Hollywood's Star-Crossed Blonde Bombshells: The Lives of the Influential Actresses Who Suffered Premature Deaths at the Height of Their Fame

When the American Film Institute ranked its top 50 screen legends of the 20th century, many of the people named had careers spanning several decades, but one of them managed the feat despite living less than three decades. Ranked as the 22nd greatest actress of the 20th century, Jean Harlow was on the screen for less than 10 years, but in that time the “Blonde Bombshell” became the most popular actress of the 1930s, eclipsing superstars like Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer along the way. In fact, the platinum blonde accomplished that feat as a leading lady for just 5 years before her premature death of renal failure at just 26 years old. On January 16, 1942, just a few weeks after Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, the nation suffered what were considered the first civilian deaths of the war when a plane crashed into the side of a mountain southwest of Las Vegas. Aboard the plane were 15 servicemen, but the plane was also carrying one of Hollywood’s biggest stars: actress Carole Lombard. Although Lombard’s death and her marriage to Gone With the Wind star Clark Gable have overshadowed her career, her untimely death in 1942 cut short the life of one of Hollywood’s most prominent stars at the time.Few actresses lived their lives in the public eye more than Marilyn Monroe, and yet her life remains shrouded in mystery to this day. While it is common knowledge that Marilyn’s life is a rags-to-riches story, her life is bookended by hazy details surrounding her early life and even more mysterious death. What is known is that Marilyn Monroe was America’s ultimate sex symbol in the 20th century, in part because she came of age in the wake of World War II and became famous during the conservative era of the 1950s. She appeared in just two films in the 1960s, prior to her premature death in August 1962, and there is a wide gulf between the brevity of her career and the impact that she made on American culture throughout the 1950s.