Betty Grable
“The pin-up sweetheart of the war years whose famous legs made her Hollywood's highest-paid star.”
A 1943 Frank Powolny photo of Betty Grable smiling over her shoulder in a swimsuit became the most requested pin-up of World War II, plastered in barracks and on bombers worldwide. That image, plus Technicolor musical hits, made her 20th Century-Fox's top box-office draw. She became a star in 1943.
Chorus Girl to Headliner
Betty Grable began in Hollywood chorus lines as a child and spent the 1930s in B-movies. Fox made her a Technicolor star when she replaced an ailing Alice Faye in 'Down Argentine Way' (1940).
Pin-Up of a Generation
A single 1943 photo by Frank Powolny, looking back over her shoulder, became the must-have pin-up for GIs at war. It turned her into a symbol of home and helped make her the world's top box-office draw.
America's Highest-Paid Woman
Through the mid-1940s she earned more than any other American woman, and her famous legs were insured for a million dollars. She left Fox in 1955 and died of cancer in 1973.
Career Timeline
- 1916Born Elizabeth Ruth Grable in St. Louis, Missouri
- 1929Begins film career at age 12 in chorus lines
- 1939Comedy 'Million Dollar Legs' gives her famous nickname
- 1940Replaces Alice Faye; stars in 'Down Argentine Way'
- 1943Powolny pin-up photo becomes a WWII sensation
- 1943Studio insures her legs for one million dollars
- 1943Ranked number-one box-office star in the world
- 1944Stars in hit musical 'Pin Up Girl'
- 1947Listed as highest-salaried American woman
- 1953Co-stars in 'How to Marry a Millionaire'
- 1955Leaves 20th Century-Fox after long reign
- 1973Dies of cancer in Santa Monica at age 56
Biggest Hits
- Her legs were insured by 20th Century-Fox for one million dollars in a famous publicity stunt.
- She was the highest-salaried American woman in 1946 and 1947 according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
The Moment You Remember
The 1943 over-the-shoulder pin-up photograph is the moment that endures: Grable in a one-piece swimsuit, smiling back at the camera. Reproduced for millions of GIs overseas, it became the emblem of the home front and the single image most associated with her name.
Portrait: Studio publicity · Public domain (PD-US, published 1931-1977 without notice) · via Wikimedia Commons