Betty Grable

From New World Encyclopedia

Betty Grable
Betty Grable in How to Marry a Millionaire trailer 2 cropped.jpg
in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Birth name: Elizabeth Ruth Grable
Date of birth: December 18 1916(1916-12-18)
Birth location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date of death: July 2 1973 (aged 56)
Death location: Santa Monica, California
Other name(s): Frances Dean
Spouse: Jackie Coogan (1937-1940)
Harry James (1943-1965) 2 children

Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American dancer, singer, and actress.

Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the Life magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World." Her famous pin-up pose during World War II adorned barracks all around the world. With that pin-up and as the star of lavish musicals, Betty became the highest-paid star in Hollywood.

Grable's legs were famously insured by her studio for $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London.

She at one time received 12,000 fan letters per week. appeared in her first film at age 14. set a record that has never come close to being equaled in reigning as Hollywood's female box office champ for an incredible ten years. During her lifetime, she would become one of the most prolific singing actresses of her time, starring in over one hundred films, including 'Pin Up Girl' and 'How To Marry A Millionaire'.

Early life

She was born Elizabeth Ruth Grable in St. Louis, Missouri to John Conn Grable (1883-1954) and Lillian Rose Hofmann (1889-1964).[1] She was the youngest of three children.

Elizabeth, who later became Betty, was enrolled in Clark's Dancing School at the age of three. With her mother's guidance, Betty studied ballet and tap dancing. She was introduced to acting in 1929 when her mother moved with her to Hollywood. Although only 5'4" tall and 13 years old, Betty was hired as a Fox chorus girl at $50 a week to dance in Happy Days and Let's Go Places.[2]

Career

Grable finally obtained a role as a 'Goldwyn Girl' in Whoopee! (1930), starring Eddie Cantor. Though Grable received no billing, she led the opening number, "Cowboys." Grable then worked in small roles at different studios for the rest of the decade, including the Academy Award-winning The Gay Divorcee (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

In 1934 she signed a five-year contact with RKO Pictures. Even though she appeared in small parts in over 50 Hollywood movies throughout the 1930s she did not become a star until 1939 when she signed with Darryl F. Zanuck at Twentieth Century Fox. Grable would make dozens of Technicolor musicals for Fox over the next decade and earn the studio over $100 million.[2]

Grable finally gained national attention on stage for her role in the Cole Porter Broadway hit Du Barry Was a Lady (1939).

She would go on to star in Down Argentine Way (1940), Moon Over Miami (1941) (both with Don Ameche), Springtime in The Rockies (1942), Coney Island (1943) with George Montgomery, Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943) with Robert Young, Pin Up Girl (1944), Diamond Horseshoe (1945) with Dick Haymes, The Dolly Sisters (1945) with John Payne and June Haver, and Mother Wore Tights (1947), with costar, Dan Dailey.

Pinup fame

It was during her reign as box office queen (in 1943) that Grable posed for her famous pinup photo, which (along with her movies) soon became escapist fare among GIs fighting in World War II. The image was taken by studio photographer Frank Powolny, who died in 1986. [3] Despite solid competition from Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Lamour, Veronica Lake, Carole Landis and Lana Turner, Grable was the top pinup girl for American soldiers. She was very popular at home as well becoming the No. 1 female box office attraction in 1942, 1943, 1944 and remained in the Top 10 for the next decade. By the end of the 1940s Grable was the highest-paid female star in Hollywood.[2]

Although she never toured outside the United States for the U.S.O., she actively participated in War efforts, appearing at Camps across the country and at Bond Rallies where she auctioned off her nylons for thousands of dollars. Volunteering at the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed entirely by film stars and studio workers, she 'Jitterbugged' the night away with hundreds of soldiers, sailors and marines".[2]

When her studio circulated the famous bathing suit picture they became an instant hit. Life magazine had coined the term "pinup" in the July 7, 1941, special issue on National Defense and anointed "Dottie" Lamour as the nation's first official pinup girl. Grable's 1943 image would far surpass Lamour's popularity when the Fox studio reportedly issued about five million copies of the pose.[2]

Zanuck released the film Pin Up Girl on May 10, 1944, to capitalize on the famous photo, and used the photo to publicize many of the wartime films of the Fox studio. Her yearly salary of $320,000 by 1947 made her the highest paid salaried woman in America. However, her contract with Fox ended in 1953 as the studio began to feature a new "blond bombshell" by the name of Marilyn Monroe.

Her postwar musicals included: That Lady in Ermine (1948) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948) again with Dailey, Wabash Avenue (1950) (a remake of Grable's own Coney Island) with Victor Mature, My Blue Heaven (1950), and Meet Me After the Show (1951). Studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck lavished his star with expensive Technicolor films, but also kept her busy—Grable made nearly 25 musicals and comedies in 13 years. Her last big hit for Fox was How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe. Grable next starred in Three For The Show (1955) with Jack Lemmon and this film was one of her last musicals.

Transition to TV and Broadway

Grable's later career was marked by feuds with studio heads. At one point, in the middle of a fight with Zanuck, she tore up her contract and stormed out of his office. Gradually leaving movies entirely, she made the transition to television and starred in Las Vegas. In 1967, she took over the lead in the touring company of Hello, Dolly!. She starred in a 1969 musical called Belle Starr in London, but it was closed early after bad reviews.

Grable's last role was Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday, and the last stage she performed on was the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida in February, 1973.[4]

Personal life

In 1937, Grable married another famous former child-actor, Jackie Coogan. He was under considerable stress from a lawsuit against his parents over his earnings, however, and the couple divorced in 1939.

In 1943, she married trumpeter and big band leader Harry James. The couple had two daughters, Victoria and Jessica. They endured a tumultuous 22-year marriage that was plagued by alcoholism and infidelity. The couple divorced in 1965. Grable entered into a relationship with a dancer, Bob Remick, several years her junior. Though they did not marry, their romance lasted until the end of Grable's life.

Death

Grable died of lung cancer at age 56 in Santa Monica, California. Her funeral was held July 5, 1973, 30 years to the day after her marriage to Harry James — who, in turn, died on what would have been his and Grable's 40th anniversary, July 5, 1983. She is interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Legacy

Grable has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6525 Hollywood Boulevard. She also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Filmography

Features:

  • Happy Days (1929)
  • Let's Go Places (1930)
  • New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930)
  • Whoopee! (1930)
  • Kiki (1931)
  • Palmy Days (1931)
  • The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932)
  • Probation (1932)
  • The Age of Consent (1932)
  • Hold 'Em Jail (1932)
  • The Kid from Spain (1932)
  • Cavalcade (1933)
  • Child of Manhattan (1933)
  • Melody Cruise (1933)
  • What Price Innocence? (1933)
  • The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933)
  • The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  • Student Tour (1934)
  • By Your Leave (1934)
  • The Nitwits (1935)
  • Old Man Rhythm (1935)
  • Collegiate (1936)
  • Follow the Fleet (1936)
  • Don't Turn 'em Loose (1936)
  • Pigskin Parade (1936)
  • This Way Please (1937)
  • Thrill of a Lifetime (1937)
  • College Swing (1938)
  • Give Me a Sailor (1938)
  • Campus Confessions (1938)
  • Man About Town (1939)
  • Million Dollar Legs (1939)
  • The Day the Bookies Wept (1939)
  • Down Argentine Way (1940)
  • Tin Pan Alley (1940)
  • Moon Over Miami (1941)
  • A Yank in the RAF (1941)
  • I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
  • Song of the Islands (1942)
  • Footlight Serenade (1942)
  • Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
  • Coney Island (1943)
  • Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)
  • Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
  • Pin Up Girl (1944)
  • Diamond Horseshoe (1945)
  • The Dolly Sisters (1945)
  • Do You Love Me (1946) (Cameo)
  • The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
  • Mother Wore Tights (1947)
  • That Lady in Ermine (1948)
  • When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)
  • The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)
  • Wabash Avenue (1950)
  • My Blue Heaven (1950)
  • Call Me Mister (1951)
  • Meet Me After the Show (1951)
  • The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953)
  • How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
  • Three for the Show (1955)
  • How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955)

Short Subjects:

  • Crashing Hollywood (1931)
  • Ex-Sweeties (1931)
  • Once a Hero (1931)
  • Lady! Please! (1932)
  • Hollywood Luck (1932)
  • The Flirty Sleepwalker (1932)
  • Hollywood Lights (1932)
  • Over the Counter (1932)
  • Air Tonic (1933)
  • School for Romance (1934)
  • Love Detectives (1934)
  • Elmer Steps Out (1934)
  • Business Is a Pleasure (1934)
  • Susie's Affairs (1934)
  • Ferry-Go-Round (1934)
  • This Band Age (1935)
  • The Spirit of 1976 (1935)
  • A Night at the Biltmore Bowl (1935)
  • Drawing Rumors (1935)
  • A Quiet Fourth (1935)
  • Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 11 (1936)
  • Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs (1936)
  • Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 7 (1937)
  • Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 10 (1937)
  • Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 4 (1938)
  • Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1 (1941)
  • The All-Star Bond Rally (1945)
  • Hollywood Park (1946)
  • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Shower of Stars (1955)

Notes

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Hulse, Ed. 1996. The Films of Betty Grable. Burbank, Calif: Riverwood Press. ISBN 1880756064
  • McGee, Tom. 1994. Betty Grable: The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs. Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press. ISBN 1879511150
  • Pastos, Spero. 1986. Pin-up: The Tragedy of Betty Grable. New York: Putnam. ISBN 0399131892
  • Warren, Doug. 1981. Betty Grable, The Reluctant Movie Queen. New York: St. Martin's Press ISBN 0312077327

External links

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