Harlow (Paramount film)

1965 film by Gordon Douglas

Not to be confused with Harlow (Magna film), also 1965, starring Carol Lynley.

Harlow

Original theatrical poster

Directed by| Gordon Douglas
Written by| John Michael Hayes
Based on| Harlow: An Intimate Biography
by Irving Shulman
Produced by| Joseph E. Levine
Starring| Carroll Baker
Martin Balsam
Red Buttons
Michael Connors
Angela Lansbury
Peter Lawford
Raf Vallone
Cinematography| Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by| Frank Bracht
Archie Marshek
Music by| Neal Hefti

Production
companies

Embassy Pictures
Promethemus Enterprises Inc.

Distributed by| Paramount Pictures

Release date

* June 23, 1965 (1965-06-23) (United States)

Running time

| 125 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $2.5 million
Box office| $3,400,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[1]$1 million
Jean Harlow (left) and Carroll Baker

Harlow is a 1965 American biographical drama film directed by Gordon Douglas about the life of film star Jean Harlow. It stars Carroll Baker in the title role and Raf Vallone, Red Buttons, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Mike Connors, Martin Balsam and Leslie Nielsen in supporting roles. Although the film failed commercially, it was successful in launching the hit song "Girl Talk" by Neal Hefti.

The picture was released by Paramount Pictures shortly after Magna had released a different film with the same title and subject, starring Carol Lynley.

## Plot

[edit]

The film opens with Harlow as a struggling extra and bit actress supporting a greedy stepfather Marino and a loving but oblivious mother "Mama Jean". With the help of agent Arthur Landau, she secures a contract at the studio of the Howard Hughes-inspired Richard Manley. The reception to her first film is disappointing, and at Manley's studio her career is stalled. When Manley attempts to add her to his list of seduced starlets, Harlow fights him off and tells him what she thinks of him. This scene turns out to be a ruse devised by her agent so that the now-furious Manley terminates her contract. Landau successfully pitches Harlow to Majestic Studios, and her career blossoms. Despite studio encouragement to marry another contract star, Harlow marries the apparently gentle and cultured Paul Bern, who is revealed to be impotent. Soon after, Bern commits suicide. His death, combined with the stress of her career, leads Harlow on an odyssey of failed relationships and alcoholism, culminating in her death of pneumonia at the age of 26.

## Cast

[edit]

* Carroll Baker as Jean Harlow
* Red Buttons as Arthur Landau
* Raf Vallone as Marino Bello
* Angela Lansbury as Mama Jean Bello
* Peter Lawford as Paul Bern
* Mike Connors as Jack Harrison (as Michael Connors)
* Martin Balsam as Everett Redman
* Leslie Nielsen as Richard Manley
* Mary Murphy as Sally Doane
* Hanna Landy as Beatrice Landau
* Peter Hansen as Assistant Director
* Kipp Hamilton as Marie Tanner
* Peter Leeds as Parker
* Sonny Liston as a fist fighter

## Production

[edit]

The concept of depicting Jean Harlow on film had originated in the 1950s. Many actresses were reported to have been cast as Harlow in different biopics, such as Cleo Moore for Columbia and Jayne Mansfield for Fox, but both of these projects fell through. In 1962, Fox announced that Marilyn Monroe would play Harlow in a lavish biopic under her new contract. However, after Monroe's death, the project was sold to Paramount, which cast Carroll Baker in the title role. Based in part on Irving Shulman's pulp biography Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Paramount's Harlow is a melodramatic look at Harlow's life, focusing on her failed marriages. The widescreen Technicolor film, produced by Joseph E. Levine, was made on a $2.5 million budget, and was supported by a wide-reaching publicity campaign. The previous year, Carroll Baker had played a fictionalized version of Harlow dubbed "Rina Marlowe" in the smash-hit film The Carpetbaggers starring George Peppard and Alan Ladd, which had also been produced by Joseph E. Levine.

Director Gordon Douglas later said that during filming Baker "was very sick, physically and also mentally, I think. She was going through bad times. But she did a hell of a good job on the picture."[2]

## Home media

[edit]

On September 28, 2010, Olive Films released Harlow on Region 1 DVD in the United States.

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1965

## References

[edit]

1. ^ This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 6
2. ^ Davis, Ronald L. (2005). Just making movies. University Press of Mississippi. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-57806-690-2.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harlow (Paramount film).

* Harlow at IMDb
* Harlow at the TCM Movie Database
* Harlow at AllMovie
* Hollywood Backstage, publicity & behind-the-scenes newsreel footage, time stamp 37:13 on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Gordon Douglas

1930s|

* General Spanky (1936)
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1940s|

* Saps at Sea (1940)
* Broadway Limited (1941)
* The Great Gildersleeve (1942)
* Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)
* Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)
* A Night of Adventure (1944)
* Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944)
* Girl Rush (1944)
* The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)
* Zombies on Broadway (1945)
* First Yank into Tokyo (1945)
* Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)
* San Quentin (1946)
* If You Knew Susie (1948)
* Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
* The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)
* Mr. Soft Touch (1949)

1950s|

* The Nevadan (1950)
* Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)
* Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950)
* Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
* Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
* The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
* Only the Valiant (1951)
* I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
* Come Fill the Cup (1951)
* Mara Maru (1952)
* The Iron Mistress (1952)
* She's Back on Broadway (1953)
* The Charge at Feather River (1953)
* So This Is Love (1953)
* Them! (1954)
* Young at Heart (1955)
* The McConnell Story (1955)
* Sincerely Yours (1955)
* Santiago (1956)
* The Big Land (1957)
* Bombers B-52 (1957)
* Fort Dobbs (1958)
* The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958)
* Up Periscope (1959)
* Yellowstone Kelly (1959)

1960s|

* The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961)
* Gold of the Seven Saints (1961)
* Claudelle Inglish (1961)
* Follow That Dream (1962)
* Call Me Bwana (1963)
* Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
* Rio Conchos (1964)
* Sylvia (1965)
* Harlow (1965)
* Stagecoach (1966)
* Way...Way Out (1966)
* In Like Flint (1967)
* Chuka (1967)
* Tony Rome (1967)
* The Detective (1968)
* Lady in Cement (1968)

1970s|

* Skullduggery (1970)
* They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
* Barquero (1970)
* Skin Game (1971, uncredited)
* Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)
* Nevada Smith (1975)
* Viva Knievel! (1977)

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