She only lived twenty-six years. Born in 1911, she was dead by June 7, 1937. Perhaps it is those stars who burn the most intensely, cannot burn for very long, and she did burn brightly. The paradigm for all platinum blonds, she wasn’t the first female star to take advantage of her sex appeal, but, excluding the special category “Mae West,” she was perhaps the most shocking actor of her time, more often saying just what she meant, skipping the euphemisms, metaphors, small talk, and double entendre. I first stumbled upon her in several short films she did with Laurel and Hardy as a comic spoil, a comic femme fatale. She dyed her hair platinum blonde, and it glowed like a halo in those black and white films. There is no doubt that her physical presence in films was notable, and all the big stars wanted to work with her, regardless of the material, regardless of how bad the film might be. Her shower scene in “Red Dust” is astonishing even by today’s standards. Part of her legend has it that she often refused to wear underwear. In her public personae, she was pure feminine sexuality unleashed, and many of her films were boycotted by religious and conservative groups, but those boycotts only served to make her more popular, and they never hurt her box office numbers. She starred in six films with Clark Gable, including the already mentioned “Red Dust.” In most of her films she played the “original” bad girl, and both Marilyn Monroe and Madonna admired her work enough to emulate the platinum blond look. In the ’80’s sitcom “Night Court” a framed picture of Harlow hung behind Judge Harry Stone’s desk in his office. In 1937 while filming “Saratoga” with Clark Gable, she became ill, and suddenly died of kidney failure. The star burned brightly and was gone. According to the Internet Data Movie Base, “[Harlow] is portrayed by Gwen Stefani in The Aviator (2004), by Carroll Baker in Harlow (1965/I), by Susan Buckner in The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV), by Lindsay Bloom in Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell (1978) and by Carol Lynley in Harlow (1965/II). She once said, “Men like me because I don’t wear a brassiere. Women like me because I don’t look like a girl who would steal a husband. At least not for long.” If you ever get a chance to watch one of her films, you won’t ever forget it.