TCM Star of the Month: Jean Harlow

Throwing it back to the 30's, Melanie Griffith recounts some of the amazing work Jean Harlow did. Harlow was known for being the first "bombshell" of her era before Marilyn Monroe. Guillotine Post editor Michael Koepenick did the cut with TCM writer/producer R. Anna Millman to create this classic micro doc.

[@ashefelicisky2647]

If you read the book about her life "Bombshell" it tells you all about it, or as much as is known. Her life was truly tragic. She was an angel destroyed by the industry and her mother... She didn't have a blast, ever.....

[@MissLaceyNoel]

Her hair alone was a work of art. Gone way too soon.

[@clementinacabreralazcano7099]

bobby dearren

[@reneerichburg9832]

I LOVE HER VERY MUCH SHE HAD CLASS AND BEAUTY. I WILL NEVER FORGET HER💋🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹❤❤❤😘😍

[@brianlindee9003]

i recently discovered a couple of hers turner classic movies she had spunk energy and Spirit it was a crime for such a talent beauties lite to go out so young

[@sweetsserenei]

She did find her great love on William Powell he was inconsolable at her funeral and had to be carried by friends as he kept collapsing

[@lindasturm699]

She was beautiful as well being a great actress. She left this world so terribly early.

[@clasica09]

I hear about Jean Harlow in Charlie Charplin 1931 City lights great silent film. , I was looking into the cast and saw her name uncredited, after that I came into her classic movies, she was so beautiful and a legend, its sad she died so young

[@tonyfromconey2164]

So beautiful and more importantly, so nice from all accounts.

[@100teresa1000]

Thanks much for your kind considerations. Sweet memories always lasts. Looking forward to more good works.

[@vtrrr7841]

Before Marilyn Monroe, there was Jean Harlow.

[@maribetortiz-quigley2110]

She was amaizing.

[@Mritalicsmine]

not only beautiful, but she could act!

[@outfield1988]

Her shaved and ultra thin brows were amazing

[@ashleysmith8402]

Almost all the 1920's starlets did their eyebrows like that.

[@philintepeintures3350]

Beautiful voice Melanie Griffith ! Belle voix Mélanie Griffith !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love France !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kiss !!!!!!!!!!!!

[@lukeallan8876]

Jean Harlow was so beautiful 😍

[@debrachapman2025]

Good solid comedienne. Absolutely gorgeous. No one wore satin like she did. Short, kind of sad life. Mother from hell.

[@user-vz3fh6oj7d]

Nope, not beautiful at all. You people are crazy

[@philintepeintures3350]

JEAN HARLOW Timeless Unforgettable Forever Young in the hearts of your admirers and fans women I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Answer

[@philintepeintures3350]

JEAN HARLOW indémodable inoubliable pour toujours jeune dans le cœur de tes admirateurs et admiratrices femmes je vous aime !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@noel888]

Watch her in a movie, called "Suzie"...no plantanium hairdo, just her natural one, a redhead, and no tough broad, yelling, that she was so often sterotyped in much of her movies. Imagine the Ann Sothern series she made at MGM, "Mazie", the loud, wise cracking broad...that was what MGM had set up for before her death.

[@monicablom6215]

Suzy is great. Jean Harlow was tough and vulnerable and I always root for her in the Pictures.

[@metrogoldwyn]

Also in the works was a loan -out to 20th-Century for the female lead in "In Old Chicago" but she died too soon.The part went to Alice Faye

[@daltonbelflower7331]

She wasn't a redhead in Suzy. The MGM publicity department called her darker hue "brownette" in the press.

[@allisontyler-howells5239]

My love for Marilyn brought me here ❤❤

[@Bluestar-nn2uh]

Love these commentary's wish someone do a commentary on Shirley temple, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Judy Garland.

[@irened.]

MGM changed more than just her eyebrows: look closely at her nose, then at the shape of her eyes (from deep set to eyelids showing). Possibly changed her cheeks as well. Gorgeous either way. I remember seeing an early film with Maurice Chevalier where they already talked about plastic surgery! Nothing wrong with it... if you're lucky. They had talented surgeons back then, they were artists, not like the botched cookie-cutter faces that they give everyone, like in that Twilight Zone episode where you pick who you want to be... between models 1 through 5 (IIRC).

[@ceciliem1811]

Jean, was ahead of her time and; gone too soon! She left us due to kidney failure, which could have been avoided by drinking more water! R.I.P. young beauty! 😇

[@JenniferBrigitteOpticalVortex]

She got Scarlett Fever as a kid and it affected her kidneys. She really needed dialysis, not just drinking water.

[@JacobSmith-yh7yo]

Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo!!!!! Could it get any better?! I don’t think so.

[@philintepeintures3350]

Les belles femmes Jean Harlow Marylin Monroe grandes actrices talentueuses toujours adulées des foules et toujours malheureuses en amour avec leurs maris respectifs pourquoi n'avez-vous pas pu rendre heureuses ces magnifiques femmes star trop tôt disparues en pleine gloire trop jeunes pour mourir et surtout trop belles !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@johnnymfan5065]

Hmmm. Not too sure if Melanie Griffith's assertion that Harlow is being forgotten is true , as the 100th anniversery of her death resulted in a gorgeous boxset featuring 6 new to DVD movies of hers and lots of extras , and a superb coffee book on her, that was not only a treasure for it's photos,but also the most fascinating and accurate biography of her ever. I liked Melanie as one of the more glamourous and beautiful stars of the 80s and 90s, but it is Melanie herself who is definitely being forgotten and not Harlow. It's unfortunate that she had all that surgery on her face.

[@narvelancoleman3813]

Before Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe.....there was MAE WEST....the FIRST blond bombshell!

[@ryangregorakos5040]

Narvelan Coleman I could be wrong, but a platinum blonde bombshell refers to a movie sex symbol with platinum blonde hair. Jean Harlow’s career dates back to 1927-1928ish and she had her big break in 1930 in hell’s angels where she had her blonde hair. Mae West’s first film was “she done him wrong” in 1933. At that time Jean Harlow was one of the biggest names in Hollywood and she was starring in two of her most known films “bombshell” and “dinner at 8.” While yes Mae West was nearly 17 years older than Jean Harlow. Jean Harlow beat her to silver screen.

[@daltonbelflower7331]

If you're going on their movies, Jean's breakthrough came with Hell's Angels in 1930. Mae's didn't come until Night After Night in 1932. Mae was on Broadway beforehand, but her movie stardom didn't really of ignite until 1933. So, technically, Jean proceeds Mae.

[@ayabs8590]

Qué hermosa mujer

[@gregorymiller2977]

Great

[@LuciaChambers1]

A waitress from New Jersey? needs speech remediation? Do you act in stereotypes? Lowered the bar on biographies by slamming Harlow's speech and New Jersey and waitresses in one sentence.

[@jackiejns983]

Yes, odd comment as Harlow was from a wealthy family and had an upper class education. She was acting.

[@philintepeintures3350]

Clark Gable heureux homme d'abord Jean Harlow puis Marylin Monroe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@LeeZeidel-s1h]

William Powell jilted her many times during their relationship but was devestated when she died .

[@Sbaxter1989]

Never thought Jean was that pretty, more interesting than anything. Marilyn and Sharon Tate were true bombshells.

[@yingpiccola]

The background music is very scary...

[@directorclarkmonroe]

Which music

[@j.s.martin9362]

More beautiful in the beginning but her talent showed later.As good if not better than any blonde or anyone else for that matter

[@gogoshagara5475]

I admire her body shape, for me that's how women body should look like? In her first move when she was young and had a small rule , her body shape makes me focus on her? Natural beauty what a waste!..

[@paztizzi2719]

I adore Jean Harlow, she's perfection, but my god the voice of that annoying narrator ruins this video so much. She sounds like some annoying ditsy yank college girl talking about her favourite celebrity. And the way she speaks about Clark Gable, ughh barf barf. Does the beautiful Jean or her handsome co-star Clark NO justice.

[@narvelancoleman3813]

That narrator is Melanie Griffith; the daughter of Tippi Hedren, (who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's..."The Birds.) That is how she sounds naturally!

[@paztizzi2719]

Even if this is how she sounds naturally, her voice is still incredibly annoying to me. Her pronunciation and tone of voice is so over the top. A few people seem to agree with me. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

[@philintepeintures3350]

Clark Gable Happy man first Jean Harlow then Marilyn Monroe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Answer

[@LeeZeidel-s1h]

Many people say she wasnt so beautiful nor a great actress either . I say wrong on both counts.

[@johnkiunke4508]

I'm sure she was a great and important person in movies but how on earth was she considered a sex symbol, or even physically attractive???

[@user-vz3fh6oj7d]

Amen! Truth be told! Everyone saying how beautiful she was, but all I see is a big nose, large forehead, thin, plain lips, and weirdly big eyes. Her body wasn't spectacular either. She didn't seem to walk straight (seemed to walk slumped a bit), had no chest or behind to speak of, I'm sorry, I do not think she was attractive at all. Just your average, woman of no color who effortlessly makes it in Hollywood.

[@allisontyler-howells5239]

Her beauty was inside. She was so loved ❤

[@tammygronskei1993]

Her eyebrows were terrible

[@narvelancoleman3813]

In some of her photographs, I thought so too; but sometimes they worked. Definitely one of her signature facial trademarks.

[@noramouse]

Why do you say terrible?? They completely work for her! I don't understand why you would critique her look? Jealous?

[@dearmaria4654]

That's the look of that time... our bushy, square eyebrows would've looked horrendous in the 30s.

[@Someonesaidthis]

I thought she looked way prettier with her natural eyebrows.. but I will say for some of her publicity glamour photos, her shaven drawn on eye brows looked good.. depends how they were drawn on..

[@bogee4u]

Wonder if this was a stylistic look she decided upon...or did "hollywood" browbeat her to shave them??