Jean Harlow

 "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."

Jean Harlow spent the night of April 6, 1933--the day when Prohibition was set to expire at midnight--at the Los Angeles Brewing Co. with fellow movie star Walter Huston. A maker of "near-beer" and denatured alcohol (the alcohol was subtracted from the full-strength beer the company continued to brew during Prohibition, but could not legally market), the company was ready to immediately supply the Los Angeles area's demand for beer. Skipping the denaturing process, they had made a huge consignment of the genuine stuff to be marketed as Eastside Beer in bottles and kegs. The brewery's trucks were loaded and ready to roll out of the brewery the minute when could be legally shipped and sold. Two Treasury Department agents and many guards were there that night to ensure things went smoothly, safely and legally. At 12:01 a.m. on April 7, when the sale and consumption of intoxicating beverages was once again legal in the United States, Huston gave a short speech and Harlow broke a bottle of beer over the first truck lined up and ready to deliver its now-legal load of liquid refreshment, thus christening the reborn brewery. The trucks rolled out, many staffed with armed guards riding shotgun lest the thirsty multitude get too frisky along the delivery routes. When the night was over, the brewery had done over $250,000 in business (approximately $3,387,000 in 2005 dollars) and had collected a stack of cash 18 inches high. Harlow has stayed the night, partying with brewery employees.

At the time of her death she was suffering from kidney failure that was causing her limbs to swell up with water, making her considerably heavier. Co-star Clark Gable noticed this when they filmed a scene for her last film, "Saratoga" (1937), that required him to lift her into the upper berth in a Pullman car. He complained that she weighed more and was therefore harder for him to lift than she had been in their previous films together.

One of the last photos taken of her showed her carrying a copy of "Gone with the Wind". She was determined to read it, but as her illness progressed she couldn't get past more than the first few pages. When she was admitted to the hospital, she reminded one of her nurses to pack it. The nurse, realizing how serious Harlow's illness was, remarked, "She'll never finish it." Harlow died later that week.

"I was not a born actress. No one knows it better than I. If I had any latent talent, I have had to work hard, listen carefully, do things over and over and then over again in order to bring it out."