Is it true that she appeared bloated and ill and everyone on set just assumed it was because she was drinking too much? And how did they know what she died of? Did they have that kind of modern education and medicine back then to diagnose but not fix what killed her???
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She does look pretty bad and bloated, especially in certain scenes. I read that Gable made the joke that she was ill because she'd been drinking too much, but from the way I read it he was only saying it as a joke. The general concensus is, though, that NO ONE thought she was dying. Like today, every one back then figured that she was 26 years ond and it was inconceivable that she would die.
From all accounts, her death was painful and gruesome. Her final days she was severly bloated fron edema because her kidneys had completely shut down, leaving her urine no way to be relieved properly- so it was relieved in her sweat and her breath. She died of Uremic Poisoning. In the days before transplants, there was no cure. Despite her populatity, and(supposed) wealth there was nothing that could be done for her and by the time they figured out what was wrong she was beyond saving. Actually that's not exactly true. Even if they had figured out what was wrong very early on she would've died anyway. In the 30's what she had was terminal, there's no possible way they could've stopped or intervined with renal failure.
The story goes that she got this renal failure as a result of having scarlett fever when she was 15. Her kidneys had been slowly deterating since then. Since you can live with only 10% of your kidney fuctioning, neither she nor anyone else suspected anything since real failure can be a slow process taking many years. Once the 10% remaining began declining the symptoms really started to show. That was the beginning of the end. Poor Jean. I heard she was in agony.
"All you need to start an Asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people"-(My Man Godfrey)
WoW thats so interesting and insightful! thanks so much for that info!!
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jltritschler,,
Excellent explanation.
I just watched Saratoga on TCM.
Sad to see anyone die so young.
Thanks for the background info, etc. Very sad, but I'm at least glad to know that nothing could be done to save her and that her mother's religion wasn't responsible.
I watched three of her films early yesterday on TCM and wished they'd waited until the evening to air them. In a TCM bio-promo, Melanie Griffith, as narrator, says she hopes today's (i.e. younger) audiences get to see Jean's films so she won't be forgotten. A later screening would have assured a larger audience.
The tell-tale arm across the abdomen in the patio scene the night of the party shows how bloated and uncomfortable she had become. When a woman starts feeling fat, that arm reflexively covers the tummy. I've done it myself. She did not do that in the hotel room scene earlier, and her tummy was flat. She was more energetic then, too. By the RR scene, she was getting bloated tho, hiding under the furry bed jacket...her hips had swollen. It's heartbreaking to think there was nothing they could do. Hearing how long she had suffered, if the scarlet fever theory is correct, makes me wonder if a lot of the stories about her dramatics aren't just the result of weakness and pain over the years. Any kind of illness makes a person lightheaded, prone to hot spells, dizziness, short temper. It's amazing she had the drive and strength to have such a big career and so many dependent on her working constantly and consistently.
shareIt's a very sad story about her death that a poster provides. May she RIP. I watched Red Dust a few days back and the contrast in her appearance and energy on the screen with that in Saratoga is pronounced. Still she turned in a good performance in Saratoga nonetheless.
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Always curious what Jean herself thought might be wrong. She was incredibly bloated in her last three movies. In "Libeled Lady" she's mostly wearing artful tents - even in her wedding dress she's carrying a massive spray of flowers and it covers her head to toe so you can't see her body. In only one dress are her shoulders even bare, and she looks a bit slimmer overall in those scenes, so maybe they were shot first. Compare that with how they dressed Myrna Loy - form-fitting and lots of skin.
They used the costuming for comedy in Jean's character, but it was obviously also to conceal her weight. However, I read whenever she was asked, she insisted she was in perfect health.
Another thing, in most of her studio portraits prior to 1937, she looks relaxed and confident, whether she's being sexy, smiley, or natural. She seems comfortable in her skin despite the hair, costuming, lights and make-up involved. In 1937, she started putting on this odd facial expression - raising her eyebrows, and sort of half-smiling without showing teeth. It actually looked pretentious, which is the last thing she seemed to be. Her face was wider/fuller - maybe she thought it looked smaller with that expression. But it's a very self-conscious, contrived looking expression not seen before 1937 - stilted, with a weird expression in her eyes. You can also see the retouching - the shadows at the back, neck, butt, arms and waist. George Hurrell always sculpted away imperfections with shadow (or to create perfect proportions), but it's everywhere in her Saratoga studio shots.
Finally, we're always told movies film out of sequence, but Saratoga seems to have been filmed mostly in sequence, since Jean disappears only after the first half of the movie. There are a couple of switches - such as the double indoors and then the real Jean on the patio, but mostly the stand-in shows up near the end.
She was drinking quite heavily around that time - I read her mother thought the weight gain was maybe from that, perhaps Jean herself thought that too?
I remember reading about someone hearing Jean's mother telling Jean that she must take care of herself, so she would look good for the camera. Clark Gable and some others said they had no idea Jean was ill but they must have noticed she had started to look odd and bloated, there's some interviews with one of the people at the newspaper company she had dealings with in the last few months of her life and they said she was very friendly and in good spirits whenever she stopped by but that she didn't look well at all.
On the morning of the day she collapsed filming Saratoga she rode to the studio with Maureen O'Sullivan, Maureen could see that Jean was in a lot of pain and asked her what was wrong, Jean told her she had bad menstrual cramps
I know she was a heavy drinker from a teen-ager - she and her first husband drank a lot. I can't help wondering though if she increased her alcohol intake to dull the pain from her kidney issues, without knowing it was kidney issues. Kidney failure can impact SO much of your body before they fail for good.
So maybe everybody figured it was booze that made her bloat up, although she certainly wasn't the only young female movie star who drank, and they weren't blowing up. She was 26 - even if she was a functional alcoholic you'd assume there were a few more years before it took its toll.
IMO she looks "weird" in a lot of Saratoga - they are still using the wardrobe tricks, styling and camoflage they used in Libeled Lady. She's kind of stilted. BUT, in Libeled Lady, her face looks gray throughout the entire film, and there are circles under her eyes the entire film (I think they also gave her lower eyebrows than usual, which may have made her look frownier or something). In Saratoga she almost looks like a Jean Harlow mannequin. Her skin isn't gray, but it looks "funny" almost like it's plastic.
Yes you're right Jean does look quite ill and puffy in Libeled lady too (it was filmed in Nov '36 I think), her performance in that is much more lively than in Saratoga though, she's very funny in that movie.
I know exactly what you're talking about with the Manequin look, she has it in both Personal Property and Saratoga, I'm assuming it was very heavy make-up to cover up dark-circles etc I also read she got very badly sunburned some months before - another sign of kidney failure, she has that odd painted doll look in these candids too taken in May '37 - http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vp19/11600353/1928621/original.jpg - http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/vp19/11600353/1844547/600.jpg - her cheeks also look very swollen to me, she must have noticed herself that she didn't look well, I wonder if anyone from the studio talked to her about this? I read Eddie Mannix told someone he didn't think Jean would complete 'Saratoga', if so then they did know she was pretty ill.
On page 213 of Gregory William Mank's 'Hollywood's Maddest Doctors' (1998), there is a still of Harlow in 'Saratoga' in which George Zucco is ironically playing her doctor examining her with a stethoscope.
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