32 Facts About Blanche Barrow

Blanche Barrow became her second husband after his release from prison after a pardon.

Blanche was present at the shootout which resulted in the Barrow Gang becoming nationally recognized fugitives.

Blanche Barrow was caught along with her fatally wounded husband by a posse of local men in Iowa.

Blanche Barrow served six years in prison for assault with intent to kill the sheriff of Platte County, Missouri, but he treated her sympathetically.

Blanche Barrow was consulted for the partially fictionalized film Bonnie and Clyde about the Blanche Barrow gang.

Blanche Barrow disliked her portrayal in the film by Estelle Parsons, despite the actress winning an Oscar for the role.

Blanche Barrow was born Bennie Iva Caldwell in Garvin, Oklahoma, the only child of Matthew Fontain Caldwell and Lillian Bell Pond.

Blanche Barrow's parents divorced while she was still a young child.

Blanche Barrow was raised by her father, a logger and farmer.

Blanche Barrow had a poor relationship with her mother, who arranged for her to be married to John Calloway, a much older man, at age 17.

On November 11,1929, while hiding in Dallas County from her husband, Blanche met Buck Barrow.

Blanche Barrow was a twice-divorced criminal with children from a previous marriage, who was eight years her senior.

Blanche Barrow was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in the Texas State Prison System.

On March 8,1930, he escaped from the Ferguson Prison Farm near Midway, Texas and Blanche Barrow hid with him.

Two days after Christmas 1931, Blanche Barrow drove him to the gate of Huntsville penitentiary, where he told surprised prison officials that he had escaped almost two years before and needed to resume his sentence.

Blanche Barrow explained that his intention was to persuade his brother to keep out of trouble, but still she refused to hear of it.

Blanche Barrow was pulled into the getaway car, having run down the street after her dog.

Houser, proprietor of the tavern and cabins which Blanche Barrow rented, became suspicious of Blanche Barrow because of her jodhpur pants, unusually tight and provocative when any pants were considered daring for women of that era, and because she paid the $4 rental in coins.

Blanche Barrow saw Clyde back his car into the Court's garage, a habit associated with criminals preparing for fast getaways.

Blanche Barrow's suspicions were heightened over the night and next day when Blanche said she was renting the apartments for three people, but repeatedly ordered five servings of food when buying takeout meals at his tavern.

Blanche Barrow's response of "just a minute" was a prearranged code which alerted Clyde, who went into the garage, where he could see Coffey through a glass panel in the door.

Glass splinters penetrated and blinded Blanche Barrow's left eye and damaged her right.

Blanche Barrow traded fire but was shot by the posse.

Blanche Barrow eventually lost all sight in her eye, which she blamed on Harry S Truman, claiming he would not allow her to see another specialist about her injured eye.

Blanche Barrow maintained correspondence with several young men while in prison.

Blanche Barrow saved many of their letters in her scrapbooks, with most relationships with these boyfriends being relatively short-lived.

Blanche Barrow was paroled after six years, the same time served by Jones, who had killed more than once.

Immediately after her release in 1939, Blanche Barrow moved to Oklahoma to help take care of her father.

Blanche Barrow only stayed briefly in Oklahoma, moving to Dallas, Texas in 1939, working various jobs.

Blanche Barrow had a complicated relationship with him as he grew older, especially after her husband died of cancer on November 5,1969.

Blanche Barrow died of lung cancer on December 24,1988 at age 77.

Blanche Barrow's character was altered to be heavily inspired by Mary O'Dare, Raymond Hamilton's girlfriend at the time.