Photos of the lovely Betty Grable-celebrated sex symbol & pin up of the 1930s and 1940s

“Betty” Grable  was an American actress, pin-up model, dancer, and singer.

Her 42 movies during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million. She set a record of 12 consecutive years in the top 10 of box office stars. The Treasury Department in 1946-47 listed her as the highest-salaried American woman.

She earned more than $3 million during her career.Throughout her career, Grable was a celebrated sex symbol. Her bathing suit poster made her the number-one pin-up girl of World War II, surpassing Rita Hayworth. It was later included in theLife magazine project “100 Photographs that Changed the World”.

Hosiery specialists of the era often noted the ideal proportions of her legs as thigh (18.5 in (47 cm)), calf (12 in (30 cm)), and ankle (7.5 in (19 cm)) Grable’s legs were famously insured by her studio for $1 million as a publicity stunt.

Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda in the film Springtime in the Rockies (1942).Source

 

Betty Grable in Down Argentine Way.Source

 

Betty Grable visits the Marines at New River, North Carolina. From the Edwin Kochmanski Collectio Source

 

Betty Grable visits the Marines at New River, North Carolina.Source

 

Betty Grable visits the Marines at New River.Source

 

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Elizabeth Ruth Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, dancer, and singer.Source

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. She had contracts with RKO and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s, and appeared in a string of B movies, mostly portraying co-eds. Grable came to prominence in the Broadway musical DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), which brought her to the attention of 20th Century-Fox.

She replaced Alice Faye in Down Argentine Way (1940), her first major Hollywood film, and became Fox’s biggest film star throughout the remaining decade. Fox cast Grable in a succession of Technicolor musicals during the decade that were immensely popular, co-starring with such leading men as Victor Mature, Don Ameche, John Payne, andTyrone Power. In 1943, she was the number-one box-office draw in the world and, in 1947, she was the highest-paid entertainer in the United States.

Two of her biggest film successes were the musical Mother Wore Tights (1947) and the comedy How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), one of her last films. Grable retired from screen acting in 1955 after she withdrew from her Fox contract, although she continued to perform on the stage and on television.

Pin-up photo of Betty Grable for the Jun.Source

 

Pin-up photo of Betty Grable for the Nov. 26, 1943 issue of Yank, the Army Weekly, a weekly U.S. Army magazine fully staffed by enlisted men. Source

 

Publicity photo for The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. Source

 

Publicity photo of Betty Grable for film Call Me Mister (1951). Source

 

Publicity still of Betty Grable. Source

 

Studio portrait photo of Betty Grable taken for promotional use.Source

 

Grable died of lung cancer at age 56 in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1973. Her funeral was held two days later and attended by her ex-husband Harry James and Hollywood stars Dorothy Lamour,Shirley Booth, Mitzi Gaynor, Johnnie Ray, Don Ameche, Cesar Romero, George Raft, Alice Faye, and Dan Dailey.

“I Had the Craziest Dream”, the ballad from Springtime in the Rockies, was played on the church organ. She was entombed at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California, located southwest of Los Angeles.