I was reading some old story about jean Harlow and I got curious. I read up on her life and the tragic circumstances behind her death. Jean Harlow was someone that went through a serious amount of suffering and disappointment prior to hear death at age 26. Years after Jean Harlow another brief but equally mythical figure in James Dean would become a legend more for unfulfilled promise and an early tragic death than his sensational roles in the three films that made him a star. Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley would have that same kind of early end with the magical " What if?" and sadness that surrounds charismatic figures.
Thinking about this figures led me to wonder what is so wonderful about forever young. It seems that the whole concept of being remembered as a young figure that never aged is shrouded in tragedy. Let's go person to person for a second so I can illustrate my point in a manner that makes sense. Jean Harlow was the platinum blond whose performances lit up the screen and made her a golden age superstar.
Jean Harlow's life included three divorces, mysterious circumstances regarding the shooting death of her second husband and a domineering mother. The span of stardom that Jean Harlow had was about six years and her platinum look was created by a supremely dangerous chemical mix that some have credited as helping the deterioration of her health. Jean Harlow died of renal failure and during a time when such an issue could not be avoided let alone treated. The platinum blond was 26 and never had a chance to go further and also develop the kind of life she wanted on a personal level. It's fair to say that while forever young she will be forever tragic. James Dean is similar to Jean Harlow in that his death at 24 was so tragic it made him the icon of icons.
James Dean had a convoluted relationship with his mother, was an outsider in Hollywood and was never able to be with his true love, Italian actress Pier Angeli. James Dean was rumored to have a tumultuous personal life and was more often than not trying to tempt mortality. Ultimately James Dean died in a fatal car crash while on the verge of starting the first film of a new nine film million dollar contract he had signed. James Dean was 24 and at that point had only starred in three films over a one year period. Every time people think of James Dean they think of the red jacket, Rebel Without a Cause, and a spot in the diner located in the boulevard of broken dreams. Marilyn Monroe is a similar but sadder story still.
Through the 1950's Marilyn Monroe was the sex symbol of Hollywood and while she was seen more as a trophy of sorts she became a massive star. Marilyn Monroe was a box office juggernaut whose popularity increased more and more as time went on. On the sad side Marilyn Monroe suffered heartbreak with bad relationships and even sadder affairs. Marilyn Monroe's sadness came through in her performance in the film The Misfits. In 1962 Marilyn would die at age 36 of an apparent overdose. Marilyn was still beautiful, young, and promising at that point. Elvis Presley was the king of Rock n' Roll music, the man that sang with so much emotion he would make his audiences stir from the first number to the last wave.
Elvis from the beginning was having to fight some sort of battle. When Elvis began to make it in 1954 with That's Alright Mama everyone viewed him as immoral and going against good all American values. Elvis lost his beloved mother while in the army and was surrounded by a bunch of idiots that were only too happy to extract whatever they could. After a painful divorce and a lonely life Elvis would die of a heart attack resulting from his abuse of prescription drugs. Elvis was only 42 and basically lived to feed the urchins that surrounded him like Col. Parker. All of the people touched in this entry were young and could have gone on but were never really afforded a chance at true happiness.
We think of these icons in certain images but the truth is that these icons were people and those images were just brief moments in time that did not encompass their sadness, loneliness, and pain. In the end these people died young and left the image of youth but they also left the definition of tragedy. Forever young really is forever tragic.
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