Favorite Actresses, #10: Jean Harlow

First Movie I Saw Her In: Libeled Lady (1936)

Three Favorite Movies: Dinner at Eight (1933); China Seas (1935); Libeled Lady (1936)

Honorable Mention: Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

Favorite Performance: Dinner at Eight (1933)

Why I Like Her: To be honest, having Jean at #10 saddens me. Harlow died in 1937 at age 26. To get an idea of that devastation, imagine if Ginger Rogers had died right after Swing Time. We would be robbed of her at her peak. I'm certain that had her career lasted another ten years, Harlow would place much higher. It may sound "romantic" in that sickening "Youth Cult" sort of way, but losing Jean Harlow, one of the great movie comediennes of any era, was just tragic. There's nothing glamorous about someone dying in the prime of life. I'd rather Harlow lived to be a bawdy, eighty-year-old, Shelly Winters kind-of-gal than have her gone before she hit 30.

Before I ever saw a Harlow film, I had believed the half-truths of the brainwashed people who parrot whatever they hear, (“Jean Harlow was the Marilyn Monroe of her day”; “Sex Goddess”) but when I saw Harlow play a lovable, headstrong woman in Libeled Lady, I knew right away that there was infinitely more to her than ill-informed critics or so-called film buffs ever knew; did they even see her movies? Harlow was, on the surface, the platinum blonde dressed to the nines, but that’s all it was, a look. She had none of Monroe's childlike innocence or sensual breathiness. Harlow's sensuality, as it were, was largely confined to the imaginations of her male costars or the jealousy of her female costars. (The photo above is my favorite picture of her, looking sophisticated and nothing at all like the Deco Goddess she was portrayed as being. I think she's better looking as a "regular" girl). A Harlow character was tough, tender, but definitely not helpless, though she could convey vulnerability as well as anyone. I lament her early death, I truly feel sorry that she didn’t live a long life. Harlow could’ve done anything and been a smashing success.

I’m consistently amazed at how Harlow steals the show in Dinner at Eight, when she’s on screen with an MGM all-star cast and the biggest stars of the day: John and Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Billie Burke, and Lee Tracy. The reason that film is remembered is because of Jean Harlow’s star-making performance. Every time she appears on screen she commands the viewer’s attention. If you never knew anyone from that film, you would believe that Dinner at Eight was a vehicle for Harlow at at her peak, not in her first real comedic role.

Harlow’s appeal to me is that she was so much more than those oft-repeated generalizations about who she was merely based on her appearance. When I took a really good look at her, I saw a pretty girl, not the sex goddess everyone talked about. I saw a sweet girl who had charisma and personality to burn and that ability to show vulnerability without breaking into melodramatic hysterics. To me, she’s the best-kept secret on this list and also in the Golden Age.

Starting Tomorrow: Favorite Actresses Countdown

Hot, but Not: Ava and Lana didn't make HD's Favorite Actresses list.

Or rather, as a soon as I complete the first entry! Back in June, Hollywood Dreamland ran down its Ten Favorite Actors list, which was a lot of fun to do. A favorite actresses meme was done here back in December, 2008 but that was a mere listing without any of the blowhard commentary you've (hopefully) come to expect. However, I'm going to try and be more succinct in my "whys" and "wheres" this time around.

The Set Up: As with the gentlemen's countdown, only actresses who were active up to and including the 1950s will be included: For example, no Raquel Welch or Faye Dunaway, but Bette Davis would count, although her career spanned the 1960s and '70s, she worked in that 1930s-50s time frame.

And speaking of actresses, the new poll is up and ready to count your vote.

Poll Results: Mae West

It should've been a landslide, but Mae West edged out Bette Davis by just one vote as the winner of the poll question: "Who's the greatest wisecracking dame of them all?" The competition was fierce! This was one of the closest polls HD has ever done. Myrna Loy led the pack early but Bette and Mae had a fierce see-saw battle over first place. Rosalind Russell did quite well, and I won't shy away from saying how pleased I was. I hope that those who haven't seen or heard these dames in action will seek their films out and discover what a joy each and every one of them is--even Joan; poor, poor, one-vote Joan. Here's how the voting went, with a total of 112 votes cast:

Mae West 25 (22%)

Bette Davis 24 (21%)
Rosalind Russell 18 (16%)
Myrna Loy 17 (15%)
Jean Harlow 16 (14%)
Ginger Rogers 11 (9%)
Joan Crawford 1 (0%)

It's my view that Mae West deserved to win because her wisecrackery is her legacy. West isn't known for her tremendous acting chops or her immortal film roles. This is how we know Mae West. Even if you never heard of her, it's possible you can still hear her voice speaking these lines whether they're from her films or not:

"When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

"It's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men."

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

"I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."

"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

"I've been in more laps than a napkin."

Pernell Roberts: Another Hero Gone

Actor, singer, and civil rights champion Pernell Roberts died on January 24, aged 81. Roberts is best known for his six-year run on the Bonanza TV show. In 1958, he co-starred alongside Randolph Scott in the 1958 Budd Boetticher film, Ride Lonesome. This is the kind of role that often comes just before an actor gains his or her breakthrough role. A year later, Roberts would begin his stint on Bonanza and forever be remembered as the cool, quiet, intellectual Adam Cartwright, Ponderosa patriarch Ben Cartwright's eldest son. Roberts quickly grew tired of the role, the show's writing, and the portrayal of Native Americans and African Americans. He left behind a fortune when he left that show, but his freedom was infinitely more important to him.

Pernell Roberts was a hero of mine since childhood. But back then it was because I was impressed by how cool he was. I appreciate him even more now as an adult because I learned how he was a champion of civil rights and a sturdy man of conviction in every endeavor, just like Adam Cartwright. He may have grown tired of the show and what he saw as its limitations, but Pernell himself embodied the very best qualities of his character.

After Bonanza, Roberts proceeded to guest star on virtually every program on network television. On any given week, the average viewer would see him on The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. to The Virginian to Hawaii Five-O. Roberts played all kinds of roles: tormented drifters, seedy gangsters, concerned fathers, fatcat businessman, and empty-headed cop. Roberts spent the years 1966-1979 wandering what I call his "Lost Road." He finally landed another starring role in a TV series when he played Dr. "Trapper" John McIntyre on the medical show, Trapper John, M.D. He admitted that he took the role for the security that a "nest egg" like that would provide, but Pernell Roberts paid his dues, did what he wanted and challenged himself more often than not with his inumerable acting gigs.

A public figure but intensely private man, Roberts disappeared from the show business scene in 1997 and retreated to quiet retirement. At the time of his departure from Bonanza, Roberts was often the butt of Johnny Carson's monologues, but Roberts is now seen by his many admirers as a man of principle and a singular talent who was on the right side of history with his progressive views on race and war and staying true to his beliefs.

Fighting the Good Fight: Pernell Roberts in a civil rights march, 1965