Harlow (Paramount film)

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
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

 * 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
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."

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