Freeze Frame: Hollywood's first 'blonde bombshell' died before her highest-grossing film was finished
Some celebrities receive icon status following their tragic, premature deaths.
Late stars such as Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean still draw fascination even decades on from their early departure from this mortal coil.
There's one screen siren who hasn't escaped this enduring obsession for close to a century after she passed away.
American actress Jean Harlow rose to fame in the 1930s, becoming one of Hollywood's earliest sex symbols
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Actress Jean Harlow in a scene from the movie Bombshell. Getty
Her legacy is best captured by a single line in Kim Carnes' hit 1981 song Bette Davis Eyes, when she sings: "Her hair is Harlow gold".
She predated Marilyn by decades, but her sad and mysterious death at the young age of 26 meant her career was eclipsed by others' far too soon.
In fact, Marilyn once revealed she idolised Harlow while growing up.
Harlow was at the top of her game in the mid-1930s. She made history as the first "blonde bombshell" to talk on-screen when the "talkies" swept cinema during this era.
Over her short 10-year career, Harlow starred in a staggering 36 films. Her most well-known films included Red-Headed Woman, Bombshell and Reckless.
It was her signature blonde hair that earned her the nickname, which has been used time and time again since in Hollywood.
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Harlow's life was short but memorable. Getty
Before her career was cut short, Harlow experienced more heartbreak than most people would in a lifetime.
She left home at age 16 and married her first husband, Charles McGrew. The pair divorced just two years later.
Her second husband, Paul Bern, died just two years into their marriage at age 42.
Harlow's third marriage to cinematographer Harold Rosson also ended within a year.
The screen siren was on the cusp of finally finding happiness again, engaged to actor William Powell, in 1937.
They were together for two years before Harlow suddenly became very ill.
She was in the middle of filming her final movie, Saratoga, alongside Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore, when she collapsed on set and was hospitalised due to a strange and debilitating condition.
Harlow and Gable pictured in a scene from Saratoga. Getty
Gable was said to be horrified at the sight of his co-star upon visiting her in hospital. Her condition was serious, her body had ballooned in size and she was in intense pain, Anita Loos wrote in her 1974 book Kiss Hollywood Good-by.
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According to a 1937 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly, Harlow had "refused to undergo an operation because she feared it would delay completion of the picture she was working in with Clark Gable".
Harlow's condition rapidly deteriorated and it was later found she had been diagnosed with uremic poisoning, a result of untreated kidney failure. It had spread to her brain.
She died on June 7, 1937, at the age of 26. A Guardian report at the time of her death noted her partner, William Powell, had been at her bedside.
The poster for Saratoga (1937). MGM
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"William Powell had been Miss Harlow's constant companion at social events in recent months, and Hollywood was confident that there would be a marriage," the piece read.
As filming for Saratoga had not yet been completed, MGM looked to replace Harlow.
Public objection to this idea forced the studio to finish the film using body doubles and rewriting scenes without her.
Gable once recalled filming those scenes as acting "in the arms of a ghost".
The film was released less than two months after Harlow's death in July 1937, later becoming the highest-grossing movie in Harlow's career.
Tragically, it is said Marilyn Monroe was planning to star in a biopic about Harlow, her childhood idol, before she died in 1962.
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