Grand Hotel
1932
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Harlow’s husband, MGM studio exec Paul Bern, was dead in the bathroom, a bullet in his head. In short order, police determined there was something strange about Bern’s personal history.
The next day, he had been among the studio executives who were told by Louis B. Mayer that the case would have to be ruled "suicide because of impotence" in order to avoid a scandal which would have finished Harlow's film career.
As to why Bern had decided to end his life, Louis B. Mayer, who was then the head of MGM, cited Bern's impotence (he was nearly twice Harlow's age). The police then uncovered a shocking discovery. Despite his recent nuptials to Harlow, Bern was still married to his first wife, Dorothy Millette.
statement that the autopsy showed Paul Bern had suffered a 'physical handicap that would have prevented a happy marriage"' ("Death"). MGM worked to ensure that this story was accepted as fact in the film community and beyond. America's biggest sexpot had been married to an impotent man!
According to the book “More of Hollywood’s Unsolved Mysteries,” authored by John Austin, Bern couldn’t consummate his marriage with his new wife because he had an ailment in his organ that left him impotent.
A cursory investigation was conducted and it was quickly concluded that Paul Bern, the 42-year-old wunderkind movie producer had taken his own life. They even had a suicide note.
He says that Paul Bern was impotent and a sadist whose beatings caused Harlow kidney injuries —which ultimately killed her because Jean’s mother, a Christian Scientist, refused to allow the...
