Betty Grable

Betty Grable
Grable in the 1950s
Born
Elizabeth Ruth Grable

(1916-12-18)December 18, 1916
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedJuly 2, 1973(1973-07-02) (aged 56)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting placeInglewood Park Cemetery
Other namesFrances Dean
Occupations
  • Actress
  • pin-up girl
  • dancer
  • model
  • singer
Years active1929–1973
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
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(m. 1937; div. 1939)​
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(m. 1943; div. 1965)​
PartnerBob Remick (–her death)
Children2 daughters
RelativesVirginia Pearson (second-cousin)
AwardsHollywood Walk of Fame

Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model and singer.

Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she placed among the Quigley Poll's top 10 box office stars (a feat only matched by Doris Day, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, although all were surpassed by Mary Pickford, with 13 years). The U.S. Treasury Department listed her as the highest-salaried American woman in 1946 and 1947, and she earned more than $3 million during her career.[1]

Grable began her film career in 1929 at age 12 and was later fired from a contract for having signed with a false identification.[2] She studied acting with Neely Dickson at the Hollywood Community Theater.[3] She had contracts with RKO and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s and appeared in a string of B movies, mostly portraying college students. She came to prominence in the Broadway musical Du Barry Was a Lady (1939), which brought her to the attention of 20th Century-Fox.[2]

She replaced Alice Faye in Down Argentine Way (1940), her first major Hollywood film, and became Fox's biggest film star throughout the next decade.[4] Fox cast Grable in a succession of Technicolor musicals during the decade that were immensely popular, costarring with such leading men as Victor Mature, Don Ameche, John Payne and Tyrone Power. In 1943, she was the number-one box-office draw in the world.[5] Two of her greatest film successes were the musical Mother Wore Tights (1947) and the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), one of her later films. Grable retired from screen acting in 1955 after she withdrew from her Fox contract, but she continued to perform on the stage and on television.[6]

Throughout her career, Grable was a celebrated sex symbol.[7] Her bathing-suit poster made her the top pin-up girl of World War II, surpassing Rita Hayworth. The photo was later included in the Life magazine project "100 Photographs That Changed the World". Hosiery specialists of the era often noted the ideal proportions of Grable's legs and thighs (18.5 in (47 cm)), calf (12 in (30 cm)) and ankle (7.5 in (19 cm)).[8] Her legs were insured by her studio for $1 million as a publicity stunt.[9] Describing her film career, Grable said: "I became a star for two reasons, and I'm standing on them."[10]

  1. ^ "Actress Betty Grable Dies of Lung Cancer". Reading Eagle. July 3, 1973. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Hill 2014, p. 139.
  3. ^ Wallace, Irving (October 1940). "Nurseries for Newcomers". Modern Screen. 21 (5): 26–27 – via The Internet Archive, archive.org.
  4. ^ Elder, Jane Lenz (2002). Alice Faye : A Life Beyond the Silver Screen. Jackson, Washington, D.C.: University Press of Mississippi. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-57806-210-2.
  5. ^ Clarke, Andra D; Denton-Drew, Regina (2015). Ciro's : Nightclub of the Stars. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-4671-3379-1.
  6. ^ "Betty Grable Dead At 56". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. July 3, 1973. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  7. ^ Roberts-Frenzel, Caren (2001). Rita Hayworth : A Photographic Retrospective. New York: H.N. Abrams. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8109-1434-6.
  8. ^ Pastos, Spero (1986). Pin-up, The Tragedy of Betty Grable. Putnam. p. 47. ISBN 978-0399131899.
  9. ^ Sonneborn, Liz (2014). A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts. Infobase Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-1438107905. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  10. ^ Rutledge, Leigh W (1999). Celebrated Left-handers : Fabulous Facts about Famous Southpaws. New York: MJF Books. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-56731-606-3.