlow is one of the most iconic figures of the early decades of American cinema. She was born with the given name of Harlean Harlow Carpenter on March 3, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents were Mont Clair Carpenter, a successful dentist from a working-class background, and his wife, Jean Poe (née Harlow), the daughter of a wealthy real estate broker. Nicknamed «Baby,» Harlean was afflicted by poor health throughout her childhood, contracting meningitis at age five and suffering from scarlet fever when she was 15. In September 1922, Jean divorced her husband and moved with her 11-year-old daughter to Hollywood, with hopes of pursuing a career as an actress. While in Los Angeles, Harlean attended the Hollywood School for Girls and met future movie stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joel McCrea, as well as Louis B. Mayer's daughter, Irene. In 1925, unable to find a single acting job, Jean returned in defeat to Kansas City with her daughter. Portraits of Jean Harl...