June 7, 1937: Jean Harlow Dies

June 7, 1937: Actress Jean Harlow dies at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. She was only 26 years old, and in the last few years before antibiotics became common, she had been felled by kidney disease.

Born Harlean Harlow Cooper in Kansas City, and known as "Baby" to her friends, Jean was one of Hollywood's earliest "blonde bombshells." Inventor and film producer Howard Hughes gave her her big break, in 1930, with the film Hell's Angels. (It was about pilots. The motorcycle gang of the same name was founded in 1948. Despite rumors, there is no evidence that Harlow and Hughes were ever a couple.)

Her films included the James Cagney gangster movie The Public Enemy in 1931; the original version of Scarface, Red-Headed Woman (against type), and Red Dust in 1932; Dinner at Eight and Bombshell in 1933; The Girl from Missouri in 1934; Reckless and China Seas in 1935; and Libeled Lady in 1936.

She was filming Saratoga when she fell ill, and stand-ins were used in her place. It also starred Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore, plus future Gone with the Wind performer Hattie McDaniel and future Wizard of Oz performers Margaret Hamilton and Frank Morgan. It turned out to be MGM's most successful film of 1937. As is so often the case, death was a great career move.

Her brief life and career still capture people's attention. In 1953, Marilyn Monroe, the blonde bombshell of her generation, was given a script that had been intended for Harlow once she recovered. Marilyn turned it down, thinking it would be a poor tribute to the actress she considered her idol.

In 1965, two separate films titled Harlow were released, one starring Carol Lynley, the other starring Carroll Baker. Neither did well. In 1977, Lindsay Bloom played her in Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell, with Victor Holchak playing Hughes. In 2004, No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani played her opposite Leonardo Di Caprio's Hughes in The Aviator.

In 1968, after being shot, Robert F. Kennedy was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where Harlow died, and died there, 31 years minus 1 day later.

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June 7, 1937 was a Monday. It was the off-season for the NFL and the NHL, and the NBA hadn't yet been founded. But there were Major League Baseball games played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers 4-3 at Navin Field in Detroit. Joe DiMaggio hit a home run off Jake Wade, but it wasn't enough, as Wade was backed by a home run by Hank Greenberg off Lefty Gomez. The following season, Navin Field would be expanded into its more familiar configuration, and renamed Briggs Stadium. It would be renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Ebbets Field. Dem Bums had a 4-0 lead after 5 innings and blew it, but won it in the bottom of the 10th, on a single by Babe Phelps and a double by Woody English.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 17-5 at Cleveland.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 12-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-6 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* In a move that would probably not be made today, the Boston Bees -- what the Braves called themselves from 1936 to 1940 -- looked at the weather report for June 7, saw that it called for rain, and talked the Chicago Cubs into moving the game up to June 6, for a doubleheader at Braves Field in Boston. (The name of the ballpark wasn't changed, but was nicknamed "The Bee Hive.") The Braves won the opener 7-1, and the Cubs won the nightcap 7-2.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.