Harlow

Harlow is a 1965 drama based on the life of Jean Harlow, the platinum-blonde star of 1930s Hollywood. It follows a young woman who arrives in Los Angeles and is pushed toward show business by her mother and stepfather. The agent Arthur Landau becomes her mentor and manages her career, while a powerful studio figure takes an interest in her. Her marriage to the producer Paul Bern brings personal difficulties that contrast with her public success.

Gordon Douglas directed the film, the tenth of the sixteen features he made in chronological order, between Rio Conchos and Stagecoach. John Michael Hayes wrote the screenplay, and Joseph E. Levine produced it for Paramount, Embassy Pictures and Prometheus Enterprises Inc. Carroll Baker plays Jean Harlow, with Red Buttons as Arthur Landau. Raf Vallone, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford and Mike Connors appear as Marino Bello, Mama Jean Bello, Paul Bern and Jack Harrison. The film runs 125 minutes and had a budget of 3 million dollars.

There were two biographical films about Jean Harlow released in 1965, and this was one of them. Audiences have been lukewarm: on IMDb it holds 5.6 out of 10 from around 1,200 votes, and on TMDB it also scores 5.6, from a much smaller number of votes.