Elizabeth Ruth “Betty” Grable was an American actress, dancer, and singer and popular contract star for 20th Century-Fox during the 1940s and 1950s.
Betty Grable began her film career in 1929 at age twelve, 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, and Tyrone 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. Betty 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.
Throughout her career, Betty Grable was celebrated for having the most beautiful legs in Hollywood and studio publicity often photographed her featuring them. Her iconic bathing suit poster made her the number one pin-up girl of World War II, surpassing Rita Hayworth. It was later included in the Life 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 inches (47 cm), calf (12 inches (30 cm), and ankle (7.5 inches (19 cm).Grable’s legs were famously insured by her studio for $1 million with Lloyds of London.
Betty Grable died of lung cancer at age 56 in Los Angeles, California, on July 2, 1973.
