Betty Grable, during the 1940s, was the highest-paid woman in America, with a salary of $300,000 per year. She earned this immense amount by being a platinum blonde musical star with fantastic legs. There were many more talented performers in Hollywood, and perhaps several more truly beautiful actresses, but Betty hit the top and stayed there for two decades.
Sex Symbol
Grable became the sex symbol for millions of soldiers serving overseas in World War Two, and women everywhere wanted to look like Betty Grable. She was an exceptional mixture of sexiness and innocence, and women could relate to this in their dreams. Her singing, dancing and acting were not outstanding, which perhaps led to many young women thinking "if she made it so can I."
Early Life
Betty was born Elizabeth Ruth Grable in St.Louis, Missouri, on December 18,1916, to Leon and Lillian Grable, who became a rather tyrannical stage mother, punishing little Betty if she ever missed a singing or dancing lesson. Later Betty would state that "I dreaded every lesson and I especially hated acrobatics." Lillian eventually took Betty to Hollywood, without Leon, and they began to forge a career of sorts. Her first movie role was in Let's Go Places, and she had to lie about her age to get the part. At this time she was using the name Frances Dean.
Early Film Roles
She travelled from studio to studio doing bit parts until, in 1934, she was featured in the Astaire-Rogers film,The Gay Divorcee. This led to a contract with RKO and she stayed there for two years. In 1936 she moved to Paramount Pictures and made several college girl movies...she was eventually dubbed Betty Coed.
Marriage
Betty was engaged for a long time to the actor Jackie Coogan but was not allowed, according to her contract, to marry until she was twenty-one. They married in 1937 and divorced in 1940. She had a long romance with the actor George Raft, but in 1943 she married again, this time to bandleader Harry James. This marriage lasted twenty-two years and produced two daughters, Jessica and Victoria.
Filmography
Grable appeared in many films for Twentieth Century Fox Studios, including Tin Pan Alley (1940), Song of the Islands (1942), Footlight Serenade (1942),Springtime in the Rockies (1942), Mother Wore Tights (1947) and How to Marry a Millionaire, with Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe in 1953.
Later Years
Her last film was How to be Very, Very Popular (1955), after which she tried comebacks in night clubs and on the stage as well as some TV appearances into the 1960's, but her career was virtually over. She lived in Las Vegas and died of lung cancer on July 2,1973.
Source
Notable American Women The Modern Period Sicherman and Green The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1980
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