Want to know the best Jean Harlow movies? How about the worst Jean Harlow movies? Curious about Jean Harlow’s box office grosses or which Jean Harlow movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jean Harlow movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.
Jean Harlow (1911-1937) was an American actress. On American Film Institute’s Top 50 Screen Legends list, Jean Harlow is ranked as the 22nd best actress, right behind #21 Sophia Loren and right before #23 Carole Lombard. Tragically she died at the age of 26 (as her career was at its peak) due to a kidney illness. This may have been due to the fact that she suffered from scarlet fever at the age 15 in 1926.
Her IMDb page shows 43 acting credits from 1928-1937. This page will rank 22 Jean Harlow movies from Best to Worst in seven different sortable columns of information. Uncredited roles, bit parts and short were not included in the rankings.
Jean Harlow Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Jean Harlow Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by his co-stars
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Jean Harlow movie received.
- Sort Jean Harlow movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Jean Harlow Adjusted WorldWide Box Office Grosses
Possibly Interesting Facts About Jean Harlow
1. Harlean Harlow Carpenter was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911.
2. Jean Harlow’s road to stardom Cliff Notes style….She moved to Hollywood in 1923 with her mother. By the late 1920s she had appeared in numerous uncredited parts and a Laurel and Hardy short. Howard Hughes cast her in 1930’s Hell’s Angels. The success of Hell’s Angels got her noticed for the first time. She spent the rest of the 1930s appearing in 3 movies a year until her death in 1937.
3. Even though Jean Harlow’s career was brief….she still managed to co-star with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. She made 6 movies with Clark Gable, 3 movies with Spencer Tracy, 1 movie with Cary Grant and 1 movie with James Stewart.
4. Jean Harlow’s nicknames were “Baby”, “The Blonde Bombshell” and “The Platinum Blonde”.
5. According to the American Film Institute, Jean Harlow is the 22nd greatest female star of all-time.
6. Jean Harlow was married three times in her life but did not have any children.
7. Jean Harlow was the idol of Marilyn Monroe. Both Harlow and Monroe co-starred in their last films with Clark Gable, Harlow in 1937’s Saratoga and Monroe in 1961’s The Misfits.
8. Jean Harlow used to put ice on her nipples right before shooting a scene in order to appear sexier.
9. Jean Harlow turned down the lead female roles in 1933’s Freaks and 1932’s King Kong.
10. Check out Jean Harlow’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
Thanks, for this interesting link.
Glad you checked out my Harlow page….Laura G,
Libeled Lady, Red-Headed Woman, Dinner at Eight, Red Dust all excellent
Hey Joe….well all four of the movies you mentioned made her Top 10 when looking at how critics and audiences rated them…..with 3 of the 4 even making it to the Top 5. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi
I’ve only seen a few of Harlow’s movies, but one I seen and enjoyed was Red Headed Woman. She plays a money grabbing little minx who ends up running off with some old boy millionaire. Probably her most famous movie was Dinner at Eight. I saw her last movie, Saratoga, which I thought was okay but not great. But of course a big success due to the sadness of her early death.
Hey Chris….I am right there with about watching Harlow movies…..as I have only seen 5 of her movies. I will have to check out Red Headed Woman. I actually had Dinner at Eight in my hand just the other day….but I put it back on my library’s shelf. I will be watching that one in the near future. Saratoga was huge….and her death is the main reason for that….pretty much the Heath Ledger of her time. So sad that she passed away so young. Thanks for the comment and the visit.
My grandmother was a huge fan of Harlow and Monroe. As a child I always got the two actresses mixed up. I liked the trivia you included. And all I have to say about that is. “lucky ice”.
Hey Timlin….very funny about the lucky ice. Thanks for sharing about your grandmother. Harlow and Monroe had lots in common….the most depressing common trait was the fact that they died so young.
Another AFI actress, great!.
Nobody commented yet. Depending upon how long it takes me to write this, who knows, I may be first?
I’m quite familiar with Jean Harlow. Any time she is in a movie it is worth being seen.I’ve always enjoyed her. Again, the films I have seen of hers I have seen often although there are still some I am missing.
The highest ranking film of hers I have seen is The Public Enemy at Number 1.
The lowest ranking film I have seen is Reckless at Number 21.
The highest ranking film I have not seen is Hell’s Angels at Number 9.
I have seen 5 of her top 5
I have seen 9 of her top 10
I have seen 11 of her top 15
I have seen 13 overall. Somehow I thought my percentage of her movies was higher.
My favourite 5 Jean Harlow films are:
Dinner at Eight
Libeled Lady
Red Dust
Wife vs. Secretary
Saratoga
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Congrats on being first. I have not even started to push this page yet…via Facebook, Twitter, and IMDb.
2. I am surprised you have not seen Hell’s Angels….that was one of the biggest hits of the 1920s and 1930s.
3. Harlow is the 18th AFI actress that I have done….and 23 AFT actors done….that means I am down to single digits in finally completing that goal of doing a page on all of AFI Top 50 stars.
3A. Still trying to figure out how to do a page with Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish….I guess I am going to just realize that I will not be able to find box office information on those people.
4. Tally count….Flora at 13 or 59%….Steve has not checked in yet….and me at 5 or 22.72%.
5. Somehow I have managed not to see Suzy….it is one of the few Cary Grant movies that I have not seen…..it is very high on my list of movies to watch.
6. Of your Top 5 Harlow movies….I have only seen Wife vs. Secretary. I will probably be seeing Dinner at Eight very soon….as it is one of the movies that I see all the time at my local library….but never got around to watching it.
As always….thanks for stopping by and talking movies.