JEAN HARLOW Love, Lies & TRAGEDY

HER MARRIAGE TO THE MAN WHO MADE HER A STAR WAS MARRED BY MENTAL ILLNESS AND VIOLENCE

- Lindsay Hoffman

When housekeepers discovered movie executive Paul Bern in his bathroom dead from a gunshot wound, they called MGM Studios first. His wife, film star Jean Harlow, was notified next. Two hours later, the police were summoned.

Hollywood always speculated about the romance between the 22-year-old platinum-blond beauty and the film executive nearly twice her age, but the gossip went into overdrive after Paul’s death. “There was a worry over what would happen,” says Mark A. Vieira, author of Forbidden Hollywood. “Would it be declared a murder or a suicide?”

Signed with movie mogul Howard Hughes, Jean struggled to be noticed in small, thankless roles before she met Paul on the set of 1930’s Hell’s Angels. “People said, ‘Oh, she can’t act. She’s just kind of a sexy thing,’” says Vieira, who notes that instead of seeing her as a sexpot, Paul recognized Jean’s potential for comedy. “She’s funny. She’s very clever. She’s witty. So he thought, Why not build up the comedy aspect?”