Want to know the best Jean Harlow movies? How about the worst Jean Harlow movies? Curious about Jean Harlow’s box office grosses or which Jean Harlow movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jean Harlow movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.
Jean Harlow (1911-1937) was an American actress. On American Film Institute’s Top 50 Screen Legends list, Jean Harlow is ranked as the 22nd best actress, right behind #21 Sophia Loren and right before #23 Carole Lombard. Tragically she died at the age of 26 (as her career was at its peak) due to a kidney illness. This may have been due to the fact that she suffered from scarlet fever at the age 15 in 1926.
Her IMDb page shows 43 acting credits from 1928-1937. This page will rank 22 Jean Harlow movies from Best to Worst in seven different sortable columns of information. Uncredited roles, bit parts and short were not included in the rankings.
Jean Harlow Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Jean Harlow Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by his co-stars
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Jean Harlow movie received.
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Jean Harlow Adjusted WorldWide Box Office Grosses
Possibly Interesting Facts About Jean Harlow
1. Harlean Harlow Carpenter was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911.
2. Jean Harlow’s road to stardom Cliff Notes style….She moved to Hollywood in 1923 with her mother. By the late 1920s she had appeared in numerous uncredited parts and a Laurel and Hardy short. Howard Hughes cast her in 1930’s Hell’s Angels. The success of Hell’s Angels got her noticed for the first time. She spent the rest of the 1930s appearing in 3 movies a year until her death in 1937.
3. Even though Jean Harlow’s career was brief….she still managed to co-star with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. She made 6 movies with Clark Gable, 3 movies with Spencer Tracy, 1 movie with Cary Grant and 1 movie with James Stewart.
4. Jean Harlow’s nicknames were “Baby”, “The Blonde Bombshell” and “The Platinum Blonde”.
5. According to the American Film Institute, Jean Harlow is the 22nd greatest female star of all-time.
6. Jean Harlow was married three times in her life but did not have any children.
7. Jean Harlow was the idol of Marilyn Monroe. Both Harlow and Monroe co-starred in their last films with Clark Gable, Harlow in 1937’s Saratoga and Monroe in 1961’s The Misfits.
8. Jean Harlow used to put ice on her nipples right before shooting a scene in order to appear sexier.
9. Jean Harlow turned down the lead female roles in 1933’s Freaks and 1932’s King Kong.
10. Check out Jean Harlow’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
1 Super update Bruce with worldwide grosses to keep things really interesting.
2 It is said that the Carroll Baker character in The Carpetbaggers (1964) was based on Harlow and if so it did not paint a flattering personal picture of her. The Baker/Harlow Rena Marlowe character in the film is a big movie star who naturally receives a massive number of male fan letters which express adoration and beg for autographs and other memorabilia;and an exasperated Martin Balsam who plays the head of her studio says of the fan mail if I may paraphrase ” They spend hours on this stuff and little do they know that they would just have to walk up those stairs and into her room and she would instantly throw herself into their arms.”
3 However my preoccupation is with Jean’s screen persona which I very much admire as she was able to hold her own with some of the greatest male stars of her time whom you have mentioned above; and in a career lasting under a decade she made the 22 films in your list which have an adjusted domestic gross of some $2 .6 billion at an average of nearly $120 mil per movie. Many actress have not done that over even a 30 year career.
BOB
Hey Bob.
1. Yes…another page updated…I am now in the 200s in the updates…slowly getting there.
2. I need to see The Carpetbaggers….I have never seen advertise on television or ever seen in on DVD….which I find strange since it was such a big hit.
3. Thanks for the information on The Carpetbaggers.
4. She accomplished all of these great stats by the age of 26…..I think Jennifer Lawrence has similar numbers at her young age….but not thinking too many others can make that claim.
🙂
I feel like I have found a treasure chest. Great information. Love Ms. Harlow.
Thanks for the kind words Anonymous. Thanks for stopping by.
Harlow was such a giant star in the 30’s. I’ve seen almost all of her pictures and think she should be at least five places higher on AFI’s list. The fact that she achieved such stardom at 26 and starred with such huge actors as Gable, Powell, Tracy etc is proof she was THE star at MGM. God only knows how far she would have gone if fate hadn’t intervened.
Hey JRD. I think to understand her in today’s term….she was the Jennifer Lawrence of the 1930s. Accomplishing such many great things by 26…it is amazing. So sad that we did not see her making movies in the 1940s….her legend would be even bigger if she had. Thanks for finding my Harlow page and commenting…both are greatly appreciated.
Jean Harlow The Platinum Blonde, I watched a season of her films about a year ago. She was sexy and pretty, but not really beautiful. Tragically died so young, just 26!
I’ve seen 12 of the films you’ve listed here so Flora wins this round too. 🙂
Favorites include the Clark Gable films, Libeled Lady, Dinner at Eight, Public Enemy and of course Hells Angels which tops the moviescore and box office charts here.
King Kong was one of the biggest hits of the 30’s so she might have regretted turning down that role. Fay Wray was the scream queen of the time and became instantly iconic as the girl in Kong’s paw.
Excellent work Bruce, voted up.
Hey Steve…..wow I am surprised you have seen so many Jean Harlow movies. Even more surprised that Flora only beat you by one movie. I have seen Dinner At Eight since writing this page so my tally count is now at 6. Flora 13, Steve 12 and me 6. I agree dying at 26 is very tragic. Seems she is in the same club as Dean, Ledger, & Walker. All died young and then their final movies were huge blockbuster movies. ….Saratoga, Giant, Dark Knight and Furious 7. I agree with you that she probably regretted turning down King Kong. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Dinner at Eight is my favrite movie of Jean Harlow and I like Libeled Lady. China Seas and Red Dust with Gable also good.
Hey Marion….I actually just checked out Dinner at Eight from my library….so I will be seeing that one very very soon. Still searching for Libeled Lady….thanks for the visit and the comment.