55 Facts About Betty Grable

Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.

Betty Grable began her film career in 1929 at age 12, after which she was fired from a contract when it was learned she signed up under false identification.

Betty Grable had contracts with RKO and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s, and appeared in a string of B movies, mostly portraying college students.

Betty Grable came to prominence in the Broadway musical DuBarry Was a Lady, which brought her to the attention of 20th Century-Fox.

Betty Grable replaced Alice Faye in Down Argentine Way, her first major Hollywood film, and became Fox's biggest film star throughout the next decade.

Betty Grable retired from screen acting in 1955 after she withdrew from her Fox contract, but she continued to perform on the stage and on television.

Betty Grable's legs were insured by her studio for $1 million as a publicity stunt.

Elizabeth Ruth Betty Grable was born on December 18,1916 in St Louis, Missouri, the youngest of three children of Lillian Rose and John Conn Betty Grable, a stockbroker.

Betty Grable's second-cousin was silent film actress Virginia Pearson, through shared great-grandmother Rebecca Bridwell Grable.

Betty Grable's siblings were Marjorie Lucille Arnold and John Karl "Jackie" Grable.

The Betty Grable children were of Dutch, English, German, Swiss German, and Irish ancestry.

Betty Grable was entered in multiple beauty contests, many of which she won or for which she achieved considerable attention.

Betty Grable was under considerable stress from a lawsuit against his parents over his childhood earnings, and the couple divorced in 1939.

Betty Grable entered into a relationship with dancer Bob Remick, 27 years her junior, with whom she remained until she died in 1973.

In Hollywood, Betty Grable studied at the Hollywood Professional School and the Ernest Blecher Academy of Dance.

In 1930, at age 13, Betty Grable signed with producer Samuel Goldwyn; she thereby became one of the original Goldwyn Girls, along with Ann Sothern, Virginia Bruce, Claire Dodd and Paulette Goddard.

Betty Grable received larger roles in The Gay Divorcee and Follow the Fleet.

When Betty Grable returned to Paramount, she began a new phase in her career; the studio began casting her in a series of college-aimed movies, usually having her portray a naive student.

Betty Grable played the leading roles in these films, which led to her being typecast as an innocent and not-so-bright college student.

The play was an instant critical and audience success, and Betty Grable was branded a newfound star.

Zanuck, who had been impressed by Betty Grable's performance in DuBarry Was a Lady, was, at the time, in the midst of casting the female lead in the musical film Down Argentine Way.

Down Argentine Way was a critical and box-office success at the time of its release, and many critics proclaimed Betty Grable to be the successor to Alice Faye.

The film's success led to Betty Grable's casting in Tin Pan Alley, co-starring Faye.

In 1941, Fox attempted to broaden Betty Grable's acting and audience range by casting her in two films with more serious intent than those in which she had starred previously.

Betty Grable's performance was reviewed favorably by most critics, and the film enjoyed reasonable financial success.

Betty Grable's star continued to rise when she starred in Song of the Islands, co-starring Victor Mature and Jack Oakie.

Betty Grable was voted the number-one box-office draw by American movie exhibitors in 1943; she outranked Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, Greer Garson, Humphrey Bogart, and Clark Gable in popularity.

Betty Grable's photograph sold millions of copies, eventually surpassing the popularity of Rita Hayworth's famous 1941 photo.

Zanuck tried, on multiple occasions, to cast her in films that challenged her acting abilities, but Betty Grable was reluctant; she felt insecure about her talent and this made her unwilling to accept roles she felt required too much of her.

Betty Grable preferred to star in up-beat and outlandish musicals, many of which followed the generic boy-meets-girl story tack.

Betty Grable briefly returned to filming to make a cameo in Do You Love Me, in which she appeared as a fan of her husband Harry James' character.

Betty Grable was reluctant to continue her film career, but Fox was desperately in need of her return.

Betty Grable played Cynthia Pilgrim, a college student who graduated at the top of her typewriting class during the first year of the Packard Business College.

Betty Grable next starred in Walter Lang's Mother Wore Tights, released in September 1947, co-starring Dan Dailey.

Betty Grable was cast in That Lady in Ermine, a film project that had previously been considered for either Jeanette MacDonald or Gene Tierney.

Betty Grable had been placed in the "Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll" every year, beginning in 1942.

Betty Grable ranked at the top of the poll in 1943, and ranked second in 1947 and 1948.

Fox became concerned that Betty Grable might be becoming regarded as passe.

The film's plot closely followed the story of Betty Grable's earlier hit Coney Island.

In 1950, Betty Grable had regained her status as the most-popular female at the box office; she ranked fourth overall, behind John Wayne, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby.

Although, by the early 1950s, Betty Grable was searching for originality in the scripts offered to her, she had no luck in finding the movies she wanted to do.

Betty Grable requested a higher salary and the option to make only those films she wanted to do.

The film was an attempt by Fox to recapture Betty Grable's reputation as the studio's biggest star, and although she was paired with Dale Robertson, the film was a critical and box-office flop.

Betty Grable next starred in How to Marry a Millionaire, a romantic comedy about three models plotting to marry wealthy men, co-starring Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall.

Betty Grable appeared in her first film made away from Fox in over 15 years Three for the Show for Columbia Pictures, and the movie featured up-and-coming talents Jack Lemmon and Marge and Gower Champion.

Betty Grable agreed to make How to Be Very, Very Popular for Fox on the assurance Marilyn Monroe would be her co-star.

Betty Grable opted to play the role of Miss Adelaide, but was passed over in favor of Vivian Blaine, who had played the role on Broadway.

Betty Grable thereafter found a new career starring in her own act in Las Vegas hotels and with her then husband, musician Harry James.

Betty Grable appeared on Broadway in Hello Dolly in 1967.

Betty Grable died of lung cancer on July 2,1973 at the age of 56 in Santa Monica, California.

Betty Grable's funeral was held two days later and was attended by ex-husbands Jackie Coogan and Harry James as well as Hollywood stars Dorothy Lamour, Shirley Booth, Mitzi Gaynor, Don Ameche, Cesar Romero, George Raft, Alice Faye, Johnnie Ray and Dan Dailey.

Betty Grable was entombed at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Betty Grable has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6525 Hollywood Boulevard.

Betty Grable has a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.

Betty Grable was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians.