This photo with director Jack Conway and Clark Gable on the set of Saratoga was taken only minutes before Harlow’s collapse and was issued at the time her death was announced.
On May 29, 1937 while Harlow filmed a scene in which her character had a fever, she was clearly sicker than her character and leaned against her co-star Gable between takes and said, “I feel terrible! Get me back to my dressing room.” She requested that the assistant director telephone William Powell, who immediately left his own movie set, in order to escort her back home.
This photo with director Jack Conway and Clark Gable on the set of Saratoga was taken only minutes before Harlow’s collapse and was issued at the time her death was announced.
The next day, Powell checked on Harlow and discovered that her condition had not improved. He contacted her mother and insisted that she cut her holiday short to be at her daughter’s side. Powell also summoned a doctor. Because Harlow’s previous illnesses had delayed the shooting of three movies (Wife vs. Secretary, Suzy, and Libeled Lady), initially there was no great concern regarding this latest bout with a recurring illness. On June 2, it was announced she was again suffering from influenza. Dr. Ernest Fishbaugh, who had been called to Harlow’s home to treat her, diagnosed her with an inflamed gallbladder. Mother Jean told MGM that Harlow was feeling better on June 3, and co-workers expected her back on the set by Monday, June 7, 1937. Press reports were contradictory, with headlines reading “Jean Harlow seriously ill” and “Harlow recovers from illness crisis”.When she did not return to set, a concerned Gable visited her and later remarked that she was severely bloated and that he smelled urine on her breath when he kissed her—both signs of kidney failure.
Dr. Leland Chapman, a colleague of Fishbaugh, was called in to give a second opinion on Harlow’s condition. Chapman recognized that she was not suffering from an inflamed gallbladder, but was in the final stages of kidney failure. On June 6, 1937, Harlow said that she could not see Powell clearly and could not tell how many fingers he was holding up.
That evening, she was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where she slipped into a coma. The next day at 11:37 a.m., Harlow died in the hospital at the age of 26. In the doctor’s press releases, the cause of death was given as cerebral edema, a complication of kidney failure. Hospital records mention uremia.
For years, rumors circulated about Harlow’s death. Some claimed that her mother had refused to call a doctor because she was a Christian Scientist or that Harlow had declined hospital treatment or surgery. From the onset of her illness, Harlow had been attended by a doctor while she was resting at home. Two nurses also visited her house, and various equipment was brought from a nearby hospital. Harlow’s grayish complexion, recurring illnesses, and severe sunburn were signs of the disease. Toxins also adversely affected her brain and central nervous system.