Bombshell (sex symbol) of the blurbs on posters was "Lovely, luscious, exotic Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell of filmdom." Hollywood soon took up the blonde bombshell, and then, during the late 1940s through the early 1960s, brunette, exotic, and ethnic versions (e.g., Jane Russell, Dorothy Dandridge and Sophia Loren) were also cultivated as complements to, or as satellites of, the blonde bombshell. Some of the movie stars, largely of the 1940s–1960s, referred to as bombshells include Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Carroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth
Jean Harlow Shearer. She had become one of the biggest movie stars in the world by the late 1930s, often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde"; she was also popular for her "Laughing Vamp" movie persona. Harlow died at age 26 during the 1937 filming of "Saratoga". The film was completed using body doubles and released a little over a month after Harlow's death. The American Film Institute ranked her as the 22nd greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema. Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri. The name is sometimes incorrectly spelled Carpentier, following later studio