Betty Grable was born in 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri.
At age 13 her mother sent her to Hollwood in the hopes she would be become a movie star. She got bit parts on several movies thoroughout the early 1930s, and in 1932 signed with RKO Pictures.
She married for the first time in 1937 to fellow child star Jackie Coogan, which boosted her career. They divorced 3 years later but the public started to take notice of her, and in 1940 she starred in her first hit 'Down Argentine Way'.
After a series of hit films, she became the ultimate 'pin-up' girl to boost moral to the troops serving in World War 2, which gave her the title of being the highest paid actress in Hollywood at that time.
Most famously 20th Century Fox who held her contract insured her legs with Lloyds of London for $1 million!
During the 1950's she stayed very popular, starring in mainly musicals, but as these films declined so did her career. After 1955 she concentrated on starring in broadway shows and nightclubs until her death in 1973 from cancer.
All images sourced through google
On one of these black and white pictures she looks a lot like a young Gwen Stefani.
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