Harlean Carpenter, later known as Jean Harlow, was born on March 3, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried, moving with her daughter to 288 Central Avenue in Highland Park. In 1926 at age 16, Harlean applied and was accepted to attend Ferry Hall. She appeared in the school’s production of “A Winter’s Tale,” pictured below.

Her time at Ferry Hall was filled with drama beyond theatrical performances. She initially refused to wear the required oxford saddle shoes, detailed in correspondence between Miss Tremain of Ferry Hall and Carpenter’s personal physician, Dr. James Montgomery.

Later, Hollywood film studios would play up Jean Harlow’s superior education, even though she never graduated from Ferry Hall. By 1927, Harlean had eloped and was living in Hollywood making films. After Howard Hughes cast Harlean in Hell’s Angels in 1930, her career took off and she changed her name to Jean Harlow

As she gained fame, especially following her role in Platinum Blonde in 1931, peroxide sales in the United States skyrocketed. Her hairstylist Alfred Pagano said he achieved the platinum shade by using peroxide, ammonia and household bleach.

In the mid-1930s, Jean Harlow became one of the biggest film stars in the U.S., starring opposite Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, and James Stuart. She eventually found the love of her life in actor William Powell.

While filming Saratoga in 1937, she was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, resulting in her death at the young age of 26. The complications may have stemmed from the scarlet fever she had suffered during childhood; however, a prevailing theory was that Harlow's constant hair dyeing with noxious substances may have contributed to her death.