Born Harlean Carpentier, Jean Harlow's unglamorous early life did not telegraph what was to come. She was a superstitious woman, who among other things, always sported a trademark lucky ankle bracelet. Her early movie work, which she did as a lark, was in Hal Roach comedies. A chance meeting with Howard Hughes marked a change in her movie career as he cast her in her first credited role in Hell's Angels (1930).